It’s déjà vu all over again on women’s side as Ivy Madness kicks off in New York City

The Ivy League Tournament kicks off on Friday night at Levien Gym with an exciting slate of semifinal games in the women’s competition.

The bracket this year has a familiar look as the same four teams from last year’s tournament will face off against each other in this year’s edition of Ivy Madness.  

The No. 1 Princeton Tigers, co-champions during the regular season, will take on the No. 4 Penn Quakers, while the No. 2 and co-champion Columbia Lions will seek to avenge a disappointing loss in last year’s semifinal against the No. 3 Harvard Crimson.  

Let’s take a closer look at each of these semifinal matchups:

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WATCH: Q&A with Princeton women’s basketball coach Carla Berube

In an in-depth interview with Ivy Hoops Online contributor Steve Silverman Tuesday ahead of this weekend’s Ivy League Tournament, Princeton women’s basketball coach Carla Berube talks about the challenge of beating tournament opponent Penn three times in one season, whether the team has a chip on its shoulder, how the team prepares for multiple potential tourney opponents and much more:

 

LISTEN: Tiger Takeaways from Princeton men’s basketball’s win at Penn to clinch Ivy title

Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark shares his thoughts on a 105-83 win for Princeton (24-3, 12-2 Ivy) at Penn (11-18, 3-11) Saturday that clinched the Tigers an outright Ivy League championship:

Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 105-83 loss to Princeton

Penn’s Ivy campaign came to a miserable end on Saturday night as the Quakers made history for all the wrong reasons.

The Quakers turned in a defensive no-show against rival Princeton in a 105-83 loss at the Palestra. The 100-piece was the first time either Penn (11-18, 3-11 Ivy) or Princeton (24-3, 12-2) scored 100 points in a rivalry that has spanned 250 games (shoutout to Ivy Hoops Online contributor Steven Tydings for the lookup).

Princeton sealed an outright Ivy League title and kept its hopes of attaining an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament alive with the breezy victory. The Tigers never trailed on Saturday night and shot an absurd 17-for-27 from three-point range, good for a 63% clip. Princeton has now beaten Penn 11 times in a row.

After a nonconference campaign that inspired reason for genuine hope, Penn wound up posting its worst Ivy season since 1956-57. That iteration of the Red and Blue also went 3-11 in league play.

What could Penn fans take away from a moribund evening?

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LISTEN: Princeton men’s basketball postgame press comments after clinching outright Ivy title with 105-83 win at Penn

Coach Mitch Henderson, senior forward Zach Martini and sophomore forward Caden Pierce reflect postgame on a 105-83 win for Princeton (24-3, 12-2 Ivy) at Penn (11-18, 3-11) Saturday that clinched the Tigers an outright Ivy League championship:

Princeton women’s basketball beats Penn to secure sixth straight Ivy League title

The Princeton women’s basketball team celebrated Senior Day on Saturday afternoon at Jadwin Gymnasium by beating the Penn Quakers, 72-55, for a sixth straight Ivy League regular season title. 

It was a triumphant day for Princeton’s spectacular troika of seniors:  Kaitlyn Chen, Ellie Mitchell and Chet Nweke.  Chen finished the game with 19 points on 9-for-13 shooting and 11 assists, a career high for the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year.  Asked by the ESPN+ broadcast crew to reflect on having played her final game at Jadwin Gym, Chen said,  “I honestly don’t think it’s hit me yet.  It just sort of felt like another game.  We had a job to do and we did it.”

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A two-banner weekend could be in store for Princeton basketball

Every basketball season at Princeton begins with the same goal: Win an Ivy League championship.  This weekend, both the men’s and women’s programs have an opportunity to accomplish their primary mission by winning at least a share of the regular season Ivy League title.  All they have to do is close out the regular season with a win over their most enduring rival, the Penn Quakers.

With championships on the line for both Princeton teams, let’s take a look at the prospects for each program winning a new banner and earning the right to cut down the nets on Saturday:

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Princeton women’s basketball dismisses Dartmouth, 68-42, to complete weekend Ivy sweep

It was virtually a foregone conclusion that the Princeton women’s basketball team would beat the last-place Dartmouth Big Green  on the second leg of a back-to-back weekend on Saturday afternoon at Jadwin Gymnasium.  

The only real questions coming into this contest were how many points Princeton would win by and whether the Tigers could use the game to regain its swagger.  

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LISTEN: Thoughts on Princeton men’s basketball after its 79-77 win over Cornell

Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark sizes up a scintillating 79-77 win for (23-3, 11-2 Ivy) over Cornell (21-6, 10-3) Saturday at a sold-out Jadwin Gym:

Cornell men’s basketball drops crucial game at Princeton, 79-77

When the final horn sounded at a sold out Jadwin Gymnasium, Cornell had to think back to last weekend.

The Big Red fell to Princeton 79-77 on Saturday, making it a split with the Tigers on the season. But that’s not what sunk Cornell in the fight for a share of the regular-season title and the top seed in Ivy Madness. The fatal flaw came last weekend, losing to Brown at Newman Arena.

Still, the Big Red could have redeemed themselves in front of a white-hot Princeton squad.

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