No. 11 Princeton Seizes Lead in Ivy Chase

While Harvard students have been studying for exams the past two weeks, the Ivy League men's basketball season has begun to take form and give fans a glimpse of what's to come in the next month.

Before January, Harvard's only Ivy performance had been an 80-55 trouncing of Dartmouth. However, going to Hanover on January 5, the Crimson (9-5, 3-1 Ivy) was shocked with a 57-53 loss. Harvard went into the weekend of January 9--in which Ivy League play began in earnest--hoping to decisively go over .500 in the Ivy.

While its two wins that weekend were not exactly decisive, they were enough to boost the Crimson into second place in the league before a two-week hiatus due to exams.

The men's cagers handed Columbia a 66-61 loss, and just managed to squeak out a 65-63 win over Cornell after squandering an 18-point lead.

The Crimson play Hartford at home on January 27 before heading to Brown and Yale on the 30th and 31st.

The Tigers of Princton (13-1, 2-0) are everyone's favorite to win the league right now. Ranked number 11 in the nation, they've held their opponents to fewer points per game than any other team in the nation.

During winter break, the Tigers reinforced their top 25 position by winning the Chemical Bank ECAC Holiday Tournament. In their first two league games, they beat Yale by 11 and crushed Brown by 31. While Harvard may only be one loss behind Princeton, many expect a repeat undefeated Ivy League season by the Tigers.

Behind Harvard, Yale and Cornell are currently tied for third place. The Bulldogs (7-8, 2-1 Ivy) are 6-2 since losing to Army on December 8, and split their recent Princeton-Penn weekend.

While the Bulldogs were beaten by Princeton by 11 points, they were able to beat Penn by one point in overtime. Yale will play two mediocre opponents in Dartmouth and Brown.

Cornell's recent 1,000th victory in team history might have put a bright spot on an otherwise dismal season. The Big Red (4-10, 2-1 Ivy) have shown some signs of life in January with wins over Dartmouth, Army and Columbia, but they lost to Harvard on Jan. 10 and must face the dangerous Princeton-Penn road trip at the end of the month.

The University of Pennsylvania, a perennial Ivy powerhouse, has had its woes this year after losing center Geoff Owens to hypertension for the season. Penn (6-8, 1-1 Ivy) ended a five-game skid with a win against Brown on Jan. 9, but lost to Yale in overtime the next day.

Columbia, Dartmouth, and Brown--all with losing Ivy records--currently occupy the bottom three spots in the Ancient Eight.

Columbia (5-9, 1-2 Ivy) lost to Harvard on Jan. 9 before beating Dartmouth on a buzzer-beating shot by Eric Crep on the 10th. That gave Dartmouth (3-11, 1-3 Ivy) its seventh loss in its last eight games. The Big Green's one win in that stretch came against Harvard on Jan. 5.

Brown (3-12, 0-3 Ivy) currently occupies the league cellar after losing to Penn and Princeton in its first weekend of Ivy play and then losing to Yale a week later.

For any team with aspirations in the Ivy this year, the road to the league title will inevitably pass through Princeton, New Jersey. MEN'S BASKETBALL IVY STANDINGS OVERALL  IVY Team  W  L  PCT  W  L  PCT Princeton  13  1  .929  2  0  1.000 Harvard  9  5  .643  3  1  .750 Yale  7  8  .467  2  1  .667 Cornell  4  10  .286  2  1  .667 Penn  6  8  .429  1  1  .500 Columbia  5  9  .500  1  2  .333 Columbia  3  11  .500  1  3  .250 Penn  3  12  .300  0  3  .000