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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Penn
- Princeton
- Yale
- Harvard
- Cornell
- Brown
- Dartmouth
- Columbia
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
The Ivy League opted to not let any players make up the COVID year, so a lot of teams who could have returned quite a bit of experience are looking to rebuild, and we may see the conference digress as a whole this year.
-Penn has been tabbed as the preseason favorites this year. They are a traditional and historical power and are once again picked to finish atop the standings. They won just 12 total games last year, but with four starters back, including Jordan Dingle who averaged over 20ppg last year, the expectations are high. They have good outside shooting and a fairly strong backcourt as well.
-Princeton, Penn’s long time rival, is right behind them. They won 23 total games last year and were the first place team, but lost in the Ivy League Tournament and then in the first round of the NIT. Just two starters are back, and they lost three of their top players, so that could be difficult to replace.
-Yale finished second in the standings last year and then advanced to the NCAA Tournament after beating Princeton in to win the Ivy League Tournament. Three starters from that team are back, but they lost two of their top players which will make it hard to repeat as conference champions.
-Harvard was a modest 5-9 in league play last year and failed to qualify for the conference tournament. As a program they were really on a roll until COVID came along, and it has been tough for Coach Tommy Amaker and company to get back to the top of the league. It could be a struggle this year. While three starters are back, they will need more players to step up if they are going to be contenders.
-Cornell made it to the conference tournament last year and were a respectable 7-7 in league play. Only two starters are back and while they do not return any double-digit scorers, they do return a couple of guys who appear to be good shooters and will be relying on them.
-Brown has some guys coming back that can score, but they appear to have lost some of their frontcourt and will need to rebuild that if they want to be successful this year.
-Dartmouth and Columbia could be in for very long years. Columbia returns three starters but won just one conference game a year ago. Dartmouth is in complete rebuilding mode with just one of their top players back.