Yale Beats Baylor in 1st NCAA Basketball Tournament Game in 54 Years

It’s always a surprise when an Ivy League school wins a game in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament since those teams usually have seeding numbers in the double digits and must play a much better (at least on paper) team in the first round of play. Often the Ivy school hangs in there but comes up short, as #13 Princeton did in 2011, losing to #4 Kentucky 59-57.

But there are exceptions. In 2010, #12 seed Cornell advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. In 1979, Pennsylvania made it to the Final Four in what was then a 40 team tournament. The Quakers lost to Magic Johnson and the Michigan State Spartans in a semi final.

Yale is the year’s Ivy League entry in the tournament. The Bulldogs have been a pretty good college hockey team in recent years, winning the NCAA Title in 2013; they’ve also been the Ivy League regular season champs in hockey the last two years. Basketball was something else again; this season’s appearance is the Bulldog’s first since 1962. Yale, a #12 seed, went up against #5 Baylor in the first round. The Bears play in the powerful Big 12 conference and were making their third straight tournament appearance.

The Bulldogs were not intimidated. Yale had a five point lead at halftime and held on to stun Baylor 79-75. It was the second year in a row that Baylor was one and done in the tournament. Yale will play Duke in the second round in a battle between two schools with great academic traditions.

Follow this link for some highlights of the Yale—Baylor game.