Though this year’s Harvard women’s basketball team may not have matched the 1996-97 team’s undefeated Ivy record, it still has a claim as one of the most dominant teams in Ivy history.

The five-game Ivy margin of victory by Harvard (22-5, 13-1 Ivy) over second-place Penn (12-15, 8-6) and Cornell (14-13, 8-6) broke a school record and matched the league record.

The previous school best was held by the 1995-96 and 1996-97 teams, who each won the league by four games. Last year’s Penn squad is the only other team ever to win the Ivies by five games.

Harvard women’s basketball team already made history this year by becoming the earliest team in school history to clinch a share of the Ivy title.

Both of those records could easily be dismissed as indicative of the weakness of the league’s second-place teams. But it’s also indicative of how this year’s Harvard team didn’t simply win—it won in ways that crushed the spirit of its opponents.

NCAA Seeding Update

Harvard’s seeding fate, which will be announced live on ESPN at 5 p.m. Sunday, has gotten slightly clearer following recent conference tournament results.

Any doubt that Harvard will be seeded any lower than No. 14 in any of the four 16-team regionals essentially vanished on Wednesday when Bucknell beat Holy Cross for the Patriot League championship. That result guaranteed that eight teams with Rating Percentage Index (RPI) rankings outside of the top 100 in the nation will be in the NCAA tournament. Harvard, with an RPI ranking in the low 60s, would in all likelihood be seeded higher than those eight teams based on past selection committee precedents.

RPI rankings have been a remarkably good predictor of seeding in the lower quarter of the bracket. In the last two years, out of the 32 automatic qualifiers picked to fill the bottom quarter of the bracket, only three earned a seed worse than their RPI-projected seed.

So judging by the success of these projections, Harvard’s potential to be a No. 13 seed is high. As of Thursday morning, there were still four conferences—other than the eight previously mentioned—with no potential automatic qualifiers with an RPI above Harvard’s and two automatic qualifiers in a statistical dead heat with Harvard.

NCAA Hosting Update

The race to be one of the 16 host sites for the NCAA tournament is as hotly contested and unclear as ever in women’s basketball this year.

RPI has also been a solid predictor of hosting. Two years ago, 15 of the top 16 teams in the RPI hosted. Last year, 14 of the top 16 teams in the RPI hosted and no host had an RPI ranking below 18.

This much is clear: UConn, Tennessee, Duke, Oklahoma, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Purdue and Baylor appear to be fairly clear-cut choices for No. 1 and No. 2 seeds. As a No. 13 or 14 seed, Harvard would avoid having to play any of these teams and instead take on a No. 4 or No. 3 seed.

South Carolina, Iowa St. and Kansas St. are in good position for No. 3 seeds.