The weekend’s games firmed up the league picture at the top of the standings, but farther down there’s a lot of movement, primarily because of Saturday night’s results. Home court advantage didn’t seem to matter much in New York State, where the games went the same way they did in the first meetings, but up in New England it was another story entirely.
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1. | Cornell (18-5, 10-0 Ivy) | 1 | The Big Red offense had an unbelievable weekend, putting up two of the better back-to-back offensive performances you’ll see. The trend of slow starts and halftime deficits notwithstanding, next weekend the Cornell players should be able to celebrate an Ivy title and NCAA Tournament bid with a jubilant crowd at Newman Arena. |
2. | Brown (15-9, 7-3 Ivy) | 2 | Brown flexed its muscles with a dominating road win over a hot Columbia team on Friday night, setting up the big showdown with Cornell. Hopes of taking part in March Madness were dashed with the loss in Ithaca, but Craig Robinson has plenty to feel good about this year, like the program’s first winning season since 2003-04. |
3. | Columbia (13-13, 6-4 Ivy) | 3 | The winning streak came to an unceremonious end thanks to a very poor second half against Brown in which the Lions’ shooting touch deserted them. Columbia fans had to be encouraged by the way the team responded 24 hours later, turning the tables with a big second half to to sweep the Bulldogs for the first time in a decade. |
4. | Harvard (8-18, 3-7 Ivy) | 7 | What a difference a week made for the Crimson, who were on the other side of an amazing comeback on Friday night this time around, overcoming a late eight-point deficit to beat Princeton. A fired-up Harvard team then came out and jumped all over Penn the following night, looking nothing like a team that came in with a 7-18 record. |
5. | Penn (10-16, 5-4 Ivy) | 4 | Penn has struggled mightily from the outside this season, but it scorched the Leede Arena nets with 12-for-17 three-point shooting on Friday. However, the youthful Quakers found out how tough Ivy road weekends can be when they lost their offensive composure and couldn’t stop Harvard’s big men the next night in Boston. |
6. | Yale (10-14, 4-6 Ivy) | 5 | The Bulldogs’ season took a tough turn with three straight losses, but first halves haven’t been the problem, as they led at halftime of each of these games. Yale will need to win its final four games for a winning league mark, and James Jones faces a tough choice between playing his numerous seniors and giving minutes to the underclassmen. |
7. | Dartmouth (9-15, 2-8 Ivy) | 8 | It was a bizarre weekend in Hanover, as Dartmouth was on the business end of a total blowout by Penn on Friday night, only to bounce back with a dominating performance against Princeton the next night. One good sign for Terry Dunn is DeVon Mosley’s current hot streak — the junior guard is 15 of his last 30 from three-point range. |
8. | Princeton (5-19, 2-7 Ivy) | 6 | Friday night’s game at Harvard proved disastrous for the Tigers, who blew another second-half lead and lost in overtime for the second straight time. Adding injury to insult, Kyle Koncz suffered a hip injury and missed the next night’s game — and Princeton appeared to miss him badly, getting run out of Leede Arena by Dartmouth. |