Yale Bulldogs men's basketball

Yale Bulldogs
2023-24 Yale Bulldogs men's basketball team
University	Yale University
First season	1896
Head coach	James Jones (25th season)
Conference	Ivy League
Location	New Haven, Connecticut
Arena	Payne Whitney Gymnasium (Capacity: 2,532)
Nickname	Bulldogs
Student section	TBD
Colors	Yale blue and white [1]
Uniforms
Home Away
Pre-tournament Premo-Porretta champions
1896, 1897, 1899, 1900
Pre-tournament Helms champions
1901, 1903
NCAA tournament Elite Eight
1949
NCAA tournament round of 32
2016, 2024
NCAA tournament appearances
1949, 1957, 1962, 2016, 2019, 2022, 2024
Conference tournament champions
2019, 2022, 2024
Conference regular season champions
1902, 1903, 1907, 1915, 1917, 1923, 1933, 1949, 1957, 1962, 1963, 2002, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2023

The Yale Bulldogs men's basketball team represents Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, competing in the Ivy League. The team plays home games in the John J. Lee Amphitheater of the Payne Whitney Gymnasium. The team has reached the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament seven times, in 1949, 1957, 1962, 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2024. The current head coach is James Jones. ^[2]

History

Yale has been named national champion on six occasions – in 1896, 1897, 1899, and 1900 by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll, which started to retroactive selections with the 1895–96 season; and in 1901 and 1903 by the Helms Athletic Foundation, which began retroactive selections with the 1900–01 season. ^[3]

Penn and Yale played in the First College Basketball game with five men on a team in 1897.

In 1969 -- against the wishes of the NCAA -- Yale Jewish center Jack Langer played for Team United States at the 1969 Maccabiah Games in Israel. He did so with the approval of Yale President Kingman Brewster. The university said it would not stop him from "what we feel is a matter of religious freedom," and all Ivy League presidents fully endorsed Yale's stand. After that, Yale played Langer in basketball games the following season. ^{[4] [5]} A special assistant to the President of Yale, Henry Chauncey, Jr., said: "There is no question that Jack Langer will continue to play basketball. We don't care what they do - Jack Langer will play when the coach wants to use him." ^[6] On January 15, 1970, the NCAA Council placed Yale University on two‐year "full athletic probation" in all sports. ^[7] It thereby restricted Yale teams and athletes (not just basketball players) for two years from competing in NCAA tournaments, championships and other postseason competitions and from receiving any monies for televised events. ^{[8] [9] [7] [10]} The decision impacted 300 Yale students, every Yale student on its sports teams, over the next two years. ^[11]

The Presidents of the other seven Ivy League schools issued a statement condemning the NCAA's actions regarding the "Langer Case." ^[6] The Harvard Crimson called the probation "unjust but intolerable," and urged the Ivy League to withdraw from the NCAA. ^[12] Harvard track and field captain Ed Nosal and two other Harvard athletes, sympathetic to Langer and Yale and disdainful of the absurdity of the NCAA rule, protested at the 1970 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships by standing on the awards stand wearing blue Yale jerseys. ^[13] In February 1970, Representative Robert N. Giaimo (D-Connecticut) said in the U.S. Congress:

The Yale case, involving basketball player Jack Langer, is tragic. It shows that the NCAA is willing to use any weapon in its continuing power struggle with the Amateur Athletic Union. It shows that the NCAA does not care if it hurts member institutions or individual athletes in the process. It shows once again that the NCAA is ... under the control of a stubborn, dictatorial hierarchy that does not hesitate to use athletes and schools alike as mere pawns in a game of power politics. ^[14]

Yale has won seven Ivy League championships – 1957, 1962, 1963, 2002, 2016, 2019 and 2020. It also won the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League, the forerunner to the Ivy League, eight times – 1902, 1903, 1907, 1915, 1917, 1923, 1933 and 1949. The Bulldogs captured the first official Ivy League title in 1957, finishing 12–2 and losing to eventual national champion North Carolina, 90–74, in the NCAA East Regional. The 1962 club finished 13–1 in Ivy play but lost overtime to Wake Forest, 92–82, in the East Regional. The 1963 team tied Princeton for the Ivy title with an 11–3 record but fell to the Tigers in a playoff, 65–53. In 2002, the Bulldogs were part of the first three-way tie in Ivy history. Yale beat Princeton 76–60 in the first Ivy playoff game but fell to Penn 77–58 to determine the NCAA berth. In 2015, Yale tied Harvard for the Ivy title with an 11–3 record, with a playoff between the two to determine the NCAA automatic bid. Harvard won that playoff game at the Palestra in Philadelphia on March 14, 2015, with a score of 53–51, thus preventing Yale from reaching the NCAA tournament in which the Bulldogs had not appeared in 53 years. ^[15] The Bulldogs won the Ivy League championship outright in 2016 with a 13–1 conference record to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 54 years.

