AROUND THE IVIES: Men's Basketball Seeks to Expand Lead Atop Ivy League

The penultimate weekend of Ivy League play is upon us, dear reader. The allure of spring break, shining like The Strip in the far distance, is obscured by the impending cloud of midterms and blocking group drama. Housing day teasers have begun to usurp trite Buzzfeed articles on the author’s ever-prescient Facebook Timeline. As muddy ice piles grow, the Brown school newspaper’s blog has debuted a “Lana del Foreplay” column to keep spirits high amongst yet another Derrick Rose injury.

Indeed, it can only be spring.

Last weekend brought some more clarity to the Ivy League title picture. The Gentleman’s C’s continued their up and down play; a week after losing to Dartmouth, Columbia swept Brown and Yale to knock the Elis a full game back of leader Harvard. Cornell looked dispirited in consecutive losses, with its offense dropping to 307th in Ken Pomeroy’s standings.

Harvard completed a four-game home sweep with a now-characteristic dismantling of Penn and comeback victory against Princeton. It was the fourth consecutive sweep of the artists formerly known as the Killer P’s; afterwards Harvard coach Tommy Amaker praised the grit of his squad, which has won eight straight games and controlled the entire second half on Saturday.

The race has shaped up much like this year’s football one, where an unexpected Elis loss put Harvard in first and set up a climactic late-season tilt for the title. Unlike in previous years, Yale hardly wet the bed (or, as it is wont, defecate in its laundry) in the big game. A week out, a similarly titanic tilt feels inevitable. Both teams cannot—and will not—look past weekend foes and top-four Ancient Eight squads Princeton (at Yale Friday) and Columbia (vs. Harvard Saturday).

Before moving on to the games, however, I’d like to take a moment to honor the seniors. While Harvard’s senior day is not until next week, this weekend will feature the final home contest for half the league’s eldest members. From All-Ivy talents like Cornell’s Shonn Miller to key rotation players like Columbia’s Steve Frankoski, Senior Day will be a rightful celebration of the sacrifices made and careers had by the league’s greatest talents.

Frankoski in particular is emblematic of the classic archetype that has shaped the Ancient Eight race all season—the gritty veteran role player doing his job. These set doesn' include senior Miller, Dartmouth's Gabas Maldunas, or Harvard's Wesley Saunders-each unquestionably one of their team's brightest stars and the focal point of nearly each offensive set.

On Columbia, it is Cory Ostekowski—a smart, instinctive center who made six clutch free throws in the victory against Yale. Cornell has Galal Cancer, a savvy guard with good range whose 17 points were instrumental in the squad’s win over Princeton, its best victory over the season. Penn’s Greg Louis is his team’s second best shooter, a reserve who ranks second on the team in rebounding.

Harvard’s Jonah Travis is the quintessential example of this stereotype. Sidelined at the beginning of the season with injuries, Travis has been the Crimson’s first big man off the bench during its eight-game run and its most savvy inside player. An expert in drawing contact at the rim, Travis uses excellent footwork and sneaky pump fakes to draw defenders in the air—going around them for easy layups or into them to draw fouls. The team rallies around him; if junior co-captain Siyani Chambers is its heart, Travis is its motor.

Travis, Ostekowski, Princeton’s Ben Hazel, and Yale’s Armani Cotton—forgive the trite saying—will not draw the headlines. Yet, all will feature heavily into how the league shakes out. Don’t sleep on these guys.

Without further delay, onto the games.

DARTMOUTH AT COLUMBIA

Save Chambers skipping Saturday’s game to appear on Chopped, the most surprising Ivy League athletics event of the week will be the introduction of new Columbia Lions football coach Al Bagnoli. After serving 23 years on the sidelines for Penn, Bagnoli announced he’d retire after this year…only to, three months after retirement, sign with the Lions.

Bagnoli’s move—from the faded, once great empire of Penn football to the empty, shriveling carcass of Columbia’s program—is without comparison. I’d compare it to if Charlie Sheen traded his life in 2004 for his life in 2014—everyone involved thinks they are winning, but everyone on the outside knows nobody is.

Pick: Columbia

PRINCETON AT YALE

Had last Saturday’s result gone the other way, the Tigers’ season would look completely different. At 6-3 in the Ancient Eight and just a couple five-minute stretches away from 8-1, Princeton fans could not only talk up their chances this week but also moving forward. The team’s best wings are young, and freshman guard Amir Bell is as good as any rookie not named Kyle Castlin.

But there’s a flipside to the coin. Outside of junior Hans Brase, the team struggles on the defensive glass, and Spencer Weisz hasn’t been able to take over games in Ivy League play. The group comes into New Haven against an angry Yale squad and a Player of the Year candidate in senior Justin Sears who had 25 and nine against them last time out. The Elis’ title hopes will ostensibly end if they lose here, and the players are well aware.

Pick: Yale

PENN AT BROWN

Underreported last week was Brown’s 17-point comeback against Cornell, with the Bears fighting off 27 points from Miller. Brown has won three of last five games since starting the Ancient Eight season 0-5 in league play. The Bears have rallied since the departure of Leland King, and was maybe two minutes away from having wins over both Harvard and Yale.

Penn, on the other hand, looks like it might be the worst team the league has seen in a decade. Star guard Tony Hicks was just suspended for the third time in three years. The school newspaper quoted one of the assistant coaches this week as saying that “this year in so many ways was about more than wins and losses.”

Howard, hold a second. I do believe that’s Lombardi puking six feet under.

Pick: Brown

HARVARD AT CORNELL

One of the most startling facts of the Crimson’s four-year run is the 22-4 road record the team has posted over the stretch. Harvard coach Tommy Amaker, not getting the buzz he should for Ivy League Coach of the Year, is a master of motivation, preaching that the team be “tough and together” on the road. Against a Cornell team boasting a 308th-ranked offense, Harvard should be turning its focus to Columbia 10 minutes into the second half.

Pick: Harvard

DARTMOUTH AT CORNELL

The elven mavens of Hanover have flailed since an early season win over Harvard that looks more and more flukish with each passing weekend. Lead guard Alex Mitola is down to 40-percent shooting on the year, and only one rotation player is shooting better than 50 percent. However, Cornell police may have discovered the next Walter White—arresting a twenty-something holding 250 bags of heroin this week.

Better Call Saul, as the kids say.

Pick: Dartmouth

PENN AT YALE

After an unverified report came in last fall demonstrating that Yale’s undergraduate education routinely fluctuated between the “third … and fifteenth”-best in the country, its law school was the subject of this week’s putdown—ranking 14th in the National Law Journal’s annual rankings. In the same study, Penn ranked second.

Does that have any bearing on this game? Does Darien Nelson-Henry have what it takes to handle Justin Sears down low? Does a wolf look both ways before it marks its territory?

Sadly, the answer to all three is ‘likely not’.

Pick: Yale

PRINCETON AT BROWN

Harvard extended its winning streak over the Tigers to four games with a rousing comeback Saturday at Lavietes. Junior co-captain Siyani Chambers was the hero late—notching a steal and layup to give Harvard a late two-point lead and clinching the game with a jumper from the top of the key.

A bright spot emerged this week among the somnolent darkness in the form of The Daily Princetonian’s online content. Debuting what I hope becomes a weekly feature about the failings of furry rodents, the newspaper published a seminal work on, and I quote, “10 Reasons Squirrels Are The Worst.”

While not quite the excellence that was former Crimson president Samuel Y. Weinstock’s ’15 scintillating account of urban biomes, entitled “Yard Service Recycle Leaves into Mulch,” I commend Princeton for its efforts. Stay classy, men.

Pick: Princeton

HARVARD AT COLUMBIA

Over Harvard’s ridiculous road stretch, the routinely most challenging location has been Columbia’s Levein Gymnasium. Two years ago, the Crimson waited through a Saturday snowstorm delay only to be smoked by 15. Last year, a game-winning shot by Alex Rosenberg was called off on a questionable charge, and the Lions fell in double overtime.

Columbia guard Maodo Lo, who nearly carried Columbia to a victory in Harvard two weeks ago, is clicking on all cylinders—averaging 25.5 points a game last weekend. The Chairman has a wicked crossover, good vision, and a silky-smooth three-point shot. Asked about him Wednesday, Amaker—who watched his best wing defenders flail attempting to contain Lo last time out—shook his head and offered a succinct description of the man they call the “Chairman.”

“He’s…he’s good.”

Pick: Harvard

—Staff writer David Freed can be reached at david.freed@thecrimson.com.