Yale Bulldogs men's basketball
The Yale Bulldogs men's basketball team represents Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, competing in the Ivy League. The team plays home games in the John J. Lee Amphitheater of the Payne Whitney Gymnasium. The current head coach is James Jones.
History
Yale has been named national champion on six occasions – in 1896, 1897, 1899, and 1900 by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll, which began retroactive selections with the 1895–96 season; and in 1901 and 1903 by the Helms Athletic Foundation, which began retroactive selections with the 1900–01 season.Penn and Yale played in the First College Basketball game with 5 men on a team in 1897.
Yale has won seven Ivy League championships – 1957, 1962, 1963, 2002, 2015, 2016, 2019, and 2020. It also won the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League, the forerunner to the Ivy League, eight times – 1902, 1903, 1907, 1915, 1917, 1923, 1933 and 1949. The Bulldogs captured the first official Ivy League title in 1957 as they finished 12–2 and lost to eventual national champion North Carolina, 90–74, in the NCAA East Regional. The 1962 club finished 13–1 in Ivy play, but lost in overtime to Wake Forest, 92–82, in the East Regional. The 1963 team tied Princeton for the Ivy title with an 11–3 record, but fell to the Tigers in a playoff, 65–53. In 2002, the Bulldogs were part of the first three-way tie in Ivy history. Yale beat Princeton 76–60 in the first Ivy playoff game, but fell to Penn 77–58 in the game to determine the NCAA berth. In 2015, Yale tied Harvard for the Ivy title with an 11–3 record, with a playoff between the two to determine the NCAA automatic bid. Harvard won that playoff game at the Palestra in Philadelphia on March 14, 2015 by a score of 53-51, thus preventing Yale from reaching the NCAA Tournament in which the Bulldogs had not appeared in 53 years. The Bulldogs won the Ivy League championship outright in 2016 with a 13–1 conference record to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 54 years. The team has appeared in five NCAA Tournaments overall. On March 17, 2016, Yale defeated the Baylor Bears 79–75 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the school's first Tournament victory.
Postseason history
NCAA Tournament results
Yale has appeared in the NCAA Tournament five times. The Bulldogs' combined record is 1–6.| 1949 | Elite Eight Regional Third Place | Illinois Villanova | L 67–71 L 67–78 |
| 1957 | First Round | North Carolina | L 74–90 |
| 1962 | First Round | Wake Forest | L 82–92OT |
| 2016 | First Round Second Round | Baylor Duke | W 79–75 L 64–71 |
| 2019 | First Round | LSU | L 74–79 |
NIT results
Yale has been to the National Invitation Tournament once. Their record is 1–1.| 2002 | First round Second Round | Rutgers Tennessee Tech | W 67–65 L 61–80 |
CIT results
Yale has been to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament twice. Their combined record is 4–2.| 2012 | First Round | Fairfield | L 56–68 |
| 2014 | First Round Second Round Quarterfinals Semi-finals Final | Quinnipiac Holy Cross Columbia VMI Murray State | W 69–68 W 71–66 W 72–69 W 75–62 L 57–65 |