Princeton, Penn, Yale and Brown to battle for Ivy men's hoops title

Currently, there is a lack of certainty within the Ivy League. There is not one overall leader in the men's basketball race — but two. There are at least five games of consequence remaining, but there could be as many as nine. There are Quakers and Elis and Tigers and Bears — oh my! — all with a chance at earning the Ivy crown and the coveted NCAA tournament spot that goes with it.

Sitting atop this logjam with identical 8-3 Ivy records are Princeton (13-10 overall) and Penn (11-15). Brown (13-11) and Yale (10-14) trail the perennial Ivy powers by one game, each owning a 7-4 mark within the conference. Each of the four contenders has three regular season games remaining and — in a quirk of fate that would bring a smile to any scheduler's face — each of those contests is against one of the other three would-be champions.

The result is a de facto round-robin tournament to determine which one team will finish above its counterparts in the Ivies . . . or which two teams . . . or which four.

There are 64 possible outcomes for these six Ivy contests, and a closer look sheds light on a great deal of symmetry. Given the tightness of the championship chase, it is possible for each of the four schools to walk away with the league title without needing a playoff, though statistically Princeton and Penn appear to be the favorites. Eighteen of the 64 outcomes (28.1 percent) end up with Princeton winning the league outright, while the same amount have Penn earning the bid to NCAA's. Only four scenarios involve Yale winning the league, with another four for Brown.

Sixteen of the 20 remaining possibilities entail a one game playoff between two squads tied for first, an event that has not happened in the Ivy League since 1996. That year Princeton, despite having fallen to Penn twice during the season, knocked off the Quakers in a game played at Lehigh's Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, PA. With the exception of Yale-Brown, every possible pairing of the current top four could partake in a winner-take-all playoff game.

The most intriguing option, though the least likely, is a four way tie. For this to happen, Penn and Princeton must both win exactly one of their remaining three games, and Yale and Brown must win exactly two each. In this case, the Ivy League would hold a mini conference tournament to determine its champion.

According to Brett Hoover, Assistant Director of the Ivy League, such a tournament would take place between March 8 and 11 at a site to be chosen by the athletic directors of the schools involved and officials from the Ivy League. The Ivy champion must be determined by the 11th, since that is Selection Sunday, the day the NCAA announces the brackets for the tournament.

All four teams are currently playing at the top of their respective games. While Penn and Princeton defeated Yale and Brown in their earlier contests, the Bulldogs and Bears will have home court advantage. The four teams involved this weekend are a collective 20-2 at home in Ivy games this season. If the home team wins every game in these six upcoming contests, then Brown would win its first Ivy title since 1986 by virtue of being the home team in all three of its remaining games.

Within the next two weeks, order will be restored — a champion will be anointed and will represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament. Until that time, however, chaos will reign supreme as the myriad possibilities play themselves out on the hardwood of the Ivies.