Ancient Eight Goes Bar Hopping

With the race for the Ivy League championship reaching its midpoint this weekend, each member of the Ancient Eight is beginning to show its personality. At this stage, teams adopt a certain character—much like how bars and pubs craft an identity—that becomes the hallmark of their season. As almost half the conference schedule has elapsed, the time for a power ranking has come, and, in the spirit of spirits, each team is paired with its Cambridge bar doppelganger.

Starting at the bottom, Dartmouth and Cornell are sharing a scorpion bowl at the Hong Kong. The last time I went to the Kong, my coat was stolen. The time before, a person at the table next to me threw up and ran away. His friend slipped in the pile of puke, bumped into the emergency exit, and set off the alarm. Yup, pretty much sums up Dartmouth and Cornell.

Next on the list, Brown is drinking alone at Grendel’s Den. Grendel’s isn’t a bad time, and the Bears aren’t a bad team; certainly they’re capable of springing an upset on a superior squad. But both Grendel’s and Brown have a pretty low ceiling. Grendel’s peak is a mellow vibe; the Bears are, at best, a spoiler. Don’t expect much excitement from either.

Climbing out of the cellar, we head to Border Café where we find Columbia. The Lions are a bit of a niche team. Noruwa Agho and Brian Barbour offer great guard play, but if those two aren’t clicking, Columbia doesn’t have much going for it. So too, Border is great if you’re looking for margaritas or mixed drinks, but it’s not necessarily a go-to hang out. Nonetheless, the Lions and Border are solid, and neither should be overlooked.

Outside the first tier of Ivy teams and Cambridge bars, Yale and Penn sit together in a booth at the Queen’s Head Pub. Though maybe not the sexiest option, Queen’s Head is cheap, has games, and draws a good demographic. Of course, it’s relatively tame, so it can’t reach the exciting highs of its peers, but the Pub is still a reliably good time. Similarly, the Bulldogs and the Quakers may not have the firepower to compete for the league title over the course of a season, but both can challenge the best teams on any night.

I’m going a little off the map as we crack into the top two. Nestled in the heart of Central Square, the Cantab Lounge is the watering hole for Harvard. Why? Because the Crimson is the youngest team in the league, and the Cantab is the most kid-friendly establishment in Cambridge. The Crimson’s biggest question mark is its youth, and, while that might not matter to the bouncers outside the Cantab, it prevents Harvard from being the title favorite.

That distinction belongs to league-leading Princeton, which patronizes Tommy Doyle’s. Love it or hate it, Tommy’s is the closest Harvard Square comes to a college bar. Likewise, the Tigers might be maddening—eking out close wins at home—but until the preseason favorites are knocked off, they rightfully sit at the top.

YALE (11-9, 4-2 Ivy) at HARVARD (16-4, 5-1 Ivy)

In terms of the league title race, this game is the most important contest on tap for the weekend. It also brings perhaps the best mano-a-mano matchup the Ivies have to offer: Keith Wright versus Greg Mangano. The two big men are the best post players in the league (with apologies to Jack Eggleston of Penn, who’s not a traditional back-to-the-basket forward). Mangano is putting up 15.1 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, and Wright is averaging 15.3 and 8.4.

I expect the showdown on the blocks to be closer than the game itself. Harvard is the deeper, more talented team, and should extend its winning streak over the Bulldogs to four in a row.

Pick: Harvard 74, Yale 64

BROWN (8-12, 1-5 Ivy) at DARTMOUTH (5-15, 1-5 Ivy)

Last Friday, Brown guard Sean McGonagill turned in the league’s best individual performance so far this season. The freshman went 15 of 19 from the field and six of eight from the line en route to scoring 39 points in an 87-79 win over Columbia. Naturally, the next night McGonagill shot four for 16, and the Bears handed Cornell its first league win.

Dartmouth is looking to follow the Big Red’s lead in this game—its best chance to pick up a win for the rest of its schedule. But I see streaky Brown playing well enough to win in Hanover.

Pick: Brown 73, Dartmouth 68

PRINCETON (17-4, 5-1 Ivy) at COLUMBIA (12-8, 3-3 Ivy)

Princeton has so many Waspy look-alikes that it’s hard to tell who’s beating you. Actually, I think that’s the key to their revered offense: send out a bunch of identical players so that the other team doesn’t know who to match up with. Last Friday, Ian Hummer apparently scored 17 points, but, really, it could have been any sort-of-tall white kid with short brown hair. I’m assuming the official scorer was as confused as I was.

Given the Tigers’ proclivity for playing close games, this matchup—Princeton’s first in-conference road contest—has some upset potential, but the odds are the Tigers edge Columbia.

Pick: Princeton 74, Columbia 69

PENN (9-10, 3-2 Ivy) at CORNELL (5-15, 1-5 Ivy)

Penn is rewriting the standard for heartbreaking losses. Take the final 16 seconds of last Tuesday’s game at Princeton. Leading by one with the ball, Eggleston got T’ed up for calling a timeout that Penn didn’t have.  Then, with the score tied, Miles Cartwright turned over the inbound pass and fouled Hummer. To cap it off, Fran Dougherty missed a wide-open layup with six seconds left that would have forced double overtime.

The Quakers need a win to erase the sting of their last two games (last Saturday, they blew a three-point lead in double overtime to Harvard), and they should be able to get it over Cornell.

Pick: Penn 68, Cornell 63

YALE at DARTMOUTH

The Big Green should be no obstacle for Yale tomorrow night. Dartmouth stuck around with Princeton for a half last weekend, and it gave Harvard a scare earlier in the season, but until the Big Green plays a complete game, I’ll stick with picking against them.

Pick: Yale 68, Dartmouth 59

PRINCETON at CORNELL

Cornell got off the schneid last weekend with its win over Brown. Maybe it can have a Penn-circa-2010 turnaround and start racking up some league wins now. Unlikely, but this Big Red team has enough talent to challenge Princeton and force the Tigers to play well in order to win. I expect they will.

Pick: Princeton 73, Cornell 67

PENN at COLUMBIA

Refereeing is a difficult job, and I’m sure the officials are doing their best, so I never really complain about the way a game is called. But Penn’s fans are not of the same opinion; they were going nuts during last weekend’s game against Harvard.

That’s fine; if you think the officiating is poor, which it certainly was, feel free to boo or whatever. But Quaker fans, really? The referees gave you two extra chances to win—first when they waved off a foul that was whistled before the buzzer, and then when they counted Zack Rosen’s shot that came after the horn sounded in overtime.  And you were booing them? Win or lose, you should’ve carried them off the court like Rudy.

Nobody likes crybabies—especially, the karma police. It will catch up with you tomorrow night.

Pick: Columbia 73, Penn 71

BROWN at HARVARD

Harvard has won 13 straight at Lavietes. If it can get by Yale, then the Crimson should roll right over Brown and on to number 15, as it closes out its penultimate home weekend of the season.

Pick: Harvard 75, Brown 63

RECORD LAST WEEK: 6-3 (To date: 12-5)

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