Ivy League Power Rankings: Week 1

With 17 games in the books during this young season, the Ivy League has fared slightly better than most would have expected, including a 7-4 mark in games against non-BCS competition.

The first week had its fair share of highlights, as Cornell topped Alabama and blew past Massachusetts, while Harvard took down pre-season Patriot League favorite Holy Cross and won an epic three-overtime thriller against William and Mary.

All three of the leagueâ€™s winless teams (Columbia, Dartmouth and Penn) find themselves there unexpectedly, as four of their five opponents were BCS schools and the last was quality mid-major George Mason.

While Fridayâ€™s slate boasts two more BCS conference teams, Cornellâ€™s home date with Seton Hall is certainly winnable and Brown could give St. Johnâ€™s a game. The remainder of the 11 games between now and next Tuesday will be a turning point of the non-conference season. The Ivy League squad should have a decent chance in each of those other nine games and six of them come at home. Anything less than a 7-4 record over the next four days should be considered a disappointment.

â€œWe Couldnâ€™t Do Diddily Poo Offensivelyâ€ â€“ Jim Mora

8. Dartmouth

Itâ€™s hard to judge a team when its first two opponents are both likely top-100 teams with one coming from the venerable Atlantic Coast Conference, but Iâ€™m going to anyway. Right now, the Big Green canâ€™t shoot, canâ€™t hold onto the ball, canâ€™t rebound its own superfluous misses, and canâ€™t get to the free-throw line. Sadly, there arenâ€™t any other ways to score points.

Luckily, Dartmouth is making up for its offensive deficiencies by allowing opponents to score at will both from the field and line and to rebound their misses at an alarmingly high rate. The schedule gets much easier from here, and the next couple weeks should give us a better look at how bad the Big Green will truly be this season.

â€œI Apologize For That. If Thatâ€™s The Best We Can Do, Thatâ€™s A Sad Product.â€ â€“Bill Callahan

7. Penn

A fairly decent opening night performance against Penn State got overshadowed quickly by the gigantic egg laid against a very good Villanova squad.

Things hardly got better after the game when coach Glen Miller revealed that junior Tyler Bernardini would have an MRI on his right foot this past Tuesday.

Itâ€™s far too soon to bury the Quakers, but Penn needs to win at least three, if not four, of its five remaining pre-exam games to carry any sort of confidence into that 16-day layoff.

â€œYou Kiddinâ€™ Me? Playoffs? I Just Hope We Can Win A Game.â€ â€“ Jim Mora

6. Columbia

An Ivy team plays a BCS conference team almost even for 39 minutes and the best they can do is sixth? Well, when that team is DePaul, the third worst high-major team in America last year, credit doesnâ€™t flow from the heavens.

The Lions put together a stalwart defensive performance, a Joe Jones staple, but couldnâ€™t find any offense in a game that was eminently winnable from the start. Columbia simply must be more effective offensively to have any sustained success this season.

â€œIf You Were (1-2), Youâ€™d Be In A Bad Mood Too.â€ â€“Mike Ditka

5. Brown

The Bears have done what pretty much everyone expected in beating St. Francis and losing to Virginia Tech and Rhode Island. Jean-Herbert Harris had one of the most efficient games of the year in Brooklyn Heights, Matt Mullery hasnâ€™t seen a bit of drop off in production and some of the freshmen have provided decent contributions.

Brownâ€™s most grueling stretch is to come with Siena, Holy Cross, Minnesota and Providence in a span of four games heading into winter exams, so if the Bears want to stockpile some wins heading into the break, they might consider the Maine, Bryant and Philadelphia Sciences stretch.

4. Yale

The Bulldogs need offense badly. Sure Alex Zampier is scoring 23 per game, but his terrible shooting percentage from inside the arc and one turnover per seven minute pace is not encouraging. Jordan Gibson has been a bit of a surprise with his production and Michael Sands and Paul Nelson have been decent in the frontcourt, but there are far too many offensively challenged players on the roster.

For now, Yale is surviving by grabbing a decent portion of its misses on the offensive glass. If that regresses to the mean, the Bulldogs will have to start shooting a lot better to stay in games.

â€œYou Play To Win The Game. Hello?â€ â€“Herm Edwards

3. Harvard

The Crimson held leads of 12 and 15 points in games against William and Mary and Holy Cross, respectively, but allowed both to creep back in those contests. Low on time, the Crusaders were forced to bail Harvard out by sending them to the line, while William and Mary outscored the Crimson 32-20 over the final 17 minutes of the contest.

Harvard is still having trouble securing defensive rebounds â€“ a problem for a team that struggles enough to manufacture stops as it is. The freshmen have contributed nicely, Oliver McNally has been a steady surprise and Jeremy Lin has Player of the Year potential, but without a stronger defensive effort, this team will languish around the middle of the pack.

2. Princeton

You canâ€™t fault anything the Tigers are doing right now. Theyâ€™re lights out from three, theyâ€™re competitive on the boards and theyâ€™re not sending opponents to the line that much. The turnovers are troubling, and Zach Finley would probably better serve his team by keeping his hands to himself and staying on the floor, but overall Princeton is playing very solid basketball right now.

After Army, the Tigers next three games are George Washington, California and Rutgers â€“ a trio of contests that should provide a good litmus test for how good this team really is.

â€œAnyone That Wants In, Get Inâ€¦This Team Is Going To The (Tournament).â€ â€“Jim Fassel

1. Cornell

As the New York Timesâ€™ Pete Thamel tweeted, there might be no other mid-major with two better road wins in this young season than the Big Redâ€™s victories at Alabama and Massachusetts.

Well, the schedule doesnâ€™t get any easier with Seton Hall paying a visit to Newman Arena before Cornell heads to Syracuse for a date with the Orange. The Big Red has already done itself and the league some favors by picking up those first two victories, and taking care of business against the Pirates would add another quality win to the resume for March.

You have to wonder whether Cornell could be the first Ivy team in legitimate at-large discussion since Penn was an 11 seed in 2003 or Princeton was a five seed in 1998.

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Ivy League Power Rankings: Week 1

Michael James

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Michael James

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