AROUND THE IVIES: Fewer Title Hopefuls As League Enters Stretch

And down the stretch they come!

Unfortunatly for fans of exciting finishes and tight races, the list of teams with a realistic chance of gaining the Ivy League’s automatic bid has dwindeled down to two. Penn remains the odds-on choice, as it has been all year. The Quakers hold an 8-1 record in league play and their remaining games are either at home, or against teams making up the lower half of the league, or, in the case of Brown next weekend, both. Right behind them in the standings is Yale, although to catch Penn, the Bulldogs must win in Philadelphia next weekend, somthing they have not done since the 1996-97 season. Cornell stands only one-and-a-half game behind the Quakers with a 7-3 mark although it has already lost twice to Penn and must win out and hope the Quakers lose twice, which is unlikely. The meeting between the Bid Red and Yale tomorrow will determine which schoolstays alive in the title race. The teams outside the top three are playing for a winning record, pride, or their coach's job in the case of Princeton.

A look at this weekend’s crucial and not-so-crucial games.

CORNELL [14-10, 7-3 Ivy] at YALE {12-11, 8-2 Ivy]

Easily the most exciting matchup of the weekend. Two weeks ago in Ithaca, the Big Red eked out a 60-59 squeker when Bulldog forward Casey Hughes missed two free throws with two seconds left. Hughes is questionable against Cornell this time around with an injury which might not seem like such a bad thing to the Bulldog faithful after his not-so-clutch performance the last time out. Unfortunately for Yale, Hughes has also been the team’s best frontcourt player and without him, the Bulldogs will be undermanned against big Cornell center Andrew Naeve, who has been playing well recently. And while the Lee Amphitheatre may have the rowdiest fans in the league, the Big Red showed some road toughness last weekend by hanging with Penn for most of the game, despite the Quakers’ rough crowd and superior talent. If Hughes plays, Cornell wins by one again. If Hughes sits, Big Red by seven.

PRINCETON [11-12, 2-7 Ivy] at DARTMOUTH [8-15, 3-7 Ivy]

Dartmouth’s 45-44 win at Princeton two weeks ago was not only its first win in Jadwin Gym in 20 years, it was the arguably the biggest sign of the year that the Tigers are going in the wrong direction under Joe Scott. Yet Princeton’s win against Columbia last week showed no one from that fabled program has given up. Expect a spirited effort from the visitors in a revenge effort and a five-point Tiger win.

COLUMBIA [13-11, 4-6 Ivy] at BROWN [9-16, 4-6 Ivy]

Brown must have done something right to hold a team besides Princeton to 35 points or less when it beat Dartmouth 55-33 last weekend. It probably doesn’t need to hold Columbia to that few points to win this game. Bears by four.

PENN [17-8, 8-1 Ivy] at HARVARD [10-14, 3-7 Ivy]

Talent-wise, this game looks like no contest. Yet despite Penn’s superior athleticism, Harvard hung with the league leaders for most of the matchup at the Palestra before the Quakers pulled away late. The Crimson shut down Penn’s three-point shooting attack in that game, but was overwhelmed inside. If the interior defense for the home team can improve, and if the big men stay out of foul trouble, Harvard will have a fighting chance. Yet the Quakers still have too much talent and will take it by five.

COLUMBIA at YALE

Yale coach James Jones has won five straight against his brother Joe, the Columbia coach. That trend should continue into next season as the Lions’ disapointing season rolls towards an end.

CORNELL at BROWN

The Big Red have the edge in the backcourt, with freshmen sensations Louis Dale and Ryan Wittman, along with veteran Graham Dow. It also has the advantage up front with big man Naeve. That adds up to about a nine-point win for Cornell, snapping Brown’s surprising three-game winning streak.

PENN at DARTMOUTH

Do you expect the best team in the league to lose to a team that scored 33 points in a game twice this year? Yes one was against top-10 team Kansas when the Big Green had many injury problems. The other, however, was last week against Brown, the same Bears team that looked like it was the worst team in the league for most of the season. Quakers by 13.

PRINCETON at HARVARD

This is probably the Crimson’s best remaining chance for a win this season. With some better free-throw shooting at Princeton, Harvard would likely have won that game. Now it goes against a Tiger team that may be without one of its top players, forward Kyle Koncz, who has battled a foot injury recently. Koncz has trouble playing on the second night of back-to-back games, though that didn’t prevent him from playing in that situation last week. If the Crimson can get offense from someone besides Drew Housman, it has a very good chance to win this game. While its struggles against Princeton are well-documented, beating the Tigers is not impossible. Harvard won 61-57 in Lavietes two years ago. A win now would not get rid of all the horrors of past meetings, but would definitely be another step in the right direction. Crimson by five.

—Staff Writer Ted Kirby can be reached at tjkirby@fas.harvard.edu.