The Tufts Daily was founded in 1980, so an anniversary edition naturally invites a look back at what else was happening in the world at that moment. The 1979–80 NBA season is a great place to start — not just as a historical snapshot, but as a case study in how a league can improve itself.
September after dark makes a football game feel bigger. The lights sharpen everything: edges of pads, breath in the air, the collective wince of a crowd when a return man gets the corner and the volume turns from murmur to ‘Oh my god, go.’ Ellis Oval had all of that Saturday, and then some. Tufts defeated Wesleyan 22–20, a win stapled together with all the duct tape a football team keeps in the equipment trunk: defense, field position, special teams, grit, more special teams and, when it absolutely had to happen, one burst through daylight to slam the door.
This past weekend at DiBenedetto Stadium in Hartford, Conn., was a tough but telling stretch for Tufts baseball — a clear moment of reckoning against NESCAC rival Trinity College. Having three games to make a statement, the Jumbos stumbled early but finished with a dramatic flourish, cinching a victory in the third game after dropping the first two.
For the Tufts baseball team, the weekend against Amherst was about doing the hard things well. No frills, no fireworks — just a group of players digging in, fighting back and finding something that had been missing in the early part of the season. A quiet Friday gave way to a spirited Sunday, and the Jumbos dropped the opener but roared back with a doubleheader sweep to take the series. It was a weekend that showed Tufts still has the fight — and the talent — to compete when the margins tighten.
The story of Tufts baseball hasn’t always been smooth, but signs of a turnaround are beginning to show. After a challenging start, the Jumbos, whose record is currently 6–9, recently grabbed some momentum, winning two of their last three games as they head into NESCAC competition.
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.
What do you say after a game like that? That the Jumbos showed heart? That they proved their resilience? That they refused to let a home loss stain the end of their regular season? Yes, yes and absolutely. It wasn’t always pretty, but No. 14 Tufts clawed back from the brink on Saturday, erasing a 10-point deficit in the final minutes to force overtime before dispatching Bates 83–75 at Cousens Gym.
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.
The Tufts men’s basketball team just wrapped up a weekend of hoops that could only be described as dominant, securing back-to-back road wins against Williams and Middlebury. Tufts dictated the pace and rhythm of each game while forcing opponents to play catch-up. Now riding a six-game win streak, the No. 9 Jumbos are 16–2 overall and a perfect 4–0 in NESCAC play.
The Tufts men’s basketball team continues to demonstrate why they’re one of the top NCAA Division III programs. After a Sweet 16 run last year and a blazing 5–0 start this season, Tufts faced their first setback against No. 20 Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Saturday in a hard-fought 74–61 loss at home. But the mark of a good team is its ability to bounce back and that’s just what Tufts did. In emphatic fashion, they dismantled Emmanuel College 86–51 on the road on Monday.
