Upheaval in Standings Pending at Midpoint

Taking the turn around the midway pole and heading back for home gives us the perfect opportunity to pause and examine what league play has brought thus far.

To simplify this endeavor, it’s time to play a little game called overvalued or undervalued. The purpose here will be to point out those teams poised for a run up the standings during the latter stages of the year and those primed for a late-season fade.

OVERVALUED:

Princeton—The Tigers play four of their next six on the road and get an extremely vengeful Crimson squad as one of their two respites at home. A .500 record in those six contests would be a pretty solid mark, and throwing in a season-ending loss at home to the Quakers would leave Princeton well off the relatively torrid pace it set during the opening half of league play.

Yale—With their next four on the road, the Bulldogs are in trouble. Deep trouble. Yale is 0-3 on the road this season, making a couple of weekend splits almost a best case scenario for the Bulldogs. With Penn and Princeton visiting New Haven on the final weekend of league play, taking three of its last six will be a chore for Yale.

Columbia—It’s hard for a 1-7 team to be overrated, but show me any game in their final six that the Lions would be an odds-on favorite to win.

UNDERVALUED:

Harvard—The Crimson gets four of its final six at home against two teams it handled, one it fell to at the buzzer, and another that needed to shoot the lights out to win. The road trip to Penn and Princeton still looms, but anything less than 5-1 down the stretch would be a disappointment.

Dartmouth—Laughing? Come talk to me when the Big Green takes four of its last six and finishes 5-9 in league play.

Cornell—For some reason, I like the Big Red at home against Penn on Saturday (more on that later). Cornell seems locked on a 9-5 Ivy finish.

Now, let’s get to this weekend’s action:

PRINCETON (7-13, 5-2 IVY) AT CORNELL (10-12, 5-3)

The Tigers had their fun with a four-game win streak, but got exposed on Tuesday night against the tough three-point shooting defense of Penn.

Well, the Big Red leads the league in defending the arc. Princeton only put up 49 points against Cornell at home, and it might struggle to hit 40 in Ithaca. Cornell by 15.

PENN (15-6, 7-0) AT COLUMBIA (8-13, 1-7)

The Lions have recently been very good at keeping home dates with the Quakers relatively close.

Since “relatively close” could be defined as a margin of less than 20 points, such a phrase has a slightly different meaning this season. Unless Penn starts getting bored, a 20-point win should be a breeze.

YALE (13-10, 5-3) AT DARTMOUTH (3-18, 1-7)

Keep in mind that despite losing by 17 in New Haven three weeks ago, the Big Green played the Bulldogs close for 30 minutes.

Yale used an 11-0 run in the first half and a 7-0 spurt in the second to gain the separation necessary to claim the victory. Putting together such runs might be more difficult in Leede Arena against a squad that has a win at Columbia and a hard-fought three-point loss to Princeton under its belt.

The Bulldogs will survive, but not by more than five.

CORNELL AT PENN

It’s the Ivy Game of the Weekend live on CSTV.

As stated earlier, the Big Red looks pretty good coming into this one. It has enough weapons to score against Penn’s staunch defense, and its three-point defense should keep the Quakers from running away early.

Plus, let’s not forget that Penn will have played four games in as many states in a span of eight days heading into this one.

That being said, Cornell’s turnovers and lack of rebounding are concerning, especially since the Quakers rank among the best in the league in those categories. The Big Red doesn’t have a good enough chance to merit being taken straight up, but with a handful of points bet on Cornell.

PRINCETON AT COLUMBIA

You don’t want to have to watch this game. I don’t want to have to talk about this game. Tigers by seven. Let’s move on.

BROWN AT DARTMOUTH

The Bears needed a strong effort from a hobbled Luke Ruscoe and two overtimes to get past the Big Green in Providence three weeks ago.

Ruscoe has since been sidelined on a more permanent basis, leaving a young Brown team without its primary source of leadership.

Swingman Keenan Jeppesen and center Mark MacDonald have played well, but not well enough to justify picking them to win a Saturday road game. Dartmouth by five.

Last Week: 5-1

This Season: 10-6

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.