Four takeaways from the super Saturday semifinals at the Ivy League Tournament

After watching two scintillating semifinal games in the men’s basketball tournament at Lavietes Pavilion on Saturday, here are four takeaways from the perspective of a diehard Princeton fan:

The Ivy League’s brightest stars sparkled luminously on Saturday 

All of the key players from the four semifinalist teams came up big when it mattered most, starting with the Ivy League Player of the Year, Tosan Evbuomwan.  The Princeton big man struggled to get on track in the first half of the opening semifinal on Saturday, scoring only three points against a stubborn Cornell squad.  But he exploded in the second half for 18 points, including an epic game winning drive that echoed a similar clincher in the same building two weeks ago against Harvard. 

Meanwhile, Yale’s Azar Swain, a first-team All-Ivy point guard, dazzled a boisterous crowd with a team-high 25 points in Yale’s triumph over Penn. The two other first-team All-Ivy selections who performed on Saturday likewise rose to the occasion. Jaelin Llewellyn registered a powerful opening statement with his 17 points in the first half versus Cornell, while Penn’s Jordan Dingle simply was unstoppable in tallying a game-high 28 points in a losing cause against Yale.

The top seed has won every game in the tournament so far

Including the three games in the women’s bracket, the chalk has prevailed in all five Ivy Madness games so far with one big game yet to be played on Sunday.  This tends to suggest that despite all of the talk of parity in the Ivy League this season, there really is a pecking order in the conference, which has been validated by a slate of tournament games mostly played on a neutral court.

The atmosphere for the games has been intense 

Despite the absence of the host school in the men’s bracket, Lavietes Pavilion has been packed with loud and enthusiastic boosters. The compact layout of the gym contributes to making every game feel like a pressure cooker. The players, coaches, and fans have responded to this environment with intensity and excellence. This is Ivy League basketball at its best.

Sunday’s championship game pitting Princeton against Yale is likely to be an epic slugfest 

If you thought the Princeton-Cornell semifinal matchup was a barnburner, just wait until you see Sunday’s showdown between the top two seeds to determine who represents the Ivy League in the men’s NCAA tournament. Princeton and Yale clearly are the best two teams in the conference this year and it’s only fitting after splitting their season series during the regular season that these two rivals should meet again in a rubber match. The championship game on Sunday promises to be a physical battle that likely will come down to the final possession. 

While Princeton has slightly better talent than Yale this year, the Bulldogs are probably the more physical team and that worries me as a Princeton fan. The Tigers found themselves on the ropes against Cornell on Saturday because they were outmuscled for most of the second half, especially on the glass.  Princeton didn’t gather a single offensive rebound against Cornell until the final three minutes of the game, when a series of offensive rebounds saved the game for the Tigers.  If Yale dominates the boards tomorrow against Princeton the way Cornell did today, my guess is that the Bulldogs will prevail. 

The biggest question entering Sunday’s championship contest is whether the Tigers match Yale’s physicality. If they do, they’ll win the game and cut down the nets for the second time this season.  If not, look for the Bulldogs to pull the first seeding upset of the tournament on the Ivy League’s biggest stage.