Harvard at Princeton, 5:00 PM Eastern, ESPNU
We recorded two podcasts last night, our latest Bracket Rundown (CLICK HERE) and our Championship Week Video Notebook (CLICK HERE).
In tonight’s second-to-last edition of the Under the Radar Game of the Day, we return to the Ivy league for one last chance to feature one of only two teams in the entire nation that have not lost a single game against their conference competition. Vermont, which plays in the America East semifinals on Monday night, is one of those teams. The other is Princeton, 10-0 in the Ivy and 19-6 overall. If this was any year before this one, the Tigers would be looking to clinch the Ivy League’s automatic bid tonight as a home win over Harvard (10-2 in conference, 18-7 overall) would lock up the outright regular season title. That is not true anymore, as the first ever Ivy league tournament will be played next weekend, and these two teams will be the top two seeds in that four team event.
The visiting Harvard Crimson have won six straight games since suffering a one point home loss to Princeton back on February 4. Siyani Chambers led his team in that game with 17 points while Justin Bassey was a force on the boards, pulling down 10 rebounds. For Princeton, Steven Cook scored 19 points and grabbed 9 rebounds, while three other players, including Spencer Weisz, were in double figures in scoring. If Harvard is able to pull off the road upset, Princeton will need to defeat Dartmouth tomorrow night to clinch the regular season championship. However, with the Ivy League having become the last conference to adopt a tournament, winning two games next week is going to be much more important for both of these teams than winning two this week. Tonight’s game does have a great chance to be a preview of the game next weekend that will decide the championship.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES
-IOWA STATE AT WEST VIRGINIA (Big Twelve). As hot as Iowa State is, I think they will be flirting with a protected seed if they can pull off this road win. On the flip side, I think West Virginia needs to win this and pick up another notable win in the Big 12 Tourney in order to secure a protected seed.