During lay-up lines last Friday night, as posters of Jeremy Lin made their way through the bleachers, Harvard players and coaches stopped for a moment and looked at the crowd—blacked-out and boisterous. They whispered to one another, pointed at people and posters (one impromptu sign read, “Hey Cornell, Andy Katz came to see us, not you!”). Smiles crept across their faces.

I felt chills.

The crowd was a monument to the Crimson’s season, a symbol of the progress the program has made over the past three years, the culmination of a determined effort to make basketball matter on campus. Although Harvard’s players and coaches have been adamant about staying focused on the present, those smiles betrayed a feeling of satisfaction, of having, in some sense, fulfilled a part of their vision.

Of course, Cornell defeated the Crimson at Lavietes Pavilion, 79-70, effectively ending Harvard’s shot at the Ivy League title. But by no means does that end the Crimson’s season. Many monuments—tangible, like the season wins record, and intangible, like those smiles during warm-ups—are within Harvard’s grasp.

Sitting at 96th in the RPI, the 18-6 Crimson is on the verge of breaking the program record of 19 wins and could crack 10 conference victories for the first time since 1996-97. More importantly, Harvard has an excellent chance at making a post-season tournament such as the College Basketball Invitational or the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, and a decent shot at the National Invitational Tournament if it manages to win out.

The fate of the rest of the Ivy League could be determined this Friday night when Princeton, which sits one and a half games back from the Big Red, travels to Ithaca. A Tiger victory would prolong the race and possibly lead to a one-game playoff between the two teams in the future. But, if Cornell wins (the more likely outcome), it will essentially clinch the conference title and approach the rest of the Ivy schedule with its NCAA tournament seed in mind, whereas the Tigers, like Harvard, will be fighting for a bid to another post-season tournament.

The rest of the Ivies are looking to play spoiler. A single upset can define a season and provide a springboard into the next year. Brown, Columbia, Penn, and Yale are fighting for fourth place in the conference, but the seniors on those teams are more concerned with getting one last memorable win.

So this weekend—on which Senior Night falls for half the teams in the conference—marks the beginning of the final chapter for the season. Regardless of whether or not a team is playing for hardware, each still has a shot at a storybook ending.

BROWN (10-17, 4-6 Ivy) at HARVARD (18-6, 7-3 Ivy)

The Bears had perhaps the best weekend of any team in the league last Friday and Saturday with a sweep over the Killer P’s on the road. Their win over Princeton was a shocker and placed Cornell in the driver’s seat for the Ivy title. The reason for Brown’s resurgence comes in the frontcourt, where Matt Mullery and Peter Sullivan have dominated the paint.

When the Crimson traveled to Providence two weeks ago, the Bears led by as many as six points in the second half, but Harvard left with an 81-67 victory. Kyle Casey tied a career high with 27 points and Doug Miller scored a season-best 12 points, as the duo topped the Brown combo of Mullery and Sullivan, who had 7 and 21 points, respectively.

I sound like a broken record at this point, but the Crimson hopes to see minutes from injured forwards Keith Wright, Pat Magnarelli, and Andrew Van Nest. If any of those players can be effective, Harvard can neutralize the Bears frontcourt once again and earn the season sweep.

Pick: Harvard 75, Brown 66

PRINCETON (16-7, 7-2 Ivy) at CORNELL (23-4, 9-1 Ivy)

The Ivy title rides on this game. If the Tigers win, they’re only a half-game back, whereas if the Big Red prevails, Cornell’s magic number will be one with three games to play.