Yale gets chance at first NCAA bid since 1962

As several hundred Penn fans stormed the Palestra court in celebration of the Quakers' 64-48 win over Princeton yesterday, a group of less than two dozen Yale players was making its way toward the Lee Amphitheater, ready to celebrate in its own way.

The Elis cut down the nets on their New Haven, Conn., home court.

"We're having a little fun," Yale coach James Jones said, 45 minutes after the final buzzer sounded in Philadelphia.

And who can blame Jones and his players? With Penn's win, Yale finished in a three-way tie atop the Ivy League at 11-3, grabbing a share of the title for the first time in 39 years.

The Elis now play Princeton tomorrow as part of a three-team, two-game playoff to determine which Ivy team gets the automatic NCAA Tournament bid.

The game is at the Palestra, a site that's 128 miles closer to Princeton than Yale. But that's not a concern for Jones.

"No, no, no, it doesn't matter," he said. "You gotta understand, it's the first time we're playing for a championship in like 40 years."

It might also be the first time the Elis -- who watched the game at an Orange, Conn., home of a friend of the program -- have rooted for Penn in just as long.

The Yale players cheered when Penn junior Ugonna Onyewke drove past Princeton sophomore Konrad Wysocki with less than a minute to go in the first half. They cheered when Quakers junior Andrew Toole hit a three-pointer to give Penn a nine-point lead with 15 minutes left. And they cheered when Onyekwe punctuated Penn's win by dunking on a pass from Jeff Schiffner with 1:44 left.

"I was looking around the room, and every time Ugonna dunked, my players were going wild," Jones said.

There were no Penn jerseys, no chants of "Let's Go Quakers," nothing like that, but the Elis were clearly on Penn's side.

And when it comes to the upcoming Ivy League mini-tournament, Jones is clearly on the side of Penn coach Fran Dunphy.

"I think it's great for the league," Dunphy said at a postgame press conference.

"I think it's great for the league," Jones said, on the phone a half hour later. "It's exciting. We're going to have two great games. Who doesn't want this to happen?"

Well, maybe John Thompson III, Princeton's coach. If the Tigers had won yesterday, they would have been in the NCAA Tournament, and there would be no two-game Ivy tournament.

But Thompson's views are also different than Jones and Dunphy in another way. A recent Sports Illustrated article revealed him to be the only Ancient Eight coach who didn't favor a postseason tournament, and when asked about it yesterday, Thompson's reply was, simply, "We got one now."

And each of the three participating teams treated that news differently yesterday. The Tigers, who have won at least a share of five of the last eight Ivy titles, walked off the Palestra court with their heads down. The Quakers, who have captured a piece of three of the last four league championships, celebrated moderately. And the Elis, who haven't been to the NCAA Tournament since the Kennedy administration, cut down their nets.

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