NEW HAVEN, Conn.--Whenever my esteemed basketball colleague, Rahul "The Ra-hooligan" Rohatgi, and I have covered Harvard men's basketball games together, they've always been memorable.

The last-second, near-upset of Penn last year, the upset of Penn this year, Princeton's buzzer-beater last weekend, Pat Harvey's own buzzer-beater against Hartford, the Dartmouth-Montreal road trip. Harvard hasn't always won these games, but they've always been classic in scope and fun to watch.

So, when Rahul and I headed down to Brown and Yale this weekend, we understandably expected big things. Fresh off an amazing weekend of basketball against Penn and Princeton, Harvard still had a legitimate shot at the Ivy title, was playing at top form, and would be facing Brown (who the Crimson had given a thorough 22-point spanking last month) and Yale (who had narrowly edged the Crimson in overtime).

Little did we know that this weekend would be different. Little did we know that in the coming days the Ivy League would be shaken up without Harvard on top. Little did we know that the Crimson's season would come to a disappointingly early end.

Striding into Brown's Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence on Friday night, Rahul and I were confident of a win. We figured that Earl Hunt would be as contained as he had been at Lavietes and that the Harvard team we had followed all season would show up to put the game away.

Boy, were we wrong.

Instead of the stifling defense we had been used to all season, Harvard was unable to slow the Bears attack. Brown guard Omari Ware exploded for seven straight points and the Bears jumped out to a quick 12-2 lead. Adding to Harvard's early sieve-like defense, the Crimson fouled with reckless abandon.

"We just couldn't guard without fouling," said Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan. "Overall, our team defense and rebounding was ineffective."