Princeton Falls Early

The preseason favorite to win the Ivy League held onto that position for just 40 minutes, as Princeton fell to Brown 58-53 at Jadwin Gym last Friday.

The Tigers loss added credence to the growing opinion that the race for the Ancient Eight title could be as wide open as any in recent history.

Penn, however, might have something to say about that. The Quakers held serve at The Palestra, spanking both the Bears and the Bulldogs by 20-plus points and rising to the top of the Ivy standings as the league’s lone remaining undefeated team.

With wins over Harvard and Dartmouth, Columbia solidified its second-place position, but the true test for the Lions looms two weeks down the road in the form of trips to Princeton and Penn.

With that, let’s get to this week’s games:

GAME OF THE WEEK: PENN (9-7, 2-0 IVY) vs. PRINCETON (10-6, 1-1)

At this point, the Tigers have zero margin for error.

If Penn runs the table against Harvard and Dartmouth this weekend and defeats the Tigers at The Palestra Tuesday night, Princeton’s hopes for a return date to the Big Dance would be nearly shot.

Last year, the situation was reversed. The Quakers started the Ivy season 0-2 and needed a big win at Jadwin Gym to keep its Ivy title hopes alive. Penn won easily, but a home loss to Brown finally did the Quakers in.

In a high-stakes rivalry game, it’s tough not to go with the home team, and the Tigers haven’t shown enough so far to prove that they can leave The Palestra with a win.

COLUMBIA (12-5, 3-1) vs. BROWN (8-8, 1-1)

The Ivy League picture should begin to take shape as these two upper division foes battle it out in Levien Gym on Saturday.

The Lions beat the Bears 81-74 on the last weekend of Ivy play last season to drop Brown into a tie with Penn for second place in the league. This time around, Columbia could drop the Bears even further down in the standings, and further solidify its own position in the upper division of the Ancient Eight. It all depends on which Brown squad shows up in New York.

COLUMBIA (12-5, 3-1) vs. YALE (4-11, 0-2)

It’s Jones vs. Jones part three, as Columbia coach Joe Jones takes on his brother, Yale coach James Jones.

So far, the series is split with each side taking its home date, including the Lions’ 88-79 double-overtime win over the Bulldogs at Levien Gym to close out the 2003-2004 season.

This weekend will be crucial for both sides, but possibly more so for Yale. The expectations for this Bulldogs squad, which was picked to finish third behind Penn and Princeton in the preseason media poll, are such that a 1-3 or 0-4 start would be completely unacceptable, even on the road. Look for Yale to bounce back with a big weekend and possibly a New York sweep.

CORNELL (7-10, 2-2) vs. BROWN (8-8, 1-1)

Brown must leave the New York trip with a sweep to keep pace with Penn, and while Columbia should seemingly draw all the attention, the Bears would be remiss to overlook Cornell.

While the Big Red fell to Harvard last weekend and staved off a late surge from lowly Dartmouth, the squad does have a 77-47 drubbing of Columbia on its resume, in which it led by 21 points at the half.

With all the buildup to a possible second-place showdown between the Lions and Bears on Saturday, Brown must take care of business against Cornell first.

And if the Bears play as well as they did the previous Friday night against Princeton, that shouldn’t be much of a problem.

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.