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IVY LEAGUE MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Yale
- Princeton
- Cornell
- Brown
- Penn
- Harvard
- Dartmouth
- Columbia
COMMENTS FROM DAVID GRIGGS:
Something I like about the Ivy League, especially now in the current climate of college athletics, is that it will seemingly always remain unchanged by all the conference realignment, and the rivalries/excitement/quality of play are as good now as it has ever been. In the days of the portal and in all of the conferences shuffling their lineup every year the Ivy League is still the Ivy League. Most schools (although not all) were able to retain their key players that have yet to graduate…and last year we saw Princeton make the Sweet Sixteen! It can still collectively compete at the same level it always has.
-Yale is this year’s preseason favorite, and understandably so. They tied for 1st place last year, earned a bid to the NIT after coming up just short of making the NCAA Tournament, and played a good game against Vanderbilt. With four starters back from a year ago, all of whom can seemingly shoot/distribute the ball/defend, this is going to be a very fun/dangerous team to watch this year. They are good enough to not just get to the Round of 64 but to really make someone sweat: we may even see them make a run at the bubble. Princeton was a Sweet Sixteen team a year ago, and while Yale lost to them in the Ivy League Championship game they beat them twice during the regular season, so this is a team that can play! Speaking of Princeton…
-Princeton was in the race for 1st place all last year and got it done in the conference tournament, but the real surprise came in the NCAA Tournament where they knocked off Arizona/Missouri to advance to the Sweet Sixteen as a 15-seed. They only have two starters back, and while the Tigers should be good this year I do not think they’re quite on the same level as Yale. Matt Allocco is back and is a really good outside shooter so the Tigers will be depending on him quite a bit. Regardless of who is in the lineup this is a fun team to watch, especially on offense as they still run a lot backdoor cuts and also work to create open shots from beyond the arc.
-Cornell has four starters back from a team that went 7-7 in the league a year ago, and with that experience come some raised expectations. Like a lot of Ivy League teams the Big Red are fun to watch! They have a fast-paced style, which is very unique to this conference, and they got off to a very impressive-looking 12-2 start last year. They did sort of fall apart down the stretch, and I can understand how that would give people some pause in picking them to finish ahead of either Princeton/Yale.
-Brown is another team that has a lot of experience returning. They were also 7-7 in the Ivy League last year, and with four starters back the expectations have been raised a little bit. They did lose three of their last four games, but two of those losses were to Princeton/Yale, who were the class of the league, so I would not read too much into that. Only four teams make the Ivy League Tournament and Brown just missed it a year ago, so they are hoping to at least finish in the top-four this year.
-Penn lost their top player (Jordan Dingle) to the transfer portal, and with just two starters coming back it is going to be hard for them to repeat their 3rd-place finish from a year ago. They do appear to be in a little bit of a rebuild mode this year.
-Harvard is a team that we are used to seeing at or near the top of the standings, and going into the COVID year they looked to be exceptionally good. Unfortunately no one in the Ivy League played that season, and since then Harvard has not managed an overall winning record. It will be a struggle again this year with just two starters back from a team that went just 5-9 in league play. Tommy Amaker is a really good coach who has had some outstanding seasons with the Crimson. I think he will get them back to the top of the mountain some day…but not this year.
-Dartmouth got off to a fairly decent start to Ivy League play a year ago but was not good at all down the stretch and is understandably picked to finish toward the bottom again this year.
-It seems rare that Columbia ever wins more than ten total games and they are often at the bottom of the Ivy League standings. They do have all five starters back and Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa is a really good guard. Hopefully with that experience they are able to manage a few more wins this year…but the expectations are still very low.