Hoop Season's Final Weekend

The Ivy gauntlet is almost over. One more weekend (and a Tuesday game featuring Penn and Princeton) and the book on this historic season will be closed. After all the spilled ink on the Ancient Eight, the results have panned out predictably: Cornell will clinch the Ivy bid, Harvard and Princeton will battle for a post-season tournament, and the rest of the Ivies will fight for respectability.

As this edition of Around the Ivies is the year’s last, it is time to hand out the hardware. Without further delay, here are the definitive, unambiguous winners of the 2009-2010 season.

The Game of the Year is usually reserved for a close contest with a dramatic finish, but this year it goes to a 15-point blowout. Penn’s upset over the Big Red on Feb. 12 stunned the college basketball world—some called it the biggest upset of the year. Cornell had just landed at No. 22 in the polls and the Quakers were 3-15, looking for some way to salvage their season. A 15-0 run to start the second half propelled Penn to an improbable win, and, as the final horn sounded and fans rushed the floor, college basketball was reminded that any team can be king for a night.

The Ivy League has many candidates for Coach of the Year. The Big Red’s Steve Donahue led an Ancient Eight team into the Top 25 for the first time this millennium; the Tigers’ Sydney Johnson has taken a handful of relative unknowns and produced a winner; and the Crimson’s Tommy Amaker has brought a young squad to the top of the conference. Because Donahue has already won two Ivy titles with the same cast of characters, the race comes down to Johnson and Amaker. Perhaps this weekend will swing my vote in the other direction, but, at the moment, Harvard’s resume is simply better than Princeton’s. The fact that the Crimson has found this success with only four upperclassmen (only two of whom were healthy for much of the season) has at least something to do with Amaker’s coaching, and for that reason, he wins out.

Without a doubt, Rookie of the Year goes to Harvard forward Kyle Casey. His teammates Brandyn Curry and Christian Webster had good freshman campaigns; Brown’s Tucker Halpern and Tigers forward Ian Hummer have showed flashes of promise; but Casey is the obvious choice. The first-year has averaged 10.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, second and first on the team, respectively. He shouldered the burden of Harvard’s frontcourt for much of the Ivy schedule after injuries sidelined several big men. More was asked of Casey than of any other rookie, and time after time he delivered.

Lastly, the four finalists for Player of the Year: Quakers point guard Zack Rosen, Crimson guard Jeremy Lin, Cornell forward Ryan Wittman, and Big Red big man Jeff Foote. No player means more to his team than Rosen, but Penn’s poor record hurts his case. Lin is surely the most complete player in the Ivies, as he ranks among the top five in scoring, assists, steals, and blocks—and he is certainly a deserving candidate—but I want to reward the best team, Cornell. Of the Big Red’s two stars, Wittman, with his smooth shooting, is the more skilled player and better prospect, but I don’t think he is more valuable to Cornell than Foote. No Ivy team can match up with the seven-footer. On defense he forces opponents out of the paint, and on offense he demands a double-team and frees up the Big Red’s shooters. If Player of the Year should go to the most valuable player on the best team, then Cornell’s Jeff Foote is the deserving recipient.

HARVARD (20-6, 9-3 Ivy) at PENN (5-20, 4-7 Ivy)

For the first time in months, Harvard is back to full strength. Every player that started the season healthy should be able to finish healthy. This recovery is bad news for the Quakers. Penn is better than its record and capable of beating any team in the league, but it lost handily a few weeks ago to a short-handed Crimson squad. Winning at the Palestra is never easy, but Harvard, coming off three straight 20-point wins, is peaking. I see the Crimson winning by double digits.

Pick: Harvard 74, Penn 63.

COLUMBIA (10-16, 4-8 Ivy) at YALE (11-18, 5-7 Ivy)

This game will help sort out the middle of the conference. Columbia presently sits in seventh but would likely move into fourth with a weekend sweep. Yale is fourth as of now but hasn’t beaten a team not named Dartmouth in a month. The last respectable team it beat: the Lions, by 15. The contest will likely be a shootout between Bulldog guard Alex Zampier and Columbia guard Noruwa Agho, two of the top five scorers in the league. I like Zampier and his supporting cast more, so I give Yale the edge at home.

Pick: Yale 71, Columbia 62.

CORNELL (25-4, 11-1 Ivy) at BROWN (11-18, 5-7 Ivy)

The Big Red can clinch the Ivy title outright on Friday night. The Bears played Cornell tough in their last matchup and even held a lead in the second half, but the Big Red showed its dominance by pulling away late. Brown forwards Matt Mullery and Peter Sullivan offer some resistance on the inside to Cornell’s Foote, but the rest of the floor is filled with mismatches. The Big Red will take care of business and be Dancing in the NCAA tournament with its third consecutive Ivy title.

Pick: Cornell 76, Brown 61.

DARTMOUTH (5-21, 1-11 Ivy) at PRINCETON (17-8, 8-3 Ivy)

The Big Green circus makes a stop in Princeton, N.J., as its show is finally coming to a close. The Tigers, whose three-point loss to Cornell bumped them from second to third place, need to win if they have their sights set on the postseason. Dartmouth should not prove to be much of an obstacle. Princeton will win handily.

Pick: Princeton 62, Dartmouth 47.

CORNELL at YALE

This contest is the final regular season game for the most dominant senior class in recent Ivy lore. Yale will bear the brunt of Cornell’s assault one final time before the rest of the Ancient Eight lets out a collective sigh and says good riddance to this Big Red dynasty.

Pick: Cornell 80, Yale 65.

COLUMBIA at BROWN

If the Lions pull out a win in New Haven on Friday, this game will be for fourth-place in the conference—high stakes, I know. Brown’s got a bright future with all of its players returning next year, so a fourth-place finish might be a nice springboard into a title run next year. I see them picking up the victory on a Senior Night without seniors.

Pick: Brown 67, Columbia 60.

DARTMOUTH at PENN

Combined, these two teams have 10 wins. The next-worst team in the league, Columbia, has 10 wins on its own. It’s been a long season for the Quakers and the Big Green. Penn is the better team, and they should win, but both teams will be glad to turn the page on a forgettable year.

Pick: Penn 65, Dartmouth 58.

HARVARD at PRINCETON

Far and away the best game on the weekend’s schedule, this contest could effectively be a play-in game for a postseason tourney. The Tigers pulled out a gut-wrenching win at Lavietes Pavilion a few weeks ago against an undermanned Harvard team. Now at full strength, the Crimson will look for retribution, but it will be no easy task—only seven times in league history has any team swept the Killer Ps on the road. Lin’s 26 points against Yale suggest there’s still some gas left in his tank, and I think he can carry Harvard to one final win.

Pick: Harvard 55, Princeton 53.

RECORD LAST WEEK: 7-1 (To date: 30-10)

—Staff writer Timothy J. Walsh can be reached at twalsh@fas.harvard.edu.