Max Puro

Coming off a season that saw Columbia's men's basketball team post 16 victories (the most since 1992-3) and seven in the league, expectations were high going into this year.

Coming off a campaign in which Columbia beat both Penn and Princeton, it appeared that the Lions were set for a breakout season. The Light Blue returned four starters from 2005-06 and added an outstanding freshman class of guards Niko Scott, Patrick Foley, and Kevin Bulger.

After a long courtship process, Harvard hired Tommy Amaker on Friday as the new head coach for their basketball program.

Amaker's resume does not look like the resume of a typical Ivy League coach candidate. He comes to Harvard after six years as Michigan's head coach, which resulted in three NIT appearances but no NCAA tournament berths.

Throughout little league, high school baseball, into college ball, and onto the Major Leagues, it is a given that pitching depth improves a team's chances of winning. It has been a theme repeated frequently at this point in the calendar as Major League coaches are solidifying their rotations and college coaches are finding that pitcher to fill out a weekend series.

A six-year tradition of losing records was snapped this weekend by the Columbia men's basketball team with two home victories against Dartmouth and Harvard.

Columbia needed to defeat both weekend opponents to reach the seven-win mark in Ivy League play for the first time since 2001.

With two games left in the 2006-07 campaign, the Lions are looking for something they have not achieved since the 2000-01 season: a .500 Ivy finish.

Last season, Columbia lacked an identity. While some clubs utilize speed, power, a small-ball philosophy, or solid pitching to win games, the Lions lacked consistency in any of these components, and thus finished the year 13-32 and 6-14 in Ivy play.

The Lions' power-hitting was decimated after the departure of first baseman Tighe Holden.

Throughout the season, Columbia has been in the middle of the Ivy standings, beating the teams that it should beat, such as Dartmouth and Harvard, and losing to Penn and Cornell. However, as expected as this may seem, the past two weekends have demonstrated the inconsistency that has plagued the Lions all season.

One of the Columbia men's basketball team's most pressing needs this upcoming off-season is to garner some frontcourt depth. In addition to power forward Asenso Ampim, the low post will soon be filled by center Zack Crimmins from Bishop O'Connell High School in Arlington, Va.

Many pundits believe that a basketball team should be built around a big man with great interior skills. Over the past 10 seasons in college basketball, however, while big men get much of the NBA attention, it is the guards and wing players who have led their teams to championships.

This weekend, Penn and Princeton managed to sweep Columbia by constantly exploiting one vulnerable aspect of the Lions: their interior defense.

Despite arguably having two of the top Ivy League big men on their roster in juniors Ben Nwachukwu and John Baumann, the Lions have been unable to stop teams from getting open looks inside the three-point line.

It was a disappointing weekend for the Columbia men's basketball team. The Lions' road trip to Philadelphia and Princeton started with a dud, as the Light Blue, looking to secure its first victory in the Palestra since 2001, fell short and lost in a blowout against Penn, 73-54.

After a weekend that saw Columbia blow a late lead to second-place Yale, and control the pace against Brown, the Lions will hit the road to face first-place Penn and last-place Princeton.

Standing at 13-9 (4-4 Ivy), the Columbia's men's basketball team looks to be making a step in the right direction-thanks, in part, to recruitment in the last few seasons. As this year's group of juniors moves into their final season next year, head coach Joe Jones and the Lions hope to bring in some young talent.

Coming off of an impressive weekend sweep at Dartmouth and Harvard, Columbia heads back home today for a weekend series against James Jones' first-place Yale Bulldogs and Brown.

More so than any other Ivy team this season, you can read the Lions' story by simply glancing at their 3-3 Ancient Eight record. Columbia is nearly midway through the Ivy season-a stretch of six games defined by as much dismay and disappointment as success and triumph.

This past weekend against Harvard and Dartmouth, the men's basketball team righted the wrongs of three consecutive Ivy games in which they lacked offensive consistency and displayed poor ball movement and an unbalanced scoring attack.

The Lions' play had looked stagnant in the two previous Cornell games.

The Columbia men's basketball team has struggled throughout the beginning of Ivy play this season due to its low offensive production in games against Penn and Cornell. But the team was able to recover its offense, and its record in the Ivy League this weekend, all due to their focus on offense.

After two back-breaking losses to traveling partner Cornell, the Columbia men's basketball team will look to rebound this weekend at Cambridge and Hanover.

Joe Jones and the men's basketball squad currently stand at 10-8, 1-3 in the Ivy League. Compared to last season, it certainly would look like the team is improving. However, that record is deceiving. The Lions finished their nonconference schedule at 9-5, including a win over Division III Marywood.

The Columbia men's basketball team will travel to Ithaca, N.Y., tomorrow to finish a home-and-home series with its traveling partner, Cornell.

Three games into the Ivy League season and sporting a 1-2 record, the Columbia men's basketball team has been consistently disappointed by one aspect of its game: a weak second half. The Lions have come out strong in the first half, either taking the lead or hanging with their opponents, but have been unable to maintain this momentum throughout the game, allowing opponents chances to get back into games or expand a lead.

The Columbia men's basketball team was given two chances to pull off some last-minute heroics against Cornell on Saturday. But in front of a sellout crowd at Levien Gymnasium, the Lions struck out on both occasions, falling 49-45 to the Big Red and dropping to 1-2 in Ivy League play.

After starting its Ivy campaign with a split of Penn and Princeton, Columbia will be facing its traveling partner, Cornell, at Levien Gym tomorrow. This contest should help give both the Lions and the Big Red an idea about where they stack up in the Ivy standings.

