The Ivy hoops postseason picture is emerging.
The Princeton men were handed the lowest seed handed to an Ivy since Penn was disrespected with a No. 16 seed in 2018, while the Columbia women were deprived of a NCAA Tournament berth altogether despite a top-50 NET ranking.
The Princeton men (21-8, 10-4 Ivy), a No. 15 seed, will play No. 2 Arizona (28-6, 14-5 Pac-12) Thursday at 4:10 p.m. in Sacramento, Calif. The game will be televised on TNT, with Brad Nessler, Brendan Haywood and Dana Jacobson on the call. Arizona (KenPom and NET No. 10) won the PAC-12 Tournament.
The Princeton women (23-5, 12-2), a No. 10 seed, will play No. 7 NC State (20-11, 9-9 ACC) Thursday in Salt Lake City at a time to be announced. The Wolfpack lost in an ACC Tournament quarterfinal matchup with Notre Dame after splitting the season series with former Princeton coach Courtney Banghart’s North Carolina, which received a No. 6 seed in a different NCAA Tournament bracket.
The Columbia women (23-5, 12-2) were left out of the NCAA Tournament entirely despite a No. 47 NET ranking and a 7-4 record against the NET top 100 that bested any other team on the ESPN Women’s Hoops bubble in winning percentage. The Lions split the season series with and tied Princeton – again, a No. 10 seed – atop the Ivy standings, but somehow, the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee couldn’t find room for the Lions in the Big Dance.
The NCAA acknowledged Columbia was one of its first four teams out of the tournament.
Selection committee chair Lisa Peterson said Columbia’s Ivy League Tournament semifinal loss in overtime to Harvard was the deciding factor in leaving the Lions out, per The Next. But a conference tournament quarterfinal loss to a quality team like Harvard ranked No. 78 in the NET shouldn’t have been a disqualifying blemish. Just Women’s Sports listed Columbia first on its list of biggest tourney snubs. Columbia had a NCAA Tournament resume, and it’s disappointing it won’t have a NCAA Tournament opportunity.
The Yale men (21-8, 10-4) drew host No. 2 Vanderbilt (20-14, 11-7 SEC) in a first-round NIT matchup slated for Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU. The Commodores fell to Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament semifinals. The originally
Columbia, Harvard and Penn all will be playing in the 64-team WNIT, with matchups and round one game times to be announced Monday. The Lions advanced to the WNIT semifinals last season.
It is bad enough that the power 5 Men cram the NCAA with so many of their teams, some far down their respective league standings, while rewarding the Ivy Champ such a low seed that nearly guarantees first round elimination.
Two comments: the 15 seed is unfortunate but understandable. The Columbia snub is both unfortunate and clearly erroneous. If Columbia had won the tournament I believe the Tigers would have received the second bid.