Men to face diverse slate

After hosting Central Connecticut and Iona at Jadwin Gym, the men's basketball team will jet to Maui to compete in the EA Sports Maui Invitational for the first time in the program's history. What could be a better welcome for the Tigers in their maiden appearance than a first-round seeding against Duke? Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils will give the Tigers all they can handle with an explosive offense and an impenetrable defense. Duke, the team every college basketball fan either loves or loves to hate, is the only three-time Maui champion, boasting a perfect 9-0 record. The Tigers will play either Arizona State or Illinois in the second round.

After Thanksgiving break, Princeton faces instate foes Seton Hall and Rutgers. Last season, both teams finished in the bottom four spots of the Big East.

But because this conference is arguably the toughest in Division I — with the likes of Louisville, Pittsburgh, Connecticut and Syracuse — the Tigers cannot afford to underestimate the Pirates or the Scarlet Knights.

The Tigers will also travel to University Park, Pa., to play Penn State. Four returning starters, three returning top scorers and a strong six-member freshman class are expected to give the Nittany Lions their deepest roster in years. Despite this, Penn State usually finishes in the basement of the Big 10 every season and managed a meager league record of 2-14 last season.

Patriot League foe Lehigh highlights the end of the non-conference action. The Mountain Hawks are led by sophomore guard and captain Marquis Hall, who was named the 2007 Patriot League Rookie of the Year — the first in Lehigh history — and was the Patriot League Rookie of the Week nine times.

Drumroll, please...

And the media's choice for this year's Ivy League champion is ... Cornell? For the first time since the 1988-89 season, neither Princeton nor Penn was picked as the favorite to capture the Ancient Eight title. Yale was selected as the runner-up followed by Penn, Columbia, Brown, Harvard, Princeton and Dartmouth.

Receiving 119 poll points and 10 first place votes, the Big Red is stacked with young talent, returning eight of its top 10 scorers and looking to improve upon last year's third-place finish. The dangerous sophomore duo of All-Ivy point guard Louis Dale and 2007 Ivy League Rookie of the Year Ryan Wittman is a formidable combination. 2006 Ivy League Rookie of the Year Adam Gore makes his way back into Cornell's lineup after he was sidelined last season with a knee injury. The Big Red also welcomes USC transfer Collin Robinson and St. Bonaventure transfer Jeff Foote, who will add to the Big Red's already deep bench.

Yale returns four of five starters this season and boasts a stacked backcourt that features first-team All-Ivy guard Eric Flato, who led the Bulldogs in scoring last year with 15.3 points per game, assists with 3.56 per game and steals with 1.85 per game. Twins Caleb and Nick Holmes, who are equally dangerous threats from beyond the arc, will flank Flato.

Though Yale lost three members of its frontcourt to graduation, Bulldog head coach James Jones doesn't seem concerned, claiming this as his biggest and strongest frontcourt ever. Senior Matt Kyle, who tied for fourth in the Ivy League last year with blocks at 0.85 per game, will be accompanied by a talented bunch of sophomores and freshmen.

Penn, selected to finish third, has won the last three Ivy championships and produced a nearly flawless 13-1 league record last season. The Quakers will have major adjustments to make this year after losing two-time Player of the Year Ibrahim Jaaber and leading scorer Mark Zoller, who notched 18.2 points per game. The Quakers expect to see immediate contributions from the six members of their freshman class, who will receive ample experience before heading into Ivy League play as the Quakers face Villanova and North Carolina in early December.

For the first time since 2001, Columbia was chosen to finish in the top half of the Ivy standings. The Lions welcome back all five starters from last season, including All-Ivy forward John Baumann, who led the league in field goal percentage (0.509) and rebounds (6.5 per game) last season.

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Brown, Harvard, Princeton and Dartmouth round out the bottom half of the Ivy League. The Bears boast an All-Ivy backcourt led by first-team selection guard Mark McAndrew and honorable mention choice Damon Huffman. McAndrew led all scorers in Ivy League games last year with 18.6 points per game.

After a disappointing end to last year's season, in which it dropped seven of its last 10 games, Harvard welcomes Tommy Amaker, former head coach at both Michigan and Seton Hall and former assistant coach at Duke, to the helm of Crimson basketball. Amaker intends to focus on consistency this year to avoid another roller-coaster-ride season.

Dartmouth was debilitated by injuries last season and claimed eighth place in the Ivy League with a 4-10 record. With a returning crew of healthy players, the Big Green looks forward to using the experience its returning players gained last season instead of having to rely on freshmen to lead the team.