NEW YORK – Going into the kickoff for Ivy Madness, it seemed clear what it would take for the Penn women to upset top-ranked Princeton:
Ivy League Tournament
It’s a wide-open field in the Ivy Madness men’s semifinals
The men’s competition in the Ivy League Tournament kicks off on Saturday afternoon at Columbia University and for the first time since the advent of Ivy Madness there is no clear favorite. While the Princeton Tigers enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed and the regular season champion, each of the four teams competing on Saturday at Levien Gym legitimately has a chance to advance to the championship game on Sunday.
Let’s take a closer look at the two semifinal matchups in the men’s competition:
Reporter’s Notebook: Ivy Madness day one
NEW YORK – Welcome to Ivy Madness VI!
For the first time, the Ivy League Tournament visits New York City, home to the largest collection of Ancient Eight alumni and Levien Gymnasium. The 2,700-seat arena, situated on the heart of the Columbia campus, is the fourth smallest venue in the conference and fans are right on top of the action.
When packed, which it often has been for the 2023 and 2024 regular season championship women’s team, it can get incredibly loud and cause problems for opposing players. Fortunately for league, fans and ESPN, Levien will be packed. As of Thursday evening, the Saturday women’s final is sold out, as well as the Saturday men’s semifinals and Sunday men’s final.
There are a small number of tickets remaining for the second women’s semifinal, featuring No. 2 Columbia and No. 3 Harvard, as well as a larger number of tickets for the opening game, which pits No. 1 Princeton against long-time rival No. 4 Penn.
Over the next several days, Ivy Hoops Online will be in Morningside Heights (and watching the world-wide leader) to bring you all the action. With lots of great coverage from George Clark, Steve Silverman, Palestra Pete and Richard Kent, I’ll be around to fill in the spaces and scarf down as many snacks as possible.
Ivy League Tournament: Women’s press conference highlights
NEW YORK – The opening day of the Ivy League Tournament brought the four women’s teams to Levien Gymnasium on the campus of Columbia University.
Below are highlights of the press conferences and links to the videos. (Check out the game previews from Steve Silverman)
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:
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:
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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:
Audio PlayerColumbia women’s basketball storms past Cornell to capture second straight regular season Ivy League title
— #EDGE // #OnlyHere // #RoarLionRoar
@josh pic.twitter.com/YnvOFh6UWh— Columbia Women’s Basketball (@CULionsWBB) March 10, 2024
After needing overtime to beat Cornell and capture its first-ever Ivy League regular season championship last March, the Columbia women used a dominant second half to crush the Big Red, 82-46, and secure its second straight Ancient Eight title Saturday at Newman Arena.
The Lions (22-5, 13-1 Ivy), winners of 10 straight for the second time this season and 20 of their last 21, now head home to Morningside Heights, where they will host Ivy Madness on March 15-17.
“This was a really important moment for us, not just to win this game, but to put an exclamation point on our regular conference season and head into the Ivy League Tournament with some confidence,” Columbia coach Megan Griffith told ESPN+ immediately following the game.
Cornell (7-19, 1-13), meanwhile, completed its season with an eight-game losing streak and ended up tied for seventh in league play.
Cooley last-second shot hands Brown men’s basketball comeback win at Yale
AARON COOLEY for the WINNNNNNNNN#EverTrue x @aaronxcooley pic.twitter.com/LiMs6M8ObT
— Brown Men’s Basketball (@BrownU_MBB) March 9, 2024
Brown men’s basketball led Yale once at John J. Lee Amphitheater Saturday.
That lead, 84-81, was the final score courtesy of a last-second shot for the ages by Bears junior guard/forward Aaron Cooley, cementing a remarkable comeback win for the Bears over the Bulldogs in both teams’ regular season finales as they prepare for the Ivy League Tournament.
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:
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