But this is a more experienced Crimson squad than last year’s, one that has proven it knows how to win tight road games and one that fully understands the importance of emerging from New Haven with