League NCAA Division I Number of teams 8 Runners-up Princeton | Sport Basketball Champions Harvard | |
Duration January 12
– March 12, 2013 | ||
The 2012–13 Ivy League men's basketball season marked the continuation of the annual tradition of competitive basketball among Ivy League members. The tradition began when the league was formed during the 1956–57 season and its history extends to the predecessor Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League, which was formed in 1902. Due to a cheating scandal that involved defending champion Harvard, Princeton was the preseason favorite.
Contents
Harvard won the regular season title outright and earned the conference's only postseason bid. Princeton's Ian Hummer earned the Ivy League Men's Basketball Player of the Year after setting records for most single-season and career Ivy League Player of the Week awards. Harvard tied an Ivy League single-season team record with 13 combined Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week Awards. Ivy League records also fell for career games played by Hummer and career free throw percentage (Brian Barbour).
In the 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, Harvard earned the school's first ever NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament victory and the conference's first NCAA Tournament victory in three years.
Preseason
The Ivy League media selected Princeton as the preseason favorite when 16 of 17 voting members (one voter selected Harvard) named Princeton first in the preseason poll. Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports also selected Princeton as his preseason choice with Harvard second, noting that Harvard had been his preseason favorite until the September 2012 Harvard cheating scandal that involved about 125 athletes and students, including Kyle Casey and Brandyn Curry who withdrew from school as a result. Casey and Curry had been first-team and second-team All-Ivy selections for the 2011–12 Ivy League men's basketball season, respectively. Both players withdrew in hopes of preserving their final year of athletic eligibility following the investigation.
Season
Twelve different television networks scheduled a total of 36 Ivy League men's basketball live broadcasts for the 2012–13 season. This includes a 14-game television package, featuring all eight member institutions, with 13 games being broadcast on the NBC Sports Network and one on the CBS Sports Network. The conference endured two one-day postponements due to the February 2013 nor'easter (also known as Winter Storm Nemo). Harvard's contest against Columbia at Levien Gymnasium in Manhattan that was originally scheduled for February 9 at 7:00 PM was postponed until February 10 at 2:00 PM. Similarly, Dartmouth's game against Cornell originally scheduled to be played at 7:00 PM on February 9 at Newman Arena in Ithaca, New York was postponed until February 10 at 12:00 noon.
Led by Wesley Saunders' five Ivy League Player of the Week Awards and Siyani Chambers' six Rookie of the Week Awards, Harvard tied the Ivy League team record with thirteen single-season weekly recognitions. Meanwhile Hummer tied the individual career record with nine player of the week awards and set a new single-season record with seven. Two Ivy League career statistical records fell. Columbia's Brian Barbour completed his career with an 89.7% free throw shooting percentage, surpassing Jim Barton of Dartmouth (class of 1989) who tallied 89.5%. Hummer surpassed former teammate Doug Davis' (class of 2012) 122 career games played with 123 games.
Honors and accolades
Columbia senior guard Brian Barbour was listed among 30 preseason Senior CLASS Award candidates. Cornell's Eitan Chemerinski and Brown's Matthew Sullivan were first team All-District selections from District I placing them among the 40 candidates for the 15-man Academic All-American team. Brown, a third-team selection in 2012, was recognized as a 2013 first-team All-American.
In season
Each week the Ivy League selected one or more player(s) of the week and one or more rookie(s) of the week.
G – Guard F – Forward C – Center Fr. – Freshman So. – Sophomore Jr. – Junior Sr. – SeniorAll-Ivy
The following players earned Ivy League postseason recognition with (Class, Position – Hometown):
USBWA
On March 12, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association released its 2012–13 Men's All-District Teams, based upon voting from its national membership. There were nine regions from coast to coast, and a player and coach of the year were selected in each. The following lists all the Ivy League representatives selected within their respective regions.
NABC
The National Association of Basketball Coaches announced their Division I All‐District teams on March 26, recognizing the nation's best men's collegiate basketball student-athletes. Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, 240 student-athletes, from 24 districts were chosen. The selections on this list were then eligible for the State Farm Coaches' Division I All-America teams. The following list represented the District 13 players chosen to the list.
Other
Hummer also earned Associated Press honorable mention All-American recognition.
NCAA Tournament
On March 21 in the 2013 NCAA Tournament, Harvard earned the school's first NCAA Tournament victory and its first victory over a top 10 opponent when it defeated number three seeded New Mexico (10, AP Poll/10, Coaches' Poll). The victory was the conferences first since the 2009–10 Cornell Big Red men's basketball team advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. Two days later, the team lost to Arizona, ending its season.
Other
Princeton declined any postseason invitation. No other bids were accepted.