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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL
- Harvard
- Penn
- Yale
- Princeton
- Brown
- Columbia
- Cornell (tied 7th)
- Dartmouth (tied 7th)
The Ivy League did not select a preseason all conference team, but Jon Teitel did!! See below…
- Bryce Aiken – Harvard, SR G
- Chris Lewis – Harvard, SR F
- Seth Towns – Harvard, SR F
- AJ Brodeur – Penn, SR F
- Mike Smith, Columbia, SR G
NOTES FROM DAVID. This league consists of all of my safety schools!!!
Harvard is the near unanimous favorite to win the league, and it makes sense considering that they tied for first last year and have four starters back. They are very experienced, they have a lot of guys who can score, and they are balanced with both a solid frontcourt and backcourt. If this team can stay healthy (which they’ve had issues with in the past) they could do more than just finish first in the Ivy.
Penn is another team to keep an eye on this year. They are the defending Big Five Champions!!! Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to get them into the NCAA Tournament last year. Only two starters return, but one of them is A. J. Brodeur who is an outstanding frontcourt player. They also look like they’ve got some talented guys who are ready to step into bigger roles.
Yale was last year’s conference champions, but has just one starter back and while they should still be good, I don’t see them being as good as Harvard or Penn. They do have some guys returning that saw significant minutes coming off the bench last year, so all is not lost.
I kinda like this Brown team. They won 20 games last season, and have three starters coming back. They don’t have much of a basketball history, but at this particular moment in time there is reason to be excited. Noah Meren, who was a standout player in D-3 last year, joins the roster and should be a good addition along with the three returning starters. They did lose one of their better players via transfer, but they should still be a fun team to watch this year.
Princeton has just one starter back, and will look to get bigger contributions this year from a guys who came off the bench a year ago.
Columbia returns just two starters from a team that won just ten total games, and has some work to do if they want to build themselves up.
Cornell has three starters back, but will have to replace one of their best players in Matt Morgan, who was also one of the better players in the conference.
Dartmouth is….well….an excellent academic institution!! All five starters are back, but they won just two Ivy League games last year, so even though they have the experience it’s hard to be all that excited.