2023-24 IHO preseason polls and what we’re watching for

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With the start of the 2023-24 Ivy League basketball season just nine days away, Ivy Hoops Online presents our contributors’ predicted final standings.

Finishing atop the conference in the regular season has never been less important on the men’s side given the NCAA’s announcement Friday that for the 2024 NIT, conference regular-season champions that don’t win their conference tournament or are not given an at-large slot in the men’s NCAA Tournament will not receive an automatic bid to the NIT.

That news drew pushback from Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris, who criticized not only the decision but how it came to be:

 

If you’ve missed our women’s and men’s season previews, check them out here and here, respectively. The same goes for our season preview episode of Inside Ivy Hoops.

Here’s what IHO’s contributors predict the Ivy final standings will be and what we’re watching out for this season:

MEN’S

1. Yale

2. Princeton

3. Cornell

4. Brown

5. Penn

6. Harvard

7. Dartmouth

8. Columbia

WOMEN’S

1. Princeton

2. Columbia

3. Harvard

4. Penn

5. Yale

6. Brown

7. Cornell

8. Dartmouth

Editor’s note: Rob Browne noted the 2023-24 storylines he’s looking forward to following on our season preview episode of Inside Ivy Hoops.   

Richard Kent:

I would like to see the public relations arm of the Ivy League and the universities make a genuine attempt to publicize and market the league, both locally and nationally. There are probably a total of five men’s and women’s teams that can make a difference in March, but many local and national writers, as well as members of the respective selection committees, have no idea about the league. Individual universities need to bolster their men’s and women’s attendance.

As recently as 2021-22, the Ivy men finished 31st out of the 32 Division I conferences in average attendance. This is terrible and is not representative of the league’s quality of play. Of more significance is the fact that the Columbia women were the first or second team out of the NCAA tourney and deserved to be comfortably included. We have never seen two men’s Ivy teams make the tournament, and there have been seasons in which two teams were tourney-worthy.

It was hoped that the Ivy would have held an in-person media day in New York this year since the conference tournament is at Columbia. But that never came to fruition despite the efforts of some writers and coaches. There can’t be empty seats at Levien Gym in March. The gym is small, and Ivy alumni populate the Big Apple. It would be a bad look on TV and in the media. Let’s hope these marketing efforts are made on behalf of Ivy basketball.

Steve Silverman: I’m concerned that both the men’s and women’s competitions are going to be dominated by one team: Yale on the men’s side and Princeton on the women’s side. Unlike last year and other recent years when there were co-champions and multiple contenders, I fear there may be a significant drop-off this year in the level of talent and depth across the league, except at Yale for the men and at Princeton for the women.  As a result, I fear the title races will be over relatively early and there won’t be any talk at all this year about a two-bid Ivy League.  I hope I’m wrong about this.

Nathan Solomon: Since Ivy Madness began in 2017, seven of the eight women’s basketball programs (Dartmouth being the exception) have made the tournament at least once. Though Princeton and Columbia have dominated the league of late, we tend to see parity with some of the other teams that make the show.

But on the men’s side, we haven’t. Penn and Yale have never missed Ivy Madness. Princeton has missed it once. Harvard has missed it twice. When those two teams missed out, it was always Cornell capitalizing.

I’m interested to see which of the other three men’s teams can step up and make the Ivy League Tournament. Brown is expected to have one of its better teams in recent history. Dartmouth nearly snuck in last year but lost some key pieces. Columbia brings back most of its team from last year. Will one of those teams finally make it in this season?

Ian Wenik: Can I pick a single game? Because I think I’m looking forward to Yale’s Dec. 22 trip to Allen Fieldhouse to take on preseason No. 1 Kansas more than any other Ivy nonconference game since COVID.

This Yale team is the deepest, most talented Ivy team we’ve seen since the 2012-15 Harvard dynasty. If the Bulldogs play to their potential, they could receive a No. 10 or 11 seed when it’s all said and done in March. I wouldn’t be shocked if this game wound up being a repeat of when the 2009-10 Cornell team — which wound up reaching the Sweet 16 — nearly beat No. 1 Kansas at the Phog in Jan. 2010; Sherron Collins had a game-winning and-one with 41 seconds to play to lead Kansas to a 71-66 victory.

The caveat, of course, is the assumption that Yale is healthy. Matt Knowling has been dealing with an ankle injury, and if that winds up being a long-term issue, it could drastically lower the Bulldogs’ ceiling.

3 thoughts on “2023-24 IHO preseason polls and what we’re watching for”

  1. Interesting observations all around. I respectfully disagree with my friend Steve. I think, and most coaches agree, that the talent level in the league is getting deeper. The preseason polls are predictable since the Bulldogs and Tigers (women and men) finished last season on top and all three teams return key players.
    Henderson’s team reached the Sweet 16 but was defeated by three different Ivy clubs. The Bulldogs lost four games to teams other than the Tigers. These results suggest a generally rising level of play in our league.
    On the women’s side Berube lost twice in Ivy play, an unprecedented occurrence. I have no reason to doubt that the Tigers will be pressed hard by more teams than Columbia.
    If the Tigers had lost the tournament last season I think the Ivy League would have been a two bid league for the second time in history. Such a scenario may unfold this year.

    • George, I appreciate your comment and hope you are right (and that I’m wrong). One clarification about my observation: I wasn’t suggesting that the level of play in the Ivy League is declining in general terms. Overall, I completely agree with you that the level of play in the League has steadily improved over time. My point is more of a temporary concern due to so many great players from last year with remaining eligibility either having to or choosing to leave the League, especially on the men’s side. Some of this is a residue of the lost COVID year combined with the archaic Ivy League rule forbidding grad students with eligibility from competing in the Ivy League. That rule, which has never made sense to me, arguably won’t have as much impact in future years (unless COVID strikes again). I think I’m more likely to be wrong on the women’s side than on the men’s side. By all appearances, Columbia is going to be very good again this year. Ditto for Harvard. And look out for Brown as well. Upon reflection, I think any of those teams could indeed challenge Princeton this year, who will surely be missing two great seniors from last year’s squad in Cunningham and Stone. On the men’s side, I think there will be a lot of drama for the Nos. 2-4 positions, but I’ll stick with my prediction that Yale will dominate and win the League championship.

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