The Madness Tips

Ivy Basketball Tournament Schedule

Today
Women's semifinal 1 - No. 1 Columbia vs. No. 4 Penn 4:30 (ESPN+)
Women's semifinal 2 - No. 2 Princeton vs. No. 3 Harvard 7:30 (ESPN+)

Tomorrow
Men's semifinal 1 - No. 1 Yale vs. No. 4 Princeton 11:00 am (ESPNU)
Men's semifinal 2 - No. 2 Cornell vs. No. 3 Dartmouth 2 (ESPNEWS)
Women's final - 5:30 (ESPNU)

Sunday
Men's final - noon (ESPN2)

Let the Madness begin.

At least the Ivy variety.  

To be honest, to this point there has been very little that can be filed under "madness." For instance: 

* it was pretty clear early on that Columbia, Princeton and Harvard would be the top three seeds, in some order — and that's what happened

* it was pretty likely that those three teams would go unbeaten against the other five teams, and they did  — a combined 30-0

* it seemed like Yale was going to be the No. 1 seed on the men's side — and it is

*  Princeton and Cornell seemed like locks to be in the top four earlier in the season — and they're both in Providence

The biggest surprise is the presence of the Dartmouth men, who make their first appearance in an Ivy tournament. If you recall the preseason media poll, Dartmouth was picked to finish eighth. 

And so that leaves the Ivy basketball madness to be played out in the next 48+ hours. And there might very well be a lot of it.  

Princeton, by the way, is the only school represented in both fields. 

Will it take at least 90 points to win the Dartmouth-Cornell men's game? Will Princeton shoot tomorrow like it did against Penn in the regular-season finale (hint, if the Tigers do, they will almost surely be in Sunday's final; Princeton was 18 for 33 from three in that game)?

On the other hand, Princeton was 22 for 77 from deep in two games against the Bulldogs. Will that matter this time around?  

Can the Princeton women beat Harvard for a third time? If it comes to that, can Columbia's women beat Princeton for a third time? When the dust settles, will all three be in the NCAA field?

The Harvard women are the second-highest scoring team in the league, at just short of 70 points per game. In the two regular season games between Princeton and Harvard, the Crimson scored a total of 108 points (52-50 Princeton at Jadwin, 70-58 Princeton in Cambridge).  

Princeton also held Harmoni Turner, the Ivy Player of the Year, to 15 points in both games, with a combined 11 for 38 shooting, including 1 for 13 from three. Can the Tigers do that again? Will Turner go off for her 22 points per game average? 

Harvard (51.2) and Princeton (56.3) are 1-2 in the league in scoring defense. Will this game be a grind-it-out variety? Will the postseason bring out a more up-tempo 40 minutes? 

However it plays out, there will certainly be drama in Providence. And come Sunday, there will be two automatic bids having been awarded and some anxious viewing of the NCAA selections. 

Enjoy it. 

Lastly, TigerBlog wants to mention John Feinstein, the legendary sportswriter who passed away yesterday at the young age of 69. Feinstein was known best for his Washington Post columns and his many books, most famously "A Season On The Brink."

The book was about a season spent with the Indiana University men's basketball team when Bob Knight was the coach. It was the 1985-86 season, to be exact. If Knight thought he was getting a fluff book that kissed his rear end, he was sadly mistaken. 

After giving Feinstein unlimited access to the team for the whole season, Knight was surprised to see that the final product showed him for how he was, good and bad. Afterwards, Knight called Feinstein a "whore and a pimp," to which Feinstein famously replied: "I wish he'd make up his mind so I'd know how to dress."

Feinstein was a huge fan of Ivy League athletics. His last book was "The Ancient Eight," which was about a season of Ivy football. 

TigerBlog, like so many in his business, knew Feinstein was many years. He was a wonderful man, a person who exuded warmth. Every time TB saw him, no matter how much time had passed, the first thing he'd do is ask how TB's children were doing. He'd mention something TB had recently written. 

When TB heard the news yesterday, he was saddened, like so many others. 

As Ivy Madness begins, give a thought to his family and to John Feinstein. He would have loved to be courtside.