Yale Daily News

After winning the Ivy League Championship on March 16, Yale men’s basketball had earned their spot in the NCAA Division I tournament, known as March Madness. While the Bulldogs faced a disappointing loss to San Diego State University on Sunday night in Spokane, Wash., their thrilling upset against Auburn in the first round of the tournament marked a historically successful season.

In their game against fourth-seeded Auburn, the 13th-seeded Bulldogs put together a nail-biting upset with a final score of 78-76. 

“A lot of the world was surprised,” Ben Kirsch ’27 told the News. “But many of us at Yale knew what this team was capable of.”

Kirsch, who attended every home game this semester, noted that the team has had an unprecedented season, and that many of the Bulldogs’ strengths on the court were highlighted in their first tournament match-up against Auburn.

The win, several students told the News, also shows that Ivy League basketball teams can compete on a national level. 

“The fact that we were able to knock off Auburn, who won the SEC, shows the depth and strength of the [Ivy] League.” Tyler McLemore ’26 told the News. “Hopefully in future years multiple Ivy League teams can secure a spot in the tournament, not just the conference champion.”

The winner of the Ivy League tournament is granted an automatic spot in the NCAA Tournament — as are winners of other Division I conferences. In addition, 36 teams are given at-large bids at the discretion of an NCAA selection committee. No Ivy League teams received at-large bids to the men’s tournament this year.

Princeton, last season’s Ivy League men’s basketball champs, made it all the way to the Sweet Sixteen.

Like McLemore, Kirsch also expressed his hope that the national attention Yale received following the upset could help secure more tournament spots for Ivy League teams in the future. 

Yale’s win over Auburn sparked many strong reactions on social media. An Instagram post on the official March Madness account highlighted an X post where online users confused the handles of the Yale Men’s Basketball Twitter account, @YaleMBasketball, with the Yale Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry department’s account, @YaleMBB. The post garnered 68,000 likes as of Monday night. 

Students who were at the March Madness games also touched on the atmosphere, namely how it felt very different than typical games at Yale.

“The stakes just feel a lot higher,” said Conrad Lee ’25, who attended the Auburn game. “Nevertheless, the amount of Yale support there was pretty significant”

Yale cheerleader Gaby Lord ’27 noted how large Spokane Arena was and how many people showed out to support the team. 

“I was super surprised by how much support Yale got from other big schools such as Gonzaga and Alabama,” Lord wrote to the News. “When the crowd was cheering for us, and it wasn’t only coming from the Yale section, it felt really nice to know so many people had faith in us!” 

While the basketball team itself received a significant amount of attention for its success, Lord noted that the cheer team, too, received increased recognition.

Despite Yale’s second-round loss against San Diego State University on Sunday night, students still remarked on the team’s historically successful season.

“Despite the loss, we had a great season,” Micah Warschawski ’27 told the News. “It was super fun watching them succeed.”  

This year marked just the second time that Yale’s men’s basketball team has made it to the tournament’s round of 32.