Men's hoops looks to extend Ivy lead at Columbia, Cornell

As the Ivy League season cruised past its midway point last week, the race for the men's basketball conference crown resembled a tightly-packed group of horses rounding the mile pole and heading for the backstretch. One would expect that the thoroughbreds are ready to leave the aging mares and wounded warhorses in their dust.

With a total of 26 league games remaining, however, it has become difficult to determine which teams are the pure breeds, and virtually impossible to determine which will break the tape in first place. Parity, injuries, upsets and last-second shots have marked an Ivy season in which no clear leader has emerged.

For the moment, the consensus choice to snag the league title would be Princeton (11-8 overall, 6-1 Ivy League). The Tigers are fresh off a resounding 67-53 win over archrival Penn Tuesday night and currently reside in the Ivy penthouse, one game ahead of the Quakers (8-14, 5-2) and two games up in the loss column on Harvard (12-8, 5-3).

Heading into an Empire State excursion this weekend — traveling to Columbia tonight, and Cornell tomorrow — Princeton controls its own destiny. If the Tigers win the remainder of their Ivy contests, the championship is theirs.

But given the parity in the league this year, that is a rather tall order.

"On a given night, we can beat any team in the league and any team in the league can beat us," Princeton head coach John Thompson '88 said.

Princeton was in an eerily similar situation two years ago entering the weekend following the Penn game. In 1999, fresh off of the Palestra Miracle — the Tigers' 50-49 comeback win on Feb. 9, 1999 — Princeton traveled to Yale, one of the worst teams in the country that season and promptly lost in double overtime. Princeton went 4-3 in its last seven games, while the Quakers won their last seven to claim the Ancient Eight crown.

A look around the league indicates that it is rather unlikely that any team will win its next seven games.

Penn, despite the disheartening loss on Tuesday, still boasts a front court that can dominate smaller Ivy foes. Six foot, eight-inch forwards Koko Archibong and Ugonna Onyekwe and 6-11 center Geoff Owens can often dominate in the paint. If guard Lamar Plummer can find his shooting touch, and the team can right its stagnant offense, the Quakers could come into Jadwin Gym March 6 looking for revenge and a shot at the league lead.

Harvard may well be the best or second-best team in the league, despite its current third place standing. The Crimson manhandled Penn, 77-62 last weekend, and came within a hair's breadth of beating Princeton the next day.

That loss, combined with early season upsets at the hands of Yale and Columbia have hurt Harvard. Still, with a skilled backcourt, the scoring of forward Dan Clemente, and a tenacious defense, the Crimson could sneak in the back door if the dominant southern Ivies falter.

The loss of senior center Neil Yanke to injury has hampered Yale's chances following its win over Harvard early in the season. Nonetheless, Princeton has struggled at Lee Ampitheatre in recent years, and the Elis (7-13, 4-3) could well play spoiler for the Tigers' tournament plans.

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When Columbia (8-13, 3-5) hosts the Tigers tomorrow, do not expect a shootout. Neither team averages more than 58 points per contest, and both feature stingy defenses that consistently hold opponents under 60.

The Ivy basement is currently occupied by the Big Red (6-15, 2-6), Princeton's opponent Saturday. Cornell did manage to knock Yale off early this season, but has struggled at both ends of the floor.

While most Ivy teams have loved New York this year for the opportunity to play Columbia and Cornell, in a topsy-turvy season, no team on top can afford to let its guard down, lest it take a tumble in the standings.