Schedule Update: Penn and Cornell Share Four Common Nonconference Opponents

Today Penn becomes the seventh team in the Ivy League to officially announce its finalized schedule. Notably, the Big Red and the Quakers will face four common nonconference opponents as both squads will square off against Davidson, Drexel, St. Joseph's and La Salle.

Penn's other marquis games are visits to Villanova, Penn State, Duke and a home game against Temple in the Palestra.

In addition to the common opponents with Penn, Cornell also gets Kansas, Alabama, Syracuse, Seton Hall, UMass, and potentially a third Big East opponent in St. John's. But what adds to the lure of the Cornell schedule is the Big Red's participation in two preseason tournaments, The Legends Classic and the Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival.

While Penn's schedule appears a step below Cornell's in both attractiveness to fans and the level of difficulty, the Quakers definitely have a challenging slate and should be well-prepared for Ivy League play.

Last season, Penn visited Cornell in Ithaca on March 6, 2009, the Big Red's thirteenth Ivy game of the fourteen game Ivy round robin season. The Big Red's victory over Penn sent the Cornell fans streaming onto the court in celebration as Cornell captured its second consecutive Ivy League title and NCAA Tournament bid.

Could Penn witness another court storm in Ithaca? Maybe.

A year earlier, during 2007-2008, Cornell clinched an Ivy title and bid with a March 1, 2008 victory over Harvard. It was Cornell's twelfth game of the Ivy round robin play.

Who is Cornell's twelfth game of this Ivy season? You guessed it. Penn, on February 27 and in Cornell's Newman Arena.

Below are the Ivy schedules thus far released.

• Cornell will play 31 games, including two Division III games (PSU Behrend and Clarkson).
• Brown will play 31 games, including two non-Division I opponents (Keene State and Philadelphia Sciences).
• Columbia will play 28 games.
  
• Harvard will play 28 games, including one Division III game (MIT).
• Penn will play 28 games.
  
• Princeton will play 28 games, including one non-Division I opponent (Goucher College).
• Yale will play 31 games, including one Division III game (Albert Magnus).