{"id":740121,"date":"2026-05-21T11:15:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T11:15:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/740121\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T11:15:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T11:15:41","slug":"inside-yale-basketballs-historic-start-ahead-of-year-ending-alabama-matchup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/740121\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Yale basketball’s historic start ahead of year-ending Alabama matchup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yale is 11-1 in men\u2019s basketball. The last time anyone could say that, there were only eight teams in the NCAA tournament and 48 states in the Union. We\u2019re talking 1945, so that makes the first two months of this season special for the Bulldogs, and it\u2019s time to meet the psychology major who\u2019s in the middle of it.<\/p>\n

Say hello to Nick Townsend, all-Ivy League forward and whizbang student. We could start with his 16.9 points and 7.6 rebounds, which are fourth and third in the league. Or we could go right to his grade point average. \u201cIt\u2019s 3.9-something,\u201d he was saying. When it\u2019s that good maybe it doesn\u2019t matter to be exact.<\/p>\n

What matters is that Yale is on a roll with guys like Nick Townsend. Before 2016, the Bulldogs had not seen an NCAA tournament in 54 years. They\u2019ve been in five of them since and not just as March cannon fodder. They beat Baylor in 2016 and Auburn in 2024, and pushed Texas A&M last March. Under James Jones \u2014 Yale\u2019s only coach this century and the architect of this golden era \u2014 the Bulldogs have beaten California, Oregon State, Washington, Miami, Clemson, Rutgers and Penn State in the regular season. They stayed in the game until the end at Purdue and lost to Minnesota by three last year. They\u2019re 108-32 against the Ivy League the past 10 seasons.<\/p>\n

LEADERS:\u00a010 of college basketball\u2019s early statistical standouts<\/a><\/p>\n

The current Yale version is in the top 10 nationally in field goal, free throw and 3-point percentage. When the Bulldogs beat Akron 97-94 to win the Paradise Jam, they shot 64 percent and made all 21 free throws. They had 36 assists in another game.<\/p>\n

So in a universe of fat NIL packages and a gushing transfer portal, Yale and Jones and the Townsends of the world carry on best they can. Come Monday, the Bulldogs will be at Alabama after a 19-day break \u2014 final exams, you know \u2014 and will be bringing along that shiny record nobody at Yale has seen since the months following World War II. A ranked SEC team averaging 94 points a game hosting an Ivy League school in their first meeting ever. Sounds like a possible mismatch to most people, a challenge to the Bulldogs.<\/p>\n

To mark the occasion and opportunity, we can check in on what life is like for Yale\u2019s team captain.<\/p>\n

Townsend is a senior in his fourth season as a Bulldog. Some Ivy League stars recently have transferred out late in their careers to get some time in the brighter lights. Not him. Yalie to the end. \u201cI think I always knew that I wanted to finish it out at Yale. I feel like it\u2019s been basically the same coaches, it really is just a family feel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The deep sense of connection is understandable, since Townsend comes from a family of Ivy Leaguers. Wait a second. From a family of… Harvard grads? His mother was on the track team at Harvard, his sister ran track and was a member of the crew team at Harvard, his grandfather played football and baseball at Harvard, one uncle played baseball at Harvard, another played football at Harvard.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s with the turncoat? Not just him but older brother Matt, who also played basketball at ancient rival Yale. \u201cEveryone always asks if they give me and my brother a hard time but they really don\u2019t,\u201d Nick said. \u201cEveryone\u2019s very supportive. A few jokes here and there but pretty much everyone\u2019s on Yale\u2019s side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even when it\u2019s Harvard vs. Yale? \u201cMaybe a little more (tension) for football, but definitely not basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

SURPRISES:\u00a015 men’s college basketball teams outperforming preseason expectations<\/a><\/p>\n

Townsend\u2019s most important skill is probably the same as any Ivy League athlete \u2014 time management. While the Bulldogs were becoming the nation\u2019s first team to 11 wins in December, he was finishing four papers and a thesis. Consider a normal Wednesday last term:<\/p>\n

Up at 7 a.m., breakfast, weight lifting, shower, two-hour class on the modern and ancient Olympics, hour psychology lab, quick lunch, a two-hour class on the psychology of marketing media, treatment at the gym, drills and practice until after 7 p.m., dinner, in bed by 9:45.<\/p>\n

Do it again the next day. Not much dead time in all that. \u201cYou come in and you\u2019re pulled in a lot of different ways,\u201d he said. But the player who was named MVP of the Paradise Jam is the same student carrying a GPA of 3.9-something.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully I think it sets you for success wherever you end up,\u201d Townsend said. \u201cObviously life is hectic and busy for pretty much everyone and I think having the ability to feel confident in handling whatever\u2019s coming your way, whether that\u2019s work or family or other aspects of your life, just being able to juggle everything and function well is a skill I\u2019m hopefully taking away from my time here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which begs the question of what means more, the basketball stats that earned him all-conference at Yale or the supersonic GPA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a tough one,\u201d Townsend said. \u201cI think my mom would say my GPA. But I don\u2019t know, I think it\u2019s both. My favorite memories are with the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

And now there is one last stretch of memory-making for him, starting at Alabama Monday. Yale might lose but won\u2019t blink at the chance. Yale never does.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously the bigger programs might have more resources and all the stuff that comes with that but I think from our standpoint we don\u2019t really focus on that or concern ourselves with that too much,\u201d Townsend said. \u201cI think you just try to control what you can. We do our best to prepare and show up each day for all of our games, including those.\u201d<\/p>\n

The final semester means Ivy League play and four more classes for Townsend, including one at the law school on psychology. That ought to keep him busy, but he said he\u2019s actually more worried about drawing class. He\u2019s wary of his proficiency in that one, but it can\u2019t be much harder than playing Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Anyway, it\u2019s closing time for Townsend’s career and his goal is \u201cjust soaking it all up knowing it\u2019s my last semester. Taking it all in because it\u2019s hard to find. I think our team has a special type of bond and a special type of camaraderie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another NCAA tournament would be nice as part of the farewell. Right now, prospects are good. Yale is 11-1. There weren\u2019t 20,000 television sets in all America the last time that happened.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yale is 11-1 in men\u2019s basketball. The last time anyone could say that, there were only eight teams…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":740122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,231,772,1544,2502],"class_list":["post-740121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-college-basketball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaab","tag-yale"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116612282668148375","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=740121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/740122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}