DENVER — Yale pulled off a large disillusioned as a No. 13 seed in closing 12 months’s NCAA Event, and it has a possibility to make it two in a row from the similar place.
Yale (22-7) beat Auburn within the first spherical of the 2024 event and faces any other Southeastern Convention foe when it performs No. 4 Texas A&M within the South Area opener Thursday evening. The Bulldogs are making their 5th look within the NCAA Event since 2016 and feature complex previous the primary spherical two times.
The Bulldogs received each the Ivy League regular-season and convention event titles.
“It is simply change into an expectation of what you might be and what you assume you must do,” trainer James Jones stated. “I believe we have now gotten to the purpose the place we have now simply reached that expectation that that is how excellent we predict we must be, and we are gonna paintings towards that.”
Yale has misplaced simply as soon as because the calendar flipped to 2025, March 1 towards Harvard, and it is going from dealing with Ivy League groups to 1 who performs in a convention that landed 14 groups within the NCAA Event.
As 2024 confirmed, the Bulldogs don’t seem to be intimidated via the large level.
“A objective?” senior Bez Mbeng stated. “Advance. Win.”
Yale has a chance to provide the Ivy League a win in 3 instantly NCAA Tournaments. But even so closing 12 months’s win over Auburn, Princeton beat Arizona as a No. 15 seed within the first spherical in 2023.
The Bulldogs are led via John Poulakidas, who’s averaging 19.2 issues in keeping with sport. Poulakidas fueled the disillusioned of Auburn via hitting 6 of 9 from 3-point vary and scoring 28 issues
Junior Nick Townsend is 2d at the crew at 15.4 issues and leads in rebounding (7.2), and Mbeng is pouring in 13.4 ppg.
Whilst Yale has been rolling, the Aggies (22-10) have struggled down the stretch. They dropped 4 in a row after a five-game profitable streak, snapped that skid via beating Auburn on March 4 when the Tigers had been ranked No. 1, however later fell to Texas in double time beyond regulation within the SEC event quarterfinals.
Texas A&M, which completed 11-7 within the convention, is aware of the Bulldogs don’t seem to be a crew to take evenly after seeing them beat Auburn closing 12 months.
“We are going to glance again and find out about movie and do the precise issues in apply,” senior Henry Coleman III stated. “We are going to play exhausting and play Texas A&M basketball. They nonetheless have to protect us, too.”
Neither crew is lengthy — just one rotation participant, 6-foot-10 Yale heart Samson Aletan, is taller than 6-foot-9 — so that they fit up neatly.
The Aggies are led via guards Wade Taylor IV (15.7 ppg) and Zhuric Phelps (14.1). They moderate 74.3 issues in keeping with sport and make allowance 67.9, they usually excel at the glass the place they moderate 41.2 rebounds in keeping with sport, 5th within the country, regardless of no longer having a participant knocking down greater than Andersson Garcia’s 6.2.
Texas A&M isn’t prolific in the back of the arc, making simply 31.1 p.c of its 3-point makes an attempt. On the other hand, the Aggies make up for that weak spot via main Department I in offensive rebounds with 16.2 in keeping with sport.
–Michael Kelly, Box Degree Media
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