Columbia to Host Potential Ivy League Playoff

Ivy Men's & Women's Hoops Head into Pivotal Weekend

IvyLeagueSports.com

Men's Standings

PRINCETON, N.J. — Heading into the final full travel weekend, the Cornell men still sit in the driver's seat, but Princeton, Dartmouth and Yale all have a mathematical chance for a share of the regular season title. On the women's side, Dartmouth holds a one-game lead over archrival Harvard — both with three games remaining, including the head-to-head mid-week season finale Tuesday, March 10.

In the event of any two-or-three-way tie at the conclusion of the regular season on Tuesday, the tied teams will be co-champions and a playoff will determine the League's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships (since 1955-56, the League has had seven men's and five women's playoffs, including one three-team playoff for the men and two three-team playoffs for the women).
Here are the possible scenarios:

MEN

Cornell (9-3 Ivy) can win the Ivy title outright by beating Princeton (7-4) on Saturday night in its final game of the season, or by beating Penn on Friday night if Princeton loses at Columbia that night or to Penn in their regular-season finale on Tuesday, March 10.

Princeton can win the title outright if it sweeps all of its final three games and Cornell loses both of its final two games.
Cornell and Princeton would share the regular season title at 10-4, and meet in a one-game playoff, if:

- Cornell beats Penn on Friday night and loses to Princeton on Saturday, AND

- Princeton wins its final three games, at Columbia on Friday night, at Cornell on Saturday night and at Penn on Tuesday.
Cornell and either Dartmouth (7-5) OR Yale (7-5) would share the regular season title at 9-5, and meet in a one-game playoff, if:

- Cornell loses its final two games, AND

- The winner of Friday night’s Dartmouth-at-Yale game also wins on Saturday night (against Brown and Harvard, respectively), AND

- Princeton loses its games at Columbia on Friday night and Penn on Tuesday night.

Cornell, Princeton and either Dartmouth (7-5) OR Yale (7-5) all would share the regular season title (at 9-5), forcing a two-game playoff, if:-

Cornell loses to both Penn and Princeton this weekend AND- Princeton beats Cornell on Saturday night, and loses to either Columbia on Friday night or Penn on Tuesday, AND- Yale OR Dartmouth sweep their respective games this weekend.

The men’s playoff games will take place at Columbia's Levien Gymnasium in New York City.

A one-game playoff would be Saturday, March 14.

A three-way, two-game playoff would take place Thursday, March 12 and Saturday, March 14, with the higher seed (best combined record vs. two other teams) receiving the bye to meet the winner of the first playoff game.