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Princeton University Athletics
This Week's Guide To The Ivy Men's Basketball Race
February 24, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 24, 2002
Well, it's been a week since our first Guide to the Ivy Men's Basketball Race, and we still have more questions than answers. Among them:
How many teams are still alive?
Brown was mathematically eliminated with its loss Saturday night to Princeton, which leaves us four teams still in the hunt: Princeton (9-2), Yale (9-3), Penn (8-3), Harvard (7-5).
What's left on the schedule?
This is the final full weekend of games, as Princeton and Penn are at Cornell and Columbia and Yale and Brown host Harvard and Dartmouth. Princeton and Penn meet in the final league games of the regular season March 5 at the Palestra.
Who controls their own destiny?
Nobody. You can't control your destiny. It just happens.
In that case, who can win by not losing?
Princeton has the best-case scenario: Win its last three games, and the Tigers are the Ivy League champions. Should Penn win its last three games, it would be assured of no worse than a tie for the title. If Yale wins its last two games, it still needs Princeton to lose one to get a piece of the championship. Where does Harvard fit in?
The Crimson basically need a miracle to win the league. Harvard would need to win its last two games, beginning Friday night at Yale, and then have Yale lose Saturday to Dartmouth as well. Princeton would have to lose its last three games, and Penn would have to lose both this weekend and then beat Princeton. In that case, Princeton, Penn, Yale and Harvard would all be 9-5. Anything else, and Harvard is eliminated.
What should keep in mind about Harvard?
As improbable as a Harvard championship is, remember that the Crimson will take the court Friday in New Haven still in the chase. Harvard's first step is to win that game, which might not be enough for the Crimson but would help Princeton and Penn incredibly. Yale had to rally from almost 20 points back to beat Harvard in the first meeting between the two this year, and Harvard has a great X-factor in guard Patrick Harvey. Also, what Harvard man wouldn't want to ruin Yale's season?
Is the Harvard-Yale game the most likely spot for a loss by Princeton, Penn or Yale this weekend?
Not necessarily. Yale will be at home, where the Bulldogs are doubly tough. In addition, Yale enters that game with its back to the wall, since a fourth loss would probably do the Bulldogs in. Also, keep in mind some other points. Princeton, for instance, defeated Columbia and Cornell at home a year ago and then went on the road and lost to each by 17 in games that were never close. Columbia has defeated Penn at the Palestra already this season. Then there is the senior factor. Columbia has four senior starters playing their final weekend, at home no less, and they clearly would want to spoil someone else's championship. Finally, there are the two Dartmouth seniors, Flinder Boyd and Vedad Osmanovic, who will be playing their final career game Saturday night at Yale.
On the other hand, what would happen if Yale, Princeton and Penn all swept this weekend?
Should those three teams hold off their two challengers this weekend, then Yale would have finished its season at 11-3, Princeton would be 11-2 and Penn would be 10-3. Princeton would then play at Penn the following Tuesday night (March 5), where a Tiger win would mean an outright championship and a Penn win would mean the first three-way tie for the championship since the Ivy League was formalized in 1956.
What would a three-way tie mean?
If there is to be a three-way tie, or two-way tie for that matter, then the teams that tie would be declared tri- (or co-) champions. There would then be a playoff for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
How would that work?
In the event of a co-championship, the two teams would play one game (most likely on Saturday, March 9) at a neutral site. If there are three teams, then they would be seeded 1-2-3. After that, No. 2 would play No. 3, and the winner would play No. 1. In a four-way tie, No. 4 would play No. 1 and No. 2 would play No. 3, and the winners would meet. If more than one playoff game is needed, then the likely dates would be Thursday, March 7, and Saturday, March 9.
How do the teams get seeded?
The first criteria is head-to-head involving however many teams are tied. Should Princeton, Penn and Yale finish in a three-way tie, then the team with the best record of the four games the teams have played against each other would be No. 1. If the teams were to sweep this weekend and then have Penn beat Princeton, for instance, then Penn would be 3-1, Yale would be 2-2 and Princeton would be 1-3. Princeton would then play Yale, with the winner to play Penn. If the teams are tied head-to-head, then the next tiebreaker would be how they did against the next highest team in the standings (or teams, if there is a tie). That next team would be either Harvard, Brown or both. Should the tied teams go all the way through the standings without breaking the tie (a near impossibility given the results to date), then the seedings would be done by drawing cards.
Where would the games be played?
According to the Ivy League, all playoff games would be a neutral sites, with Ivy sites preferred. If an Ivy site is impractical or unavailable, then a different site would be chosen. To date, the Ivy League has not settled on sites for any possible playoffs for this season.