The Ivy League’s athletic directors just couldn’t pass up the Palestra – again.
They announced Thursday that the 2018 Ivy League Tournaments will be held at the Palestra in Philadelphia, the same site that hosted the inaugural league men’s and women’s tournaments in March.
The 2018 Ivy tournaments will be featured on the ESPN family of networks, the league announced, adding that ticket and specific broadcast information will be announced at a later date.
“The Inaugural Ivy League Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments were an unequivocal success,” conference Executive Director Robin Harris said in the league’s press release. “We featured the tremendous talent of our basketball student-athletes in an electric atmosphere, and we look forward to an even better event in 2018.”
The release notes that the top seeds won both the men’s (Princeton) and women’s (Penn) tournaments this past season, but the league’s decision to return the conference tourney to Penn’s home arena has proven divisive, with some Ivy onlookers applauding the move for using the Palestra’s atmosphere, history and capacity to showcase the Ivies, while others decried what they felt was an unfair home court advantage for Penn and an embarrassment to the league.
A pro-Penn partisan crowd cheered on the No. 4-seeded Red and Blue on the men’s side in their memorable conference tournament semifinal loss in overtime to No. 1 Princeton, a concerning development for those who wanted the No. 1 seed to be awarded a favorable conference tourney setting and have an easier path to representing the conference in the NCAA Tournament instead of playing on the home floor of its archrival.
The site for the 2019 Ivy tournaments is to be determined.
@IvyHoopsOnline Does the Ivy look good or bad if No. 4 is hosting No. 1? Does the MAAC look good or bad if Monmouth runs the table and has to travel, etc.?
— Noah Trister (@noahtrister) May 11, 2017
@IvyLeague Wow, did we not learn anything! Changing logos and swapping locker rooms does not make it neutral for higher seeds if they are not Penn!
— Tony Stephens (@TGS_Tville) May 12, 2017
Absolute disaster. Matt Howard hits two FTs, and this wouldn’t be happening again. Terrible not to learn from a near miss. https://t.co/FEx8yDWhm9
— Mike James (@ivybball) May 12, 2017
ivy tournaments will return to palestra next spring. great location, treasured building.
— Dick Weiss (@HoopsWeiss) May 11, 2017
What do you think?
A wise choice!
“Unequivocal success”? Robin Harris is paid to say this. The venue is an insult to the regular season champ (if not Penn), and a taint on any success by Penn, assuming that it is not the regular season champ. Nearly any change would be an improvement on this I’ll-conceived tournament.
PS. Please ignore above errors due to Auto Correct! (“I’ll” should read “ill”)