Men's basketball Head Coach Craig Robinson was recently named the Ivy League Men's Basketball Coach of the Year by Basketball U., a Web site that covers Division I men's basketball news.
In his first year with the Bears after six years as an assistant coach at Northwestern University, Robinson led the team to its 11-18 overall record, including a 6-8 Ivy League record. Robinson was hired by the Bears in July and implemented new offensive and defensive schemes as well as continuing to develop several players.
After losing nine of 11 games played between Dec. 30 and Feb. 10, Robinson helped inspire the Bears to finish the season in dominating fashion. In the Bears' last six games, all of which were against Ivy rivals, the team won four of the match-ups - a four-point victory over Harvard, who defeated the Bears on Jan. 27, a dominating 20-point win over Dartmouth, who downed Bruno by four points on Jan. 26, a 64-59 triumph over Columbia and the thrilling 64-55 win over Robinson's alma mater, Princeton.
In addition to the team's overall improvement, Robinson guided two individuals to All-Ivy accolades. Mark McAndrew '08 emerged as one of the dominant players in the league this season under Robinson's tutelage. The junior guard led the Ancient Eight in scoring with his 18.6 points per game and earned First-Team All-Ivy honors for his efforts. Last season, McAndrew averaged only 1.2 points per contest.
Guard Damon Huffman '08 was named an honorable mention All-Ivy selection. After struggling through injury through the first part of the season, Huffman impressed from beyond the arc, averaging 2.83 three-pointers per game, which ranked him second in the league.
