Yale Athletics

Just over six months ago, the Yale men’s basketball season came to an end in the Ivy League finals — one stop short of March Madness. 

Heading into the 2023-2024 season, Yale — selected first in the Ivy League’s preseason media poll — is loaded.

“For the most part, we got everybody back,” head coach James Jones, last year’s Ivy League Coach of the Year said at Ivy League media day in mid-October. “It puts us ahead of schedule, having that many returners, that many guys who have started and scored points and have been successful for you.”

The Bulldogs earned 14 of 16 first place votes in the poll, which asks media members to rank each team in the Ivy League from 1-8. The team enters this season returning four of their five starting players from last year’s team: forward Matt Knowling ’24 and guards August Mahoney ’24, John Poulakidas ’25 and Bez Mbeng ’25. 

The departure of forwards EJ Jarvis ’23 and Isaiah Kelly ’23 leaves a void in Yale’s frontcourt that will have to be filled. In particular, the Elis will miss the offensive and defensive production that Jarvis provided. He scored 11.3 points per game and led the team in rebounds and blocks. 

But with the core of last regular season’s first place team still intact, and a promising cast of young talent, Yale has more than enough depth to make up for those losses.

Knowling, named to the All-Ivy League first team last season, and Mbeng, named Defensive Player of the Year, will likely anchor the team on the offensive and defensive ends. 

Sharpshooter guards Mahoney and Poulakidas, who averaged 10.9 and 12 points per game last season, respectively, join Mbeng in the backcourt. The two shot a combined 41.8 percent from three point range last season.

All five of Yale’s leading scorers last season averaged more than ten points per game, with Knowling leading the charge at 13.6.

“Most situations I’m either gonna get to my spots or I’ll have two almost fifty percent shooters around me, where I can kick it out to them,” Knowling said. “So it’s really a win-win either way.”

Yale is retaining 46.9 points per game among the 58.2 total points produced by its top five scorers last season. This mark ranks highest in the Ivy League.

Danny Wolf ’26, a seven-footer with a soft shooting touch and elite passing ability, will likely move into a starting role this season. Last season, Wolf earned Yale’s “Rookie of the Year award.”

“Danny was a freshman last year, went to Europe this summer and finished first in the tournament in rebounding and second in scoring,” Jones said. “We’re depending on him a lot.”

Other frontcourt options include veterans Yussif Basa-Ama ’24 and Jack Molloy ’25, each of whom have been featured in the Yale rotation in the past and could earn key minutes.

Other, younger options include Nick Townsend ’26 and Samson Aletan ’27. Townsend did not play much last season but has impressed in the offseason, averaging 16.6 points per game during Yale’s three exhibition games on the team’s ten-day trip to Greece this August. 

Aletan, the only player listed as a center on the roster, is a 6 ’10, athletic center from Lake Highlands High School in Texas. He arrives as the highest rated recruit in Yale history. He turned down offers from powerhouse programs such as The University of Texas at Austin, Texas Christian University and Texas A&M University to join the Elis. Named Defensive Player of the Year in Texas’s 7-6A division, he could play key minutes as a rim protector and lob threat. 

Also joining the Bulldogs is transfer student Casey Simmons ’26. Simmons, an ultra-athletic, 6 ‘6 swing forward, was rated as the No. one prospect in Massachusetts coming out of high school, and the No. 92 player in the country by 247Sports and ESPN. He played his first season at Northwestern University in 2021, where he started seven games and averaged 2.5 points and 1.5 rebounds per game. He sat out during the 2022 season and joined Yale in 2023. 

Simmons’ long arms and quick feet will bolster a Yale defense that ranked top 50 in the nation according to kenpom.com’s defensive efficiency metric.

The Bulldogs will get a chance to display their talent early on this season, as they prepare for a difficult non-conference schedule that includes faceoffs against No. 11 Gonzaga University and preseason nationally ranked No. one Kansas University. 

Other tough games on Yale’s non-conference schedule include road matchups against Loyola Marymount University, Colgate University, Weber State University, The University of Vermont and Santa Clara State University. Their Ivy League schedule will begin on Jan. 9 against Brown. 

Princeton, the winners of last year’s Ivy tournament and fresh off of a Cinderella run to the Sweet 16, came in second in the media poll, recording two first-place votes. Following them is Cornell, Brown, Penn, Harvard, Dartmouth and Columbia. 

“There’s no nights off in this league,” Mahoney, the team captain said. “You’ve gotta approach every game with a must-win mentality and I think that’s what we’re gonna preach this year in the locker room.”

Historically, the Bulldogs have exceeded their poll placement in 12 out of the 17 previous seasons. Last year, they were predicted to finish third and went on to finish first in the regular season.