HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2697
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
|
03-04-19 06:54 PM - Post#279378
Heading into the final weekend, there is a lot of focus on the battle for 4th place, possibly at the expense of the battle for first place. Looking at this weekend from the top down you have Harvard in a tie with Yale, with Princeton a game behind.
Harvard (9-3): wins all tie-breakers with Yale and/or Princeton, having swept both. The Crimson control their destiny, facing Cornell and then Columbia on the road. These will be tough games as Cornell is fighting for its life and red hot Columbia is always a tough road trip for the Crimson. Further complicating things for Harvard are injuries (Bassey, Towns, and others) and a desire to be healthy for the tournament.
Yale (9-3): visits Penn and then Princeton. Big game for Penn (5-7), but not necessarily live or die. If on Friday Princeton loses or Harvard wins, then Saturday is meaningless for the Tigers. Thus, although Yale is on the road in two historically difficult venues, Yale could - and likely needs to - sweep the P's to enable it to move the requisite game ahead of the Crimson.
Princeton (8-4): hosts Brown Friday and Yale Saturday. Brown is playing for its life, although a loss may not be fatal as it faces off with Penn on Saturday (Cornell notwithstanding). Princeton has to beat Brown and hope that Harvard and Yale both lose Friday to retain any hope of first place. If that occurs, on Saturday Princeton would need to beat Yale and hope that Harvard loses to Columbia. Harvard/Yale are a combined 16-4 against the rest of the league. The odds of them going 0-4 this weekend is slim.
Of course, this is relevant only if one ignores the tournament or simply cares about the top seeding and thus an NIT autobid.
Edited by HARVARDDADGRAD on 03-04-19 07:14 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
|
