At the midpoint of the Ivy League season, the Princeton men’s basketball team sits in a familiar position: tied for first place in a crowded field of evenly matched teams. At 5-2 in conference play, the Tigers are tied atop the league standings with their new rival, the Cornell Big Red. Lurking not far behind is an upsurging Dartmouth team and resurging Yale squad each at 4-3, while three other teams – Brown, Harvard and Penn – remain within striking distance with a record of 3-4. Only one team in the Ancient Eight – Columbia – appears to be out of the running with a conference record of 1-6.
Despite the congestion in the standings, Princeton sits in an enviable position to win their second consecutive regular season title. First, with every team having seven games remaining, the Tigers will contest five of those on their home court, the most of any team in the conference. Moreover, Princeton’s home matchups come against the three teams most likely to challenge the Tigers for a title: Cornell, Yale and Penn. Hold serve in those three games, and the Tigers almost certainly will succeed in defending their title.
The quest begins this Friday for what promises to be the most anticipated game of the conference season so far. Brian Earl and his Cornell squad return to Jadwin Gym for a clash of teams tied for first place in the League standings. The Tigers defeated Cornell in Ithaca on January 7, 75-68, in what might have been Princeton’s most complete performance of the season. Five different players scored in double-digits for the Tigers, including freshman swingman Deven Austin, who tallied 15 points off the bench for the Orange and Black.
If the Tigers can prevail again over the Big Red at Jadwin, where they are 9-1 during the Mitch Henderson era, they will have swept the regular-season series and wrestled away sole possession of first place in the Ivy League. Needless to say, all eyes across the League will be focused on Jadwin Gym Friday night.
But even if Princeton manages to knock off Cornell at home, I believe an old nemesis, the Yale Bulldogs, will likely challenge the Tigers down the stretch for the regular season title. The Bulldogs played a spectacular second half against Princeton last weekend, defeating the Tigers 87-65. It was the largest margin of defeat for Princeton in over two years.
The formula Yale used to tame the Tigers was a familiar one: tenacious defense combined with dominant rebounding. While many focused on Yale’s unconscious shooting as the key factor in the win, especially in the second half when the Bulldogs netted 72.4% of their shots, it was actually Yale’s defensive effort that secured the comeback win for the home team. Yale held Princeton to 29 points in the second half and out rebounded the Tigers 36-29 for the game. It was the worst rebounding margin of the season for Mitch Henderson’s squad, which has made rebounding a calling card in recent years.
Princeton has had tremendous success this season when it holds its opponent under 70 points, a reflection of the emphasis Henderson has placed on defense this season. In this respect, Princeton appears to be trying to mimic Yale’s style of play under coach James Jones. But Jones’ Bulldogs showed in the second half of its matchup with Princeton last Saturday that Yale remains the bully in the Ivy League, not Princeton.
For that reason, I recommend keeping a close eye on Yale over the next four weeks as I continue to believe they are the team to beat in the Ivy League. The Bulldogs have won four of their last five games, and appear to have rediscovered their swagger after a surprisingly slow start to the Ivy League season. However, the Bulldogs face a challenging schedule over the next month with five of their last seven regular season games coming on the road.
The key game of the entire Ivy League regular season will take place on Sat., Feb. 18, when Yale invades Jadwin Gym for the rematch with Princeton on the second night of a back-to-back weekend. Perhaps Princeton’s old rival, the Penn Quakers, can take some of the air out of Yale’s tires the night before.
In the meantime, no team can afford to look too far ahead with daunting matchups looming in every contest. Given the parity in the Ivy League this season, it looks like 10 wins might be enough to secure at least a share of the regular season title and no team is better positioned than Princeton to notch double-digit conference wins as we head down the stretch toward Ivy Madness.