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Basketball

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Columns

Full Court Press: In praise of losers

By Noah Goldstein | April 4

Sixty-eight teams made it to March Madness this year. After the championship game on Monday, there will only be one left standing. That team will not be Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans, and maybe that’s okay.

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Basketball

Women’s Basketball sees their season end in NCAA tournament

By Leanna DeSousa | March 11

It is not everyday that you see a 10-loss team in the NCAA tournament, but Tufts women’s basketball squeezed their way in with an at-large bid with a 15–10 overall record. After falling to Trinity College in double overtime in the NESCAC tournament, Tufts had almost two weeks to prepare for their share of March madness.

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Basketball

With early NESCAC tournament exit, men’s basketball looks to make noise in March

By Luke Fredericks | March 6

Basketball, at its best, is about momentum. Build it, ride it, hold onto it for as long as possible. Lose it, and things unravel quickly. The Tufts men’s basketball team saw both ends of that equation in the NESCAC tournament. A strong second-half surge carried them past Williams in the quarterfinals, but against Trinity in the semifinals, they lost their grip. A dismal 32.8% shooting performance doomed the Jumbos in a 74–51 loss, cutting short their bid for a conference title. But the season isn’t over — far from it. The Jumbos are still dancing with the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Championship up next.

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Basketball

Women's basketball's NESCAC tournament run cut short in double overtime

By Leanna DeSousa | February 26

On Saturday, the Tufts women’s basketball team — seeded sixth in the conference — kicked off their post season play by traveling to Hartford, CT to take on No. 3 seed Trinity College. Three weeks ago, the Jumbos played their last home game against the Bantams, earning a 68–59 victory on their senior day. The team was looking to achieve a similar result in the quarterfinal game. However, despite the team’s intense tenacity, Tufts fell short.

Basketball
Basketball

Watt powers Jumbos to NESCAC semifinals

By Riley Daniel | February 25

With ten minutes left in their quarterfinal against Williams College, there was a question of which Jumbo would step up in crunch time. Would it be Scott Gyimesi, the junior who had already recorded 13 double-doubles during the season and 34 in less than three seasons? Perhaps it would be junior James Morakis, currently averaging over 17 points? Shockingly, it was an electric shooting performance sparked by the whiteout crowd from sophomore Zion Watt, who posted a career-high of 15 points, making four threes in the span of five minutes, sending the Jumbos on to an 80–70 win and earning them a trip to next weekend’s NESCAC semifinals at Wesleyan University.

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Columns

The Intangibles: On Victor Wembanyama’s health

By Jonah Cowan | February 24

We know that Victor Wembanyama will be one of the greatest basketball players of all time — if he stays healthy. This is the statement that defines his career. Now, Wembanyama is out for the rest of the season with a deep vein thrombosis and a blood clot in his shoulder which, according to Dr. Brian Sutterer, “could have traveled to his lungs and killed him.”

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Basketball

Men’s basketball stumbles in NESCAC showdowns

By Luke Fredericks | February 5

The Tufts men’s basketball team faced its toughest weekend of the season, dropping two hard-fought road matchups against top-ranked Wesleyan University and No. 16 Trinity College. A heartbreaking 69–66 loss at Wesleyan on Friday was followed by an 81–45 defeat at Trinity on Saturday. The Jumbos now sit at 17–4 overall and 5–2 in NESCAC play as they look to rebound from their first back-to-back losses of the season.

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Columns

Lay of the Leagues: NBA edition

By Brian Becker | February 3

It is such a shame to see a league that was so focused on ball movement and masterful isolation in an effort to drive to the rim become diluted into a no-defense 5-out three-point contest. The NBA has reached a ratings cliff, where chic association edition jerseys and haute-culture-inspired parquets have become the focal point rather than the avant-garde ball mastery that many children around the world would spend countless hours mastering. Nowadays, you’ll be lucky to even turn on the TV and see a player even seriously attempt a one-legged fadeaway (Cam Thomas vs. Orlando Magic circa 2024).

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Columns

Sports and Society: Hellenizing college basketball

By Oliver Fox | March 6

I have a friend who goes to Georgetown, a still-great school with a once-great basketball program. Aside from weekly Celtics mental health check-ins, an ever-increasing proportion of our conversations consist of three words, unmatched in history in their titanic importance: 

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Basketball

Men’s basketball upsets Middlebury in NESCAC playoffs with double-overtime win

By Matt Chen | February 22

In what might be the most exciting game of the season so far, Tufts traveled to nationally ranked Middlebury College for the second time with one thing on its mind: revenge. With the 72–56 January loss to the Panthers still fresh in their minds, the Jumbos came out and played one of their best games of the season, getting their revenge on the Panthers with a gritty 89–80 double-overtime win in the first round of the NESCAC playoffs.

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Basketball

Men’s basketball takes a look in the mirror with competitive matchups at Williams and Middlebury

By Spencer Rosenbaum | February 1

It was a weekend long-awaited for the Jumbos. It was a weekend of two away games circled on the calendar since the schedule was released. It was a weekend where the squad would not only have two major NESCAC matchups but also matchups against the then No. 10 and No. 5 ranked teams in the country. This weekend was the weekend of tests: Williams and Middlebury. The Tufts squad did not shy away from these tests either, as it had a dominant 71–50 win against Williams and put up a fight against Middlebury before falling 72–56.

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Basketball

Women’s basketball builds on strong preseason form leading into NESCAC play

By Bharat Singh | January 18

After an impressive preseason, the Tufts women’s basketball team has had a strong start to their NESCAC campaign. The Tufts Jumbos began their season with a 55–38 home win against the Connecticut College Camels with standout performances from sophomore guard Sofia Gonzalez and junior forward Maggie Russell. Gonzalez led the scoring charts with 11 points and three assists while Russell’s 8 points and incredible 12 rebounds kept the Jumbos in control. A strong defensive effort in the first half kept the visitors to just 12 points with the Camels shooting a low 13% from the field in the first quarter as the Jumbos shot 33% and piled on the pressure. 

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Local

Keeping Up With the 617: Champions

By Matt Goguen | October 19

We’ve reached the point of the NBA season where overreactions are more common than pessimism amongst fanbases; some are drooling over a newly-drafted rookie, and others are looking ahead towards a Larry O’Brien trophy presentation in June. In the Celtics’ case, the Garden Faithful are anticipating another NBA Finals appearance after a tumultuous offseason. And why wouldn’t they? The starting lineup from the 2022 playoffs is still intact, new free agent addition Malcolm Brogdon adds depth to an already solid bench, and Jayson Tatum had another offseason of development. Nonetheless, this offseason contained more drama than a Shakespearean play; with a now suspended head coach and injuries to Robert Williams III and Danilo Gallinari, a once promising season has turned dire quickly.

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