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One of the best things about March Madness is the unpredictability. Every season an unexpected lower seed knocks off a top seed and sends the country into a frenzy. The Yale Bulldogs just became one of those teams with a 78-76 win against Auburn. For longtime Yale head coach James Jones, this win was against the best team the Bulldogs have ever faced as per CBS Sports.
“I don't know if that's the best win in Yale basketball history, but I will tell you that's the best basketball team that we've beaten in Yale basketball history as far as I'm concerned,” Jones said. “Auburn is one of the better teams in the country and I couldn't believe they were a four seed in terms of what they've been able to do with their metrics. . .the guys had enough guts and enough sticking together and staying together to give us a great victory. . .I couldn't be prouder and I couldn't love these guys more than I do right now.”
The Bulldogs were led by junior guard John Poulakidas who dropped a game-high 28 points, two rebounds two assists, two steals and one blocked shot. He shot 10-15 from the field including 6-9 from three point range. It was a massive win for a Yale program that has only ever advanced past the first round of the NCAA Tournament once before this.
Yale, who entered the tournament as a No. 13 seed by means of winning the Ivy League Tournament, will face off against San Diego State in the round of 32.
Sustained excellence in recent years under James Jones
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James Jones had been the head coach at Yale for 25 years since 1999. While his early tenure was a bit rocky and saw several losing seasons, the school stuck with him and it's paid off in recent years. The Bulldogs made their first NCAA Tournament appearance during the 2015-16 season. Since then, they've had three more tournament appearances and likely would have had another if not for the 2019-20 season cancelation.
Overall, Jones has amassed a record of 396-310 during his tenure at Yale. But in the past eight years, he's won 20+ games in five of those seasons. The Ivy League opted out of athletics during the 2020-21 season in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yale has also finished first in the Ivy League regular season in five of the last nine years. Jones is a four-time Ivy League Coach of the Year winner (2015, 2016, 2020, 2023). He was inducted in the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.
It's a bit of a rarity for a coach to have lasted this long at one school considering today's college basketball landscape where coaches often hit the ‘transfer portal' as much as players do.
In Jones' eyes, this is the best team that Yale has ever beaten during his tenure, but it's not the first time that the underdog Bulldogs pulled off a little March Madness magic. During their first ever tournament appearance in 2016, they upset the No. 5 seeded Baylor Bears who featured future NBA players in Taurean Prince, Ish Wainwright and Jonathan Motley.
