She Got Next, Episode 44: Ivy League

This episode of She Got Next is my Ivy League Special. I’ve been going to Columbia Lions’ games and basketball camps for half of my life, so I’m excited to focus this episode on the Ivy League. This season, Columbia broke all kinds of records with 20+ wins, an Ivy League Tournament championship game appearance, and a WNIT berth. Princeton also enters the NCAA tournament nationally ranked, so the League is making a splash in the postseason.

For this episode,  I spoke with Columbia Women’s Basketball all-time leading scorer Camille Zimmerman, Head Coach of Columbia Women’s Basketball, Megan Griffith, and Jenn Hatfield. She covers the Ivy League here at The Next!

Camille spoke on the culture at Columbia:

“The biggest thing is the culture. An example I can give is when I watched the game, the bench is amazing. I love watching the bench the way they run out during a timeout and grab their teammates. And helping each other up, hyping each other up.”

I asked Jenn of The Next how much impact coach Griffith has had on the Columbia program:

“I think that coach G has built this program from the ground up. She said it before, Columbia, women’s basketball, really didn’t have much of a tradition when she took over as a head coach. Even when she was playing and playing really well for them as a three-time captain, they didn’t necessarily have the success they’re having now, kind of their high watermark season was in the mid-1980s in Division three.

“So she’s built that program from the bottom into a real contender in the Ivy League and a program that’s only poised to continue to get better. So they’ve broken a lot of records this season and are really trending up.”

Enjoy Pepper’s latest podcast episode with the Ivy League.