The team has appeared in seven NCAA Tournaments overall (in 1949, 1957, 1962, 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2024). On March 17, 2016, Yale defeated the Baylor Bears 79–75 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the school's first Tournament victory. In 2019 Yale beat Harvard, 97–85 to win its first Ivy League Men's Basketball Tournament. Yale won its second Ivy League Men's Basketball Tournament in 2022 when, on March 12, the #2 seed Yale outlasted the #3 seed University of Pennsylvania, with a score of 66–64.

Postseason history

NCAA tournament results

Yale has appeared in the NCAA tournament seven times. The Bulldogs' combined record is 2–8.

Year	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
1949		Elite Eight Regional Third Place	Illinois Villanova	L 67–71 L 67–78
1957		First Round	North Carolina	L 74–90
1962		First Round	Wake Forest	L 82–92OT
2016	#12	First Round Second Round	#5 Baylor #4 Duke	W 79–75 L 64–71
2019	#14	First Round	#3 LSU	L 74–79
2022	#14	First Round	#3 Purdue	L 56–78
2024	#13	First Round Second Round	#4 Auburn #5 San Diego State	W 78–76 L 57–85

NIT results

Yale has been to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) twice. Their record is 1–2.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2002	First Round Second Round	Rutgers Tennessee Tech	W 67–65 L 61–80
2023	First Round	Vanderbilt	L 62–71

CIT results

Yale has been to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) twice. Their combined record is 4–2.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2012	First Round	Fairfield	L 56–68
2014	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals Semi-finals Final	Quinnipiac Holy Cross Columbia VMI Murray State	W 69–68 W 71–66 W 72–69 W 75–62 L 57–65

Notable players

Chris Dudley

• Paul Atkinson (born 1999)
• Albie Booth (1908–1959)
• Chris Dudley (born 1965)
• Earl G. Graves Jr. (born 1962)
• Gilmore Kinney (1886–1916)
• Orson Kinney (1894–1966)
• Jack Langer (born 1948/1949)
• Tony Lavelli (1926–1998)
• Paul Maley (born 1966)
• Greg Mangano (born 1989)
• Miye Oni (born 1997)
• Justin Sears (born 1994)

References

1. "Yale Athletics Brand Guidelines" (PDF). December 1, 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
2. "Yale" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 23, 2015. Retrieved September 24, 2010.
3. ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 529. ISBN   978-0-345-51392-2.
4. "Ivies Back Yale On ECAC Ruling," Cornell Chronicle, January 8, 1970.
5. Gordon S. White Jr. (January 11, 1970). "Yale Gets Delay in N.C.A.A. Hearing on Langer". The New York Times.
6. Eric Siegel (January 17, 1970). "The story of Jack Langer". The Michigan Daily, volume 80, issue 89.
7. "Cross Campus". Yale Daily News. January 15, 2009.
8. "YALE STORM CENTER QUITS BASKETBALL". The New York Times. October 9, 1970.
9. Gordon S. White Jr. (January 16, 1970). "RULING TO EXTEND TO ALL ELI SPORTS; Penalty Stems From Yale's Unwavering Stand to Use an Ineligible Player". The New York Times.
10. President's Commission on Olympic Sports (1977). The Final Report of the President's Commission on Olympic Sports, U.S. Government Printing Office.
11. “Rationale for the Student-Athletes Bill of Rights”, June 25, 2002.
12. Bennett H. Beach and John L. Powers (January 17, 1970). "Soaking up the Press". The Harvard Crimson.
13. "Did you Know?", Harvard Varsity Club, News & Views of Harvard Sports, Vol. 46, No. 3, p. 6, October 30, 2003.
14. HON. ROBERT N. GIAIMO OF CONNECTICUT IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (February 2, 1970). "THE NCAA AGAINST YALE-TRAGIOCOMEDY," Extension of Remarks.
15. Longman, Jere (March 14, 2015). "Late Shot Extends Harvard's Run and Yale's Drought in Ivy League". The New York Times. Retrieved March 16, 2015.

External links

• Official website