The Yale men’s basketball program has reloaded their team for the 2025-26 season with a dynamic and competitive recruiting class led by longtime Head Coach James Jones. 

“To make the tournament [March Madness] every year, it’s not a hope, it’s not a wish. It’s something we expect and our alumni expect from us,” said Assistant Coach Ben Sherrod, a former player on the team. 

Recruits from Florida to Pennsylvania are arriving in New Haven ready to make an impact, despite the loss of standout guard Nolan Groves.      

In recent years, Yale has made appearances in the NCAA’s annual single-elimination “March Madness” tournament and beaten big-name teams like Baylor and Auburn. The tournament features the top 68 NCAA Division 1 college teams. These wins help Yale’s program become more recognized in the recruiting process. 

“I think it’s helped a great deal because it’s given us visibility that we didn’t have before,” Head Coach James Jones said in an interview by phone.

The team’s achievements can be credited to the hard work of the players and coaches. David Stone ’74, a Yale College alumnus and longtime supporter of the team, said in an interview by phone that Coach Jones “is a gentleman who always behaves like a mature adult (unlike many coaches) and always commands respect.” Stone recalled, “At one point when way ahead the Yale crowd started to chant ‘Harvard sucks,’ Coach Jones acted to quiet them down.” 

Stone added, ”He is such a class act.”

While Yale’s basketball program may not be as nationally recognized as teams like Duke or North Carolina, it is quietly building the future of the program, to a high standard. Yale’s 2025-26 men’s basketball team has assembled prospects who are regional standouts with “toughness and grit, and looking to do the little things at a higher level,” Coach Sherrod added in our phone interview. “One of the biggest misconceptions is that being a great student alone can get you into Yale. We have a lot of guys who could have played Division 1 basketball at other high-level schools. They chose Yale because they wanted a world class degree and a lifelong network.” 

This year, Yale has lost some talented players through graduation, such as Bez Mbeng ’25 and John Poulakidas ’25. While Yale’s program experienced these issues, as Stone says, “it looks like Jones is planning ahead to replace Samson Aletan with Jack Sullivan in a couple of years, Ogunyemi for Townsend or Simmons, and three guards for that position.” Recruits from this year thus seem poised to help in shaping the team’s future.

This recent recruiting class seems to have sparked excitement in the coaches. 

Associate Coach Matthew Kingsley remarked in an interview by phone about Jack Sullivan: “eventually we were like, ‘Wow I think he’s better than any other centers we were even recruiting.’” Alvin Loving is another player who Kingsley had high praise for, as he was a “four year starter at Salesian High School in Oakland, which is a national powerhouse.” Kingsley noted, Loving “had one of the best showings–25 points against both Harvard Westlake and Mater Dei.” 

Another thing that stood out to Kingsley was the athleticism of recruit  Courtney Wallace: “Courtney is a great athlete–he’s got an NFL running back kind of body, very explosive and he can play multiple positions.” Daniel Ogunyemi another standout who is a “all-around forward with a great motor; he also possesses great hands and feet,” Kingsley said.

Sherrod noted one challenge is the school doesn’t have “a collective or money to give student-athletes, and that’s become a big part of the game. It’s why you’re seeing a mass exodus of top Ivy League talent leaving for lucrative NIL — name, image or likeness — deals at high-major programs.” 

The Yale program’s sense of community likely contributes to players’ desire to play there rather than at another school, even despite NIL money.  

One example of the team’s community engagement is their support of Asher, a member of Team Impact, an organization that pairs children facing serious illnesses or disabilities with college athletic programs.  Coach Sherrod said, “One of the best things is finding out that our players have gone to see Asher, have gone to his house, spent time with him and his family. Those sorts of moments—where they let him be in the locker room, sit next to them on the bus, or share a meal—show just how much they genuinely care about him and set the standard for the type of culture we want to build at Yale men’s basketball.”

This article was written for the Yale Daily News’ 2025 Summer Journalism Program for high school students.