Tournament Time

If all goes well for Princeton and Cornell fans, then Sunday would offer a pretty good TV doubleheader.

Princeton and Cornell will play in men's lacrosse Sunday at 2 on ESPNU. That game, which will be on Sherrerd Field, is a definite. 

The Ivy League men's basketball tournament championship game will tip off at noon on ESPN2 Sunday. If both teams win their semifinal games tomorrow, then it would be Princeton and Cornell again.

Standing in the way of that doubleheader are Brown and Yale, whose men's basketball teams will play Princeton and Cornell in the men's semifinals tomorrow. The first semi will be the Tigers and Bears at 11 on ESPNU, followed by Cornell-Yale at 2 on ESPNEWS. 

The tournament, which is being held at Columbia, starts today with the women's semifinals, which are both on ESPN+. Game 1 is at 4:30 between Princeton and Penn, and Game 2 follows at 7:30 between Columbia and Harvard.

The women's final is tomorrow at 5, on ESPNEWS.

The winner of each tournament gets the league's automatic NCAA tournament bid. Will it be a two-bid Ivy? Nobody wants to be the ones who find that out come Sunday's Selection Shows.

It was pretty clear early on that on the men's side, it would be Princeton, Yale and Cornell in some order for the top three seeds. It was also pretty much considered obvious that it was a huge advantage to be No. 1, and not only because it means that you won the league championship — which Princeton did outright.

The idea was that avoiding the other two teams in the semifinal would be an easier path, but somebody forgot to tell Brown that. Here are the overall Ivy records of the top four:

Princeton 12-2
Yale/Cornell 11-3
Brown 8-6

That's a pretty big drop from the top three to fourth, no?

Ah, but if you look at the standings for just the last six games of the Ivy season, this is what you see:

Princeton 6-0
Brown 6-0
Cornell 4-2
Yale 3-3

That should get everyone's attention, no?

Princeton defeated Brown twice this season, winning 70-60 in Providence and 72-63 in Princeton. The game in Princeton was on Feb. 16; Brown has not lost since.

In its six games prior to that, Brown was 1-5. What's been the big difference? Brown averaged 69.3 points per game in that 1-5 streak and then 76.5 in the winning streak. Brown allowed 74.2 points per game in the 1-5 run and now has allowed 69.3 in the winning streak. 

Those swings make a huge difference. Princeton, by the way, is the No. 1 defensive team in the league at 65.1 per game and the No. 3 offensive team, at 77 per game.

For the women, Princeton and Columbia split their two games and went 12-0 against everyone else. Will they meet in the final? 

Harvard was 9-5 in the league, and Penn was 7-7. Princeton will be six days removed from a 72-55 win over the Quakers, by the way, when they meet today.

A year ago, Princeton and Columbia were both 12-2, followed by 9-5 Harvard and Penn. The semifinal matchups were the same as they were this year. 

Harvard, though, knocked off Columbia, setting up a championship game against Princeton, which the Tigers won. 

What's the point of all of this? Things don't always work out the way you think they will.

Also, remember how many times you've heard "Defense wins championships?" If you look at the Ivy League women's basketball stats, you'll see that Princeton is first in scoring defense and then Columbia, Harvard and Penn are 4-5-6. 

Scoring offense? The four tournament teams rank 1-2-3-4, in this order: Columbia, Princeton, Harvard, Penn.

Oh, and the lacrosse game? 

Princeton and Cornell have won by far the most Ivy titles in men's lacrosse history. The rivals have ended the season against each other for the last 15 years, but the schedule has changed to see them open with each other. 

The Ivy League figures to be its usual wild competitive self in men's lacrosse this season. Each game will be huge. 

If you can't get to Princeton Sunday, you can watch this one on ESPNU.

Hopefully it'll be Game 2 of at least a Tiger doubleheader.