Ivies Shaken Up by Weekend of Upsets

The maddening upsets common to college games in late March came a month early for the Ivy League. This last frenzied February weekend saw two last-place teams, Columbia and Dartmouth, triple their conference win total by posting perfect 2-0 records. But not only did the Ivy cellar dwellers both improve to 3-7 in conference play, they also did so at the expense of the League's top teams.

The Lions were giant slayers, using late-game heroics to topple the Ivy League's top two teams and perennial powerhouses, conference undefeated Penn and second place Princeton, by just a combined three points. Making Columbia's stellar home weekend even more unexpected was the squad's seeming downward spiral. The Lions had lost their last six games by an average of 12 points to drop their overall record to 10-13, conjuring up memories of last year's 0-10 finish after a promising start.

"[Princeton and Penn] have been the two most dominant teams in this league," Columbia head coach Joe Jones said. "So, obviously, you feel a little bit better about that, but in the long run, a win's a win. But it gives the program confidence that we can play with anybody in this league."

The Lions' victories may have come against the tougher opponents, but the Big Green's two wins were no less shocking. While Columbia squeaked by in the final seconds with game-winners by sophomores Ben Nwachukwu and Justin Armstrong, Dartmouth upset third-place Yale and fifth-place Brown, with convincing 72-64 and 58-46 victories, respectively. Unlike Columbia, which showed signs of life earlier in the year by jumping out to a 5-0 start, Dartmouth had been all but listless from the outset of the season. The Big Green entered the weekend with a dismal 3-18 record coming off of a string of nine losses, broken up only by a victory over Columbia.

"It's an unbelievable feeling," Dartmouth senior co-captain Mike Lang told Dartmouth athletics following the game. "We've been short on a lot of games, and this weekend was a big plus for us, especially behind a great crowd at home. It's an unbelievable feeling to pick up two wins."

Prior to this past weekend, the traditional Ivy League hierarchy appeared to be on the rebound, as Penn sat atop the conference with an unblemished record, and Princeton was right behind with just two losses, including one to the Quakers. Last weekend's games, however, showed that nothing is certain in the Ancient Eight, as the conference's two worst teams managed to topple its three best.

With the bottom of the conference rising and the elite falling over the weekend, the word "parity" rears its head again in the discussion of Ivy basketball. Penn, even after its loss to the Lions, is still easily in front at 8-1; the race for the Ivy crown, like last season, still appears to be a one-horse race. But, as in 2005, there will be fierce jockeying for second place and under. Last season, Cornell snatched a surprising second-place finish with an 8-6 mark that left them just one game ahead of a three-way tie for third between Harvard, Dartmouth, and Yale, with pre-season favorite Princeton just a game behind.

For those who preach the parity of the Ivy League, there was even more good news away from Hanover and Morningside Heights. Only Columbia and Dartmouth finished with a perfect weekend, and every other team, minus Cornell, pulled out at least one victory. Even the Big Red narrowly missed an upset win that would have left Princeton on a three-game skid. It took Princeton two overtimes to dispose of the Big Red, and the Tigers only put Cornell away after Princeton senior Scott Greenman twice played the role of hero with buzzer-beating three-point shots at the end of regulation and the first overtime.

Despite the frenzied and unpredictable play this weekend, much of the Ivy League order is still in place. Barring a complete collapse, the Quakers seem to have an NCAA tournament bid firmly secured, and the Tigers are in the driver seat to finish right behind their rival. It seems that the result of the Ivy League being the lone Division I conference without a post-season tournament, however, is a wild February, in which teams struggling at the bottom have a chance to redefine their seasons and find their one shining moment.