Outside The Limelight:  

Basketball in the Ivy League

For years, experts didn't believe that Ivy League basketball belonged with the "Big Boys." Today that's changing. When people talk of Division 1 basketball they refer to Kentucky and Kansas, Duke and North Carolina. I believe that on any given Saturday afternoon, Cornell, Columbia and Harvard can compete with these programs. Currently the Ivy League Champion is invited to play in the end of year NCAA basketball tournament.  Last year the League was represented by Harvard.  In addition to the on-court performance, the elite basketball programs are also providing their student-athletes with the best education in the country.

When one commits to play collegiate athletics you are considered a student-athlete. In this book, Kathy Orton suggests there is no such thing as an Ivy League basketball player. They are ballers that just happen to suit up for schools small in attendance, high in costs, and rich in academic tradition. They are basketball players that play for Ivy League Schools. When they lace up their high-tops, put on their jersey, and step onto the hardwood, they are basketball players similar to every other conference.

These specific student-athletes have to be great with time management. They have to be able to keep up on the court but that is only half the battle. According to U.S. News and World Report, the Ivy League has the top 4 academic schools in the nation; Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Columbia. This means that Chris Dudley and Jeremy Lin who played at Yale and Harvard respectively, had to excel in the classroom in addition to producing in games. While less than fifty players all-time have gone on to the NBA, all have probably become professionals of another sort. Former Princeton standout, Bill Bradley, was a United States Senator and candidate for President of the United States.

This book shows the life of a collegiate basketball player that happens to attend school at an Ivy League institution. It encompasses the whole season, pre-season workouts, finals week, and the discipline needed to succeed at this level.

S - The speaker of this story is Kathy Orton, the book's author. She is someone who great up watching Ivy League athletics and was fascinated with how it worked.

O - The occasion was the 2005/06 basketball season.

A - The book is written for readers interested in Ivy League athletics, more particularly those who live in the northeast and may have attended one of the schools. The book provides in-depth coverage of the Ivy programs so if you are a college athlete in another conference, and curious as to how the schools balance education with athletics, this book may be for you.

P - The purpose of this book is to shed light on a dim situation, few writers have written about the Ivy Leagues over the years. John Feinstein even wrote about the Patriot League but few words about their geographically competition. This book also looks to market and promote the Ivy schools as a basketball destination for future players, alumni, and fans.

S - The subject of this book is Ivy League basketball.

TONE - I think the tone of this book is personal and laid back yet serious in its approach to showing the life of an Ivy League student-athlete.