Ivy Madness

No. 4 Brown v. No. 1 Princeton: Ivy League Tournament women’s semifinal preview

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The No. 1-seeded Princeton women’s basketball team takes on No. 4 Brown on Friday at 4:30 p.m. in the first of two semifinal matches to open the eighth edition of Ivy Madness at Newman Arena on the Cornell campus in Ithaca, N.Y.

With a freshly minted, outright Ivy League regular season title under their belt, the Tigers, ranked No. 23 in the nation, enter the Ivy League Tournament as the favorites to cut down the nets.

The Brown Bears, on the other hand, arrive at Ivy Madness for the first time in nine years and just the second time in program history.

Carla Berube’s Tigers swept Monique LeBlanc’s Bears in the regular season series, persevering in a competitive game in Providence, 58-49, on Jan. 24, and then overpowering the Bears in the return matchup at Princeton, 69-37, on Feb. 21. 

Overall, Princeton has dominated Brown this century, winning 43 of the last 52 meetings between the two programs dating back to the 1999-2000 season.

Berube has never lost to Brown during her seven-year coaching tenure at Princeton. In fact, the Tigers are riding a 17-game winning streak against the Bears, dating back to the 2016-17 campaign.

What should we expect to see in the third clash this season and 94th overall meeting between these two rivals? 

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Quakeaways for Penn men’s basketball heading into Ivy League Tournament

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Penn men’s basketball left no doubt on Friday night that it is a serious contender to win the Ivy League Tournament with a relatively easy blowout road win over Brown, 82-61.

The game itself? Well, it meant nothing in the standings. The Quakers (16-11, 9-5 Ivy) have been locked into a No. 3 vs. No. 2 game with Harvard in the league’s conference tournament for roughly a week. The Bears (9-18, 3-11) already were a cinch for last place.

Penn allowed Brown to score on its first possession but never trailed again.

Instead of expounding at length on the minutiae of the Quakers’ regular season finale itself, we’ll use these Quakeaways to spin forward and set expectations for what Penn will need to do to beat the Crimson and set itself up for a shot at its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2018.

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Cornell men’s basketball buries Dartmouth, takes momentum into Ivy League Tournament

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Pictured is the scoreboard at Leede Arena in Hanover, N.H. after Cornell men’s basketball’s 111-90 win at Dartmouth on March 7, 2026. (Ray Curren/Ivy Hoops Online)

HANOVER, N.H. – When we last left the Cornell men’s basketball team, it had given up 100 points or more in three straight Ivy League losses and didn’t seem to have many answers, seemingly on its way to being the third straight Ivy Madness hosts to not qualify for postseason play.

Fast forward six weeks, and the Big Red will not only be on the court in Ithaca next week, but it wouldn’t be shocking to see them win it.

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Harvard women’s basketball locks up Ivy League Tournament berth, eliminating Penn

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The Harvard women’s basketball team punched its ticket to Ivy Madness on Friday night with a home win against Penn, 60-46 – but not before the Quakers gave the Crimson a scare.

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2025-26 IHO Men’s Preseason Poll

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The 2025-26 Ivy men’s basketball season tips off Friday, so it’s time for Ivy Hoops Online’s preseason poll – not to be confused with the Ivy League-released media preseason poll. Here’s how our contributors collectively predict the league will shake out, with select observations from some of them:

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Kent: Why Ivy League men’s media day was another lost opportunity for the conference

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If you were one of the 46 people tuned into the Ivy League’s men’s media day hosted by the Field of 68 and Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman Tuesday, then you learned a lot on certain topics.

You know the difference between Boston and Cambridge. You are schooled in the athletic prowess of Goodman. You have a good feel about 2K games. You certainly know who the best dunkers are on most of the teams. You might be able to bet on Mitch Henderson winning a one-on-one basketball game. You were told that James Jones was once a great card player and was known as the professor. You even heard about a guard at The Palestra.

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Handicapping the Columbia and Penn men’s basketball coaching changes

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The Penn and Columbia men’s basketball coaching jobs are both open. There has been much speculation and more rumors.

What we know is neither team is in the postseason, but some of the candidates are. Penn has hired Georgia-based Parker Executive Search, an executive search firm.

Columbia athletic director Peter Pilling is handling the Columbia search. Pilling made a great hire on the women’s side in Megan Griffith in 2016 and should know talent when he sees it. He was at Ivy Madness on Friday and Saturday and played all conversations close to the vest. Every candidate will want to know definitively if there will be some form of NIL available.

The candidates and the odds:

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NCAA Tournament matchups set for Ivy League teams, with record-high three women’s bids

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The Ivy League’s men’s and women’s NCAA Tournament representatives are set, with a record-high four of them thanks to #3bidivy achieved on the women’s side:

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Ivy men’s final: No. 1 Yale takes Ivy League Tournament title in 90-84 shootout over No. 2 Cornell

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Yale men’s basketball celebrates its 2025 Ivy League Tournament championship at the Pizzitola Sports Center (Steve Silverman | Ivy Hoops Online)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Faced with a 16-point deficit early in the second half against the conference’s best team, Cornell staged a furious rally to get within a single possession on several occasions. But Yale always found a way to hold on and came away with a hard-fought 90-84 win to claim the 2025 men’s Ivy League Tournament championship.

“You know, it’s a hard game between us and Cornell, what you might expect playing the team a third time,” Jones told the media after the award ceremony. “I thought our guys battled and played really tough.”

Celebrating on the floor of Brown’s Pizzitola Sports Center, the Bulldogs (22-7) hoisted their second straight Ivy League Tournament trophy and fourth overall. James Jones’ squad, the first to win the conference tournament as the top seed since Princeton did it in 2017, will wait a few hours to hear its name called for next week’s NCAA Tournament.

“A tough game, obviously, Yale is really hard to beat, as someone in the tournament is going to find out in a week, Cornell coach Jon Jaques told the media immediately after the game. “You know, I thought we gave him a really good punch.”

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Ivy women’s final: No. 3 Harvard outlasts No. 1 Columbia, 74-71, to win Ivy League Tournament

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The Harvard women’s basketball team celebrates after winning the women’s Ivy League Tournament championship game over top seed Columbia at the Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, R.I. Saturday. (Steve Silverman | Ivy Hoops Online)

The question entering Saturday’s Ivy League Tournament championship game between No. 3 Harvard and No. 1 Columbia was, “What can Harmoni Turner do for an encore?”

The answer: Win a championship.

The senior guard who exploded for a record-setting 44 points against Princeton in Friday night’s semifinal delivered a game-high 24 points, two rebounds, four assists and three steals to lead Harvard past Columbia, 74-71, for the Crimson’s first Ivy League Tournament championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It’s Harvard’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 2007.

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