Sophomore forward Kyle Casey will have his hands full this weekend as the Crimson tries to keep its Ivy title hopes alive.

Hide your kids. Hide your wife. And hide your husband, because the Ivy League is getting fratricidal this weekend. Judgment Week has come for the Ancient Eight.

Three teams—three-and-a-half if you count Dartmouth—have a shot at killing the dreams of a title hopeful. Penn has a crack at Harvard tonight and Princeton next Tuesday, and the Tigers and the Crimson throw down tomorrow evening, likely for the top spot in the conference (the Big Green also has a statistically insignificant chance at beating Princeton tonight).

Without getting too technical, Harvard must pick up a half-game in the standings to catch the Tigers. A sweep this weekend would ensure that outcome and force, at the very least, a neutral-site playoff to determine the Ivy’s Tourney team. Any Crimson loss, however, would necessitate help from Dartmouth (yikes) and/or the Quakers to keep Harvard’s banner dreams alive.

In the simplest terms, both Princeton and the Crimson control their own destinies. If either team wins out (including a potential playoff), that squad will join the Madness.

So while its 70-69 loss to Yale last Saturday was crushing, Harvard is still very much alive. If, at the beginning of the season, the basketball gods had offered me this situation—two, potentially three, straight wins to end the season would earn a ticket to the Dance—I would have taken it in a heartbeat. In that sense, the Crimson is right where it needs to be, playing at home, no less, where it has won 15 in a row.

But make no mistake; the pressure is on. Tonight is the latest “biggest game in Harvard men’s basketball history.” Then it will quickly be supplanted by tomorrow’s game against Princeton.

Win or lose, Lavietes will be a glass case of emotion this weekend. Personally, I’m all-in on this team. This is my last tour Around the Ivies, and to come so close and fall short of history would be devastating. It’s the burden of being a fan. You follow a team through its ups and downs, and then one day you realize that your heart is on the line.

When that day comes, you’re rooting for more than just the game. You’re rooting for all your loyalty to pay off, for a sign that the universe still rewards faith, care, and hope. That’s why the student section doesn’t just chant, “We will win.” The chorus that’s become so familiar to Lavietes starts with one person saying, “I…I believe…”

Belief alone won’t hang a banner, but I do believe that we’ll win out.

PENN (12-13, 6-5 Ivy) at HARVARD (21-5, 10-2 Ivy)

Poor Penn has the toughest conclusion to its season, with games against the Crimson and the Tigers still left on its slate. The flip side of that scheduling is that the Quakers are still relevant. Sure, this class of Penn seniors is the first since the early 1990s to not win a league title, but at least it can spoil the dreams of either Harvard or Princeton.

The first matchup between these two teams was one of the most electric sporting events I’ve ever been to. The Crimson actually won the game three times—once at the end of regulation when the referees inexplicably waved off a foul, once at the end of the first overtime when the buzzer sounded before Zack Rosen’s game-tying shot, and finally for real at the end of the second extra period. I think Harvard will beat Penn for the fourth time this season to set the stage for a showdown with the Tigers.

Pick: Harvard 74, Penn 66

PRINCETON (22-5, 10-1 Ivy) at DARTMOUTH (5-21, 1-11 Ivy)

I hate having Dartmouth as a travel partner. To be fair, last Saturday was the first time all season that the Crimson lost while playing the same team a night after the Big Green did, but situations like tonight make me wish that a stronger squad was batting ahead of us in the lineup.