Ivy stays sidelined, but transfers representing league well

Three years ago, Mike Smith and Seth Towns were playing against each other in the Ivy League. Last week, those two made quite an impression on quarterfinal day in the Big Ten Tournament.

Smith, a transfer from Columbia, had 18 points and 15 assists to lead Michigan over Maryland. Then Towns, a former Harvard star, made a big 3-pointer in overtime to help Ohio State outlast Purdue.

“A lot of people in the Ivy League get looked down on. You’re quote-unquote only there for academics. But we have players that can play,” Smith said that day. “Not only today but throughout the season, we’ve shown that Ivy League guys can play.”

There are no Ivy League teams in the postseason this year — the conference called off its season because of the coronavirus pandemic — but the league is still being represented in the NCAA Tournament on both the men’s and women’s sides. Some of the nation’s top teams have Ivy grad transfers making significant contributions, which is another indication of how much the conference has improved in recent years on the basketball court.

In addition to Smith and Towns, Yale’s Jordan Bruner is now at Alabama and Harvard’s Katie Benzan plays at Maryland. Benzan received honorable mention All-America honors this week.

Smith came to Michigan after leading the Ivy in scoring average as a senior. The 5-foot-11 guard has started every game this season for the top-seeded Wolverines.

Towns was the Ivy player of the year in 2018, but he missed the next two seasons because of injury problems. He’s been a role player at Ohio State.

Bruner played for Ivy championship teams at Yale in 2019 and 2020, then transferred to Alabama.

The 6-foot-10 forward has dealt with knee problems but has been playing regularly since returning last month.

“He shoots it well, he handles it well, he passes it well. His skill level is high,” Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said. “He’s got a presence about him. I think he’s really helped our seniors that were already here.”

The Ivy has quietly made strides over the past decade or so. Since 2010, the men’s teams at Cornell, Harvard and Yale have all won in the NCAA Tournament. Princeton’s women did too in 2015.

In 2019, Yale junior Miye

Oni was an early entry into the NBA draft and was taken in the second round.

So if one of the top Ivy players becomes available as a grad transfer, it’s not surprising to see interest from major programs.

“When we targeted Bruner as the No. 1 grad transfer we wanted to get, there was a lot that went into it,” Oats said. “Just our style of play being one, his skill level as a big. The more I studied his film deeper, it was even more of a fit than what I originally thought.”