As Top Teams Meet This Weekend Ivy League’s Top Spot Will Be Up for Grabs

Last weekend, the top half of the Ivy League began to take better shape, as the current top four teams in the league all earned sweeps. Harvard and Dartmouth took care of business at their home courts, defeating Yale and Brown, while Cornell and Columbia went on the road and swept both Penn and Princeton.

After those sweeps, Cornell, Harvard, and Dartmouth sit atop the league with identical 5-1 records, with Columbia close behind at 4-2. However, this weekend will prove to be pivotal for all four of these teams in terms of jockeying for the league championship.
As of now, Cornell and Columbia have split their two-game series, as have Harvard and Dartmouth. This weekend, first place in the league will be on the line as the Crimson and Big Green travel to Ithaca and New York City for their first matchups against the Big Red and Lions. These first meetings between the teams in the upper echelon of the league will provide insight on what teams will be the frontrunners heading into the second half of the league season.

Friday’s matchups should prove to be extremely interesting this weekend, as Harvard and Cornell will square off in a contest between the two teams that were predicted to finish first and second in the Ivy League in the preseason media poll. Harvard received 15 first-place votes, while Cornell did not receive any, but still gathered enough interest be a second-place contender.

Dartmouth and Columbia have both been surprisingly successful in the early going, as the Big Green was expected to finish fourth and the Lions in seventh in the preseason poll. Part of both teams’ early success this season has been due to the influence of players who were not on the court last season. For the Big Green, freshman forward Brittney Smith has been a valuable weapon in the post, averaging 10.2 points per game and leading the team with an average of 8.1 rebounds per contest. After recording her third and fourth double-doubles in as many games, Smith was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the second week in a row and fifth time this season—the most of any player in the league.

For the Lions, senior Michele Gage has reemerged as an offensive threat after missing last season due to injury. In the Light Blue’s first-ever Ivy road sweep this past weekend in which Gage averaged 22 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, the Lions’ guard was named Ivy League Player of the Week for the first time since the final weekend of Ivy play during the 2005-2006 season. For the year, Gage is averaging a team-high 10.7 points per game and has connected on a team-high 36 three pointers.

With all the clutter at the top of the league, however, it is easy to forget that Yale, at 3-3, is only two games back, and it has the opportunity this weekend to make up ground while the top teams in the league do battle. Despite going 2-11 in nonconference play, the Bulldogs stood at 3-1 in the league until being swept last weekend by Harvard and Dartmouth. With an upcoming homestand against Penn and Princeton, the Bulldogs will have an opportunity to make up ground if they can hold serve on their home court, while the current first-place teams jockey for position.