Potential Ivy Basketball Playoff Venues Remain Unclear

The Harvard men’s basketball team will certainly be glued to a TV screen on Tuesday night, watching the game that may just determine the fate of its season: Penn versus Princeton. The Crimson clinched at least a share of the Ivy League title with Saturday night’s victory over Cornell, but the last time Harvard basketball tried this whole sharing-the-title thing, it didn’t work out so well.

If Princeton defeats Penn on Tuesday, Harvard wins the Ivy League title outright and clinches a spot in the tournament for the first time since 1946. But if Penn defeats Princeton, the Crimson splits the title once again and will have to compete in a one-game playoff for the league’s automatic bid.

We’ll go out on a limb here and say that the three rules of real estate—location, location, location—apply to Ivy basketball as well. At the moment, it’s not clear who would host the potential playoff, though Yale, Columbia and other New York schools are all possible hosts because of their central locations.

Unlike last year, New Haven has been kind to Harvard basketball this season, and in the Crimson’s trip only in 2012, Harvard was dominant in a 30-point win over Yale.

Then again, if it’s in New York, we might get yet another Jeremy Lin ’10 sighting.

Where would we really like to see the game played? The Bahamas. Namely because we selfishly want an excuse for an exotic spring break vacation. But for the sake of the team, the Crimson is a perfect 3-0 the Atlantis basketball arena (well, ballroom), taking the Battle 4 Atlantis title over Thanksgiving.

We’re not putting a lot of hope into this whole Atlantis idea. But even with a five-hour flight, thousands of dollars in travel, and overpriced resort food, it still beats the hell out of New Haven.