Just like that, we’re almost halfway through January. This week has always felt to me like a “pseudo-start” to a new segment of the college basketball season.
Yes, there are four NFL divisional playoff games taking place this weekend (go Bills) and I acknowledge that most of the nation’s eyes will be turned in that direction. A good chunk of college sports fans exclusively watch the amateurs (or quasi-pros at this point) however, and for them, there’s no more weekend football to consume. With more and more bracketologies being released and resumes getting examined, expect to see a few more hoops tweets on your timeline between now and next Monday.
Let’s check in on what’s happening up in the Northeast.
Team of The Week: Harvard Crimson
A few weeks ago, I noted in a roundup that Columbia is a team to watch in the Ivy League. The Lions had been carried off the backs of stellar three-point shooting and second-chance opportunities, and at the time, they were 9-3 with only one loss outside Quad 1.
After that story got posted, Kevin Hovde’s squad continued to roll with a three-game winning streak. Granted, two of its opponents weren’t great, but the team’s third win came over an offensively stellar Cornell squad. On that Monday, Columbia played directly into the Big Red’s hands by taking part in a good old-fashioned track meet, and they still walked away with a 104-99 win.
You might be asking yourself why I just devoted two paragraphs to the Columbia Lions in a section about the Harvard Crimson. Well, after that Cornell game, the Lions came back home to Levien Gymnasium to take on the Crimson. This happened:
Of all the teams that could’ve handed Hovde his first Ivy loss, Harvard was a pick out of left field. This is not the Crimson program of yore, a mid-major powerhouse that pumped out scorers and upsets in the mid-2010s. This instead is a middling Ivy program with a decent offense, a decent defense and decent players but nothing extraordinary. Heading into the game against Columbia, Harvard had only notched one top-200 win on the season.
Saturday was the best game the Crimson have played in a long time. Led by shooters Tey Barbour and Thomas Batties, they hit a ridiculous 47.6% of three-point attempts (10-of-21). There was never a true offensive drought either, as when threes were being denied, lead guard Robert Hinton put his head down and drove en route to 17 points.
On the defensive end, it was tough for Harvard to keep players like Ryan Soulis off the glass, as the Lions still secured 14 offensive rebounds. The other major part of Columbia’s game though is three-point shooting, and in that aspect, it was completely neutralized. The Lions made a season-low two threes, missing 14 attempts due to stingy perimeter defense.
There’s no telling just yet if this showing is the start of something in Cambridge, but for now, the Crimson can boast one of the most impressive wins of the season in Northeast mid-major basketball.
Player of The Week: Dejour Reaves, Fordham
Dejour Reaves is a name that most Northeast mid-major sickos should be familiar with.
Over the past year and a half, the senior guard has made his mark on basketball in the Big Apple, averaging over 17 points per game at two different schools. He came to Tobin Anderson’s final Iona squad in 2024-25 after a year at Northern Colorado, and his multi-level scoring ability got him onto the All-MAAC First Team. In the postseason specifically, his efforts almost got the fourth-place Gaels into the Big Dance.
Once Anderson got fired, Reaves entered the portal and took a 20-minute drive (or hour-long subway ride) to his next destination.
Mike Magpayo at Fordham won the services of the 6-foot guard, and since suiting up, Reaves has been a walking bucket. All of his appearances in 2025-26 have been 10+ point nights, including a game on Saturday that took his season to a new level.
In that recent showing, Reaves proved undaunted in a trip to Olean, New York (a rare occurrence for opposing players). Down in the Southern Tier, the guard continued a season-long trend of shunning perimeter looks in favor of two-pointers, a preference that’s made him a much more efficient scorer. On this day, he got as close to the rim as possible, only attempting two shots outside the paint.
This gameplan did the job and then some against St. Bonaventure. Reaves was unguardable, scoring 31 points off 8-of-16 shooting and 12 made free throws to help his Rams pull off the road upset. Despite his scoring pedigree, the performance marked a career-high for him at the Division I level. When he wasn’t scoring, his four rebounds and six assists created offense for his squad.
Let’s not act like the purpose of this spotlight wasn’t for his scoring acumen though. When the game got tight, Reaves scored 12 of Fordham’s last 14 points, getting to the paint with ease after blowing by Bonnies defenders. The repetition of the Rams’ gameplan late – get it to Reaves and let him work – surely made some St. Bonaventure fans unhappy, but there was nothing they could do. Fordham’s one-man show had arrived and taken a win from a solid Atlantic 10 foe.
Reaves will continue leading the Rams into some tough A-10 games this season, bringing the top usage rate in the conference onto the floor. Being at the top of every opposing scouting report hasn’t slowed the guard down yet, so while he may not have another night like Saturday, expect a few more big games out of Reaves before the season concludes.
Storyline of The Week: Nerds Hitting Threes
Take a look at the top five three-point shooting teams in the nation right now.
Not too crazy, right? You got two likely tournament teams there and three top-100 mid-major squads. Cool. Now take a look at Nos. 6-10:
Ah yes, four Ivies and KenPom No. 263 Boston University.
Wait, what?
These five programs have scorched nets across the Northeast with three-point percentages at 39.5% and above. Now, if you combine all five schools’ acceptance rates, you get a number right around 35%. This means that when these schools’ coaches run a set to get a made three, they’re more likely to succeed than 1550-SAT Timmy from Boston is at getting into one of his top five colleges. Looks like you’re headed to UMass, Tim.
On a serious note, the priority that three-pointers have in these five offenses is something I find very interesting. Yale, Dartmouth and Boston University all play to their strength, ranking in the top 50 nationally by shooting at least 9.7 threes a night. Penn and Yale rank 142nd and 152nd, respectively. Loyola-Chicago shoots over 8% worse from deep than both of these schools, and the Ramblers still attempt more threes!
The Bulldogs at least have a great interior game that makes their offense a top-35 unit in the nation, but Penn’s offense ranks 144th per KenPom. If I’m Fran McCaffrey, I lean more into my shooting from players like Ethan Roberts and AJ Levine. It could lead to a couple more Ivy wins than projected.
As for why so many elite academic institutions are similarly elite at shooting the ball this season, I have two connected theories:
- These schools go after underrecruited high-school prospects that bring in shooting what they lack in other facets of the game (size, athleticism, potentially defense).
- The allure of a prestigious degree might not be enough to keep the stars around at these schools, but it is enough to retain said shooters whose shot alone isn’t enough to get them significant playing time on a good mid-major or high-major squad.
Or maybe players are using cutting-edge analytics to refine their form so that every shot they take has a 2.5% greater chance of going in. You never know in elite academia.
