Welcome to The Sports Bank’s second annual college basketball season preview series. Last year we looked at 99 teams in 99 days. This year, we are being slightly more aggressive and expanding to 111 teams in 111 days. We will rank the 74 power conference teams and top 37 mid-majors in reverse power ranking order. We’ll break down rosters, non-conference schedules, and pick a player to watch for each team.
The Ivy League isn’t the easiest conference to keep an eye on all year so if you need help staying up to spead you can check out BetQL to find the most updated college basketball spreads, lines, and odds
The 2011 Ivy League championship came down to a playoff game between Princeton and Harvard. While the Crimson are the hands down favorite to win the conference crown, the Yale Bulldogs have a talented and experienced team that should cause some noise.
YALE BULLDOGS
Last Season: 3rd, 8-6 in Ivy, 15-13 overall
Predicted Ivy League Finish: 2nd
Projected Depth Chart
C: Greg Mangano (Sr)/Will Childs-Klein (Fr)
PF: Jeremiah Kreisberg (So)/Rhett Anderson (Sr)/Matt Townsend (Fr)/Brandon Sherrod (Fr)
G/F: Reggie Willhite (Sr)/Brian Katz (Sr)/Jesse Pritchard (Jr)/Armani Cotton (Fr)
SG: Sam Martin (Jr)/Isaiah Salafia (So)/Javier Duren (Fr)
PG: Austin Morgan (Jr)/Michael Grace (Jr)
Gone: SG-Porter Braswell, SG-Raffi Mantilla
2011-2012 Outlook:
In losing one starter from a year ago, Yale has a solid core returning. Leading scorer and rebounder Greg Mangano flirted with the NBA Draft but wisely chose to return for his senior season. He and 6-9 sophomore Jeremiah Kreisberg form a huge frontcourt by Ivy League standards. Rhett Anderson provides more experience and size off the bench while the three freshmen will compete for minutes as well.
The wing is somewhat of a concern for Yale after losing starting shooting guard Porter Braswell and key reserve Raffi Mantilla. Reggie Willhite returns to the starting line-up but the other spots are wide open. Chris Martin and Isaiah Salafia played sparingly last season but are the early favorites to start at the two. Brian Katz and Jesse Pritchard will be pushed by freshmen Armani Cotton and Javier Duren for playing time off the bench.
Starting point guard and long range gunner Austin Morgan will be asked to take on a slightly bigger role in the backcourt with uncertainty at shooting guard. Michael Grace was bothered by an early season injury last season but adds some experience off the bench.
The Ivy League doesn’t receive a lot of national pub but it should be another exciting race to see who represents the conference in the NCAA Tournament. If the frontcourt can dominate inside and the shooting guard position figures itself out before league play, Yale could upend the pre-season favorite, Harvard.
Player to Watch: Greg Mangano
The 6-10 Mangano earned spot on US World University Games roster and some valuable experience playing against high quality competition. He is a force down low and was one of just four players in Division One to average at least ten boards and three blocks per game last season. With 25 blocked shots, Mangano will pass Chris Dudley as the Bulldogs’ all-time leader which should happen sometime midway through the season since he set a league record with 51 blocks a year ago.
Key Non-Conference Games:
11/22 at Seton Hall
12/18 at Rhode Island
12/29 at Wake Forest
12/31 at Florida
OTHER 111 IN 111’S:
#85 Georgia Bulldogs
#86 Rutgers Scarlet Knights
#87 Richmond Spiders
#88 Ball State Cardinals
#89 Utah State Aggies
#90 Arizona State Sun Devils
#91 Marshall Thundering Herd
#92 Oregon State Beavers
#93 Washington State Cougars
#94 Iowa Hawkeyes
#95 Ole Miss Rebels
#96 Nebraska Cornhuskers
#97 Oklahoma Sooners
#98 South Florida Bulls
#99 LSU Tigers
#100 Colorado Buffaloes
#101 DePaul Blue Demons
#102 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
#103 Wake Forest Demon Deacons
#104 Seton Hall Pirates
#105 Providence Friars
#106 Auburn Tigers
#107 South Carolina Gamecocks
#108 Texas Tech Red Raiders
#109 Penn State Nittany Lions
#110 Boston College Eagles
#111 Utah Utes
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft on the web.
You can follow him on Twitter at DavidKay_TSB.