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Ticket punched: Yale's 54-year NCAA Tournament drought ends

kyle ringo

One year after watching an NCAA Tournament bid slip through their fingers in the final two games of the season, the Yale Bulldogs captured the Ivy League title Saturday by beating Columbia 71-55 and will go dancing for the first time since John F. Kennedy was president.

Yale hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 1962 and it wasn't going to be denied this season after losing at Dartmouth on the final day of the regular season last year and then losing a playoff to rival Harvard. Once the Bulldogs were safely in the NCAA field on Saturday, coach James Jones dedicated the achievement to the seniors on last year's team who came so close without quite achieving their dream of ending the drought.

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Sophomore guard Makai Mason led the Bulldogs with 22 points this time around and Brandon Sherrod added 13. The Bulldogs allowed Columbie to get within four points. Yale had the second longest NCAA Tournament drought of any team that had previously made the tournament, but the Bulldogs no longer have to concern themselves with that.

Yale managed to get there this time by overcoming the still unexplained departure of team captain Jack Montague last month. Montague's father told the New Haven Register that his son had been expelled but didn't say why on advice from attorneys. The team has continued to support Montague.

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Yale lost only one game in the Ivy League this season and figures to be either a No. 12 or No. 13 seed in the NCAA field when the bracket is announced next week. The Bulldogs lost by double-digit margins to the two best teams they played this season, Duke and SMU, but that was all the way back in November.
The Bulldogs might be capable of an upset of matched with the right opponent.

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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!