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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
Tufts women’s basketball faced Wesleyan University on Friday for their sixth in-conference matchup of the season.
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).
Now that we are just over halfway through the regular season, it’s fitting to start predicting who will grace the 2023-24 All-America First Team in college hoops. While a lot could change, here are my picks for the time being, along with an honorable mention.
Watching a close NBA playoff game is awesome. It is also a form of psychological warfare. I present to thee: The five stages of playoff-watching, currently waiting on peer review.
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:
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.
Looking to rebound from a Jan. 28 loss to Middlebury College, Tufts headed into this past weekend looking to improve their chances of hosting a NESCAC tournament game at home. Tasked with defeating two tough teams, Tufts walked away from the weekend 2–0, with a 63–54 win over Colby and a 74–68 win against Bowdoin on Senior Day.
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.
Despite fighting until the very last minute, the Tufts men’s basketball team fell to NESCAC rival Bates College in a hard-fought away game 67–63. The defeat drops the Jumbos to 13–4 on the season and a 2–2 record in NESCAC play while Bates improves to 7–10 overall and 1–3 in the NESCAC.
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.
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.
Last year, the Daily covered the booming pickup basketball scene on the Tufts campus. Particularly when Tufts’ COVID-19 policies were the most restrictive, the consistently packed courts served as a rare beacon of normalcy. Every warm and sunny day, countless full and half-court games were played while skateboarders added to the engaging atmosphere.
As the rubble settles from the all-out gauntlet that was the NBA regular season, all sights are set on the postseason. With razor thin margins separating each playoff team in the East, and multiple heavy hitters in the West, it’s time to review the biggest storylines to follow as this year’s NBA Playoffs continue.
On Feb. 20, Tufts women's basketball beat Wesleyan to advance to the NESCAC Championship Semifinals. Video journalist Meg Hatton caught up with members of the team to look back on the season and preview Saturday's semifinal matchup.
