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Basketball

"Moments 'Til Madness " Column Graphic
Columns

Moments ‘til Madness: The pecking order of the Power 5

By Owen Short | October 2

Just like everything else in college basketball, the pecking order of the top conferences seems to shuffle from year to year. With the constant churn of the transfer portal and a fresh round of coaching changes, this feels like the right moment to take stock of the Power 5. The goal: to predict which leagues are poised for the most success, whether by racking up tournament bids, producing true championship contenders or simply standing out in overall competitiveness.

"Moments 'Til Madness " Column Graphic
Columns

Moments ‘til Madness: What’s Shaping the Season Ahead

By Owen Short | September 24

The first tip-off of the 2025–26 college basketball season comes on Nov. 3. With just under six weeks left, the excitement leading up to opening day is starting to build up. Still, we don’t have official preseason rankings, schedules are being finalized and, apparently, the coaching carousel is still taking its course. While we wait for the actual basketball to start, these are the offseason storylines I found to be interesting and also important for this year of college hoops.

Sofia Gonzalez
Basketball

‘All gas, no brakes:’ Sofia Gonzalez leaves it on the Cousens floor

By Riley Daniel | May 15

When someone’s career profile reads off with top 20 spots in program history in 3-pointers made and points scored, two All-NESCAC seasons and two third team D3hoops.com All-Region 1 acknowledgements, one expects to hear about a journey that was as smooth as the drive down Route 66. Yet, for graduating senior Sofia Gonzalez, this road was windy and unpredictable, but it still left her with everything she could have wanted from her collegiate experience.

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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

The Intangibles: The visceral experience of rivalry

By Jonah Cowan | March 25

On the eve of the Lakers-Celtics game, I decided to go to TD Garden even though I had no tickets. I wore a yellow Lakers beanie and an army jacket with a private’s patch long since removed. As tip off approached, I decided to interact with some fans outside the arena, as I resisted intrusive thoughts to sneak into the game and watch. I wanted to experience the famed rivalry firsthand through the crowd — to witness the best rivalry in basketball.

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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.

The Intangibles Graphic
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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