A night after Columbia men's basketball's most efficient offensive performance of the season-a game in which the Lions scored 64 points on 66.7 percent shooting against rival Princeton-the offense came out flat against a more physical Penn team. The lack of consistent ball movement and the inability to establish a solid inside-outside combination led the Lions to score a paltry 43 points with season-worst 27.

A night after Columbia's most efficient offensive showing of the season, a win against Princeton in which the Lions scored the 64 points on 66.7 percent shooting, the offense came out flat against Penn. The lack of consistent ball movement and the inability to establish a solid inside-outside combination led the Lions to a paltry 43 points on a season-worst 27.

The women's swimming and diving team traveled to Penn with hopes of evening their Ivy League record on Friday evening. But the hosts took eight of the first nine events, leaving the Lions with an insurmountable deficit, as the Quakers defeated Columbia 187.

With five non-conference games before Columbia faces Penn and Princeton on the weekend of January 12, the Lions are gearing up for the Ivy season.

They will also try to improve on their performance last season over winter break, when the team went 1-4. With five games scheduled over the next month, beginning tomorrow, the Lions will look to gain momentum going into the Ivy season.

After a two-and-a-half week layoff, the women's swimming and diving team is back in action, traveling to Philadelphia to face Penn tonight, and returning home to host Wagner on Saturday.

Columbia's last meet against Fordham saw the Lions score their second victory of the season while snapping a two-event losing streak.

Displaying a distinct advantage in size, Columbia was able to utilize its height on both ends of the floor during last night's 70-44 blowout win over Wagner.

In the first half, the Lions played both a combination of 2-3 zones and a pressure man defense to stifle the Seahawks.

After an 11-day layoff following a heavy November schedule, the Columbia women's diving team is back in action. Sophomores Joanna Corby and Shannon Hosey, junior Juliet DeFrancisco, and senior April Nizlek will compete in the Galbraith Diving Invite at Rutgers University.

The Columbia women's swimming team rebounded after consecutive Ivy League defeats last night, downing nonconference foe Fordham in the team's first meet at Uris Pool this season.
Columbia outscored the Rams 166-132 taking both diving events and five of the swimming events.

The Lions traveled to Harvard with hopes of snapping the Crimson's streak of 24 straight dual meet victories. However, Columbia became the 25th consecutive victim, as Harvard won the first 14 events of the meet en route to a 193-102 victory over the Lions.

After suffering a tough 169-123 defeat against Dartmouth last weekend, women's swimming will travel to Cambridge, MA to face the undefeated Harvard Crimson (4-0, 4-0 Ivy) today.

Harvard, who finished second in the Ivy League last season, comes into the match having defeated four Ivy foes (Penn, Brown, Cornell, and Dartmouth) by significant margins.

Nearly two weeks have passed since the Columbia men's soccer team fell to Harvard 3-1 to end another disappointing season. More than two weeks have transpired for the Lions to forget their 0-5-2 Ivy campaign and to begin focusing on next season.

It has not been that way, however, for all Ivy teams, as two made it to the NCAA tournament.

In the second Ivy League meet of the year, the Columbia women's swimming team lost to Yale by a score of 169-123. The Bulldogs, who finished sixth in the league last season, came out strong and never relinquished their lead. The victory was a reversal from last season, in which Columbia beat Yale in both the dual meet and the Ivy championships.

In their first meet of the season, the women's swimming team defeated Dartmouth handily by a final score of 167-130. The Lions won nine of the meet's first 10 events, jumping ahead by a lead that proved insurmountable for the Big Green to overcome.

Sophomore Hannah Galey, Columbia's returning MVP, won the 100 and 200 free in convincing fashion.

After its best overall finish at the Ivy Championships last season, the women's swimming team looks to take the next step and improve on its third-place 2005 finish. The core of last season's team, led primarily by underclassmen, is still intact, and after setting a school record for Ivy wins, the Lions are counting on extending their progress.

After the final whistle sounds, most Columbia University athletes realize that their childhood dreams of being a professional athlete will never become a reality. After all, only 15 percent of all collegiate athletes go on to become professional athletes. This percentage is even lower for athletes in the Ivy League, who usually use their Ivy education to pursue other paths in life.

The Columbia field hockey team finally returned to Baker Field last weekend after playing two years without a true home field. But both Lock Haven and Princeton treated the homecoming harshly, as the Lions lost both games by scores of 1-0 and 4-1, respectively.

The prototypical wide receiver generally possesses great physical attributes: he is over 6 feet tall, of sturdy build, and is as audacious off the field as he is on it. Columbia freshman Austin Knowlin is none of these.

Smallish in stature, he relies on speed to make up for his low profile, and he has quickly become one of the go-to receivers early in the season for the Lions.

Matt Barsamian is not your typical offensive lineman, especially at Columbia. Barsamian first came to New York undersized for his position, but was not viewed as a defensive player either.

"Out of high school, I was recruited mostly as a defensive end. Columbia was one of the only ones that recruited me for offense.

Penn's 2005 football season was filled with high expectations. Projected to repeat their top-tier finish in the Ivy League, the Quakers got off to a quick start last year, racing ahead to a 5-1 record.

Hopes for a picture-perfect season, however, were shattered when Penn's second-string running back, Kyle Ambrogi committed suicide right before the Quakers were scheduled to take on Columbia.

With Paul Nixon entering the season as the fourth head coach in as many years, it was definitely a rebuilding year for the women's basketball team. Their inexperience certainly showed in the standings, as the team finished 6-21 overall, 2-12 in the Ivy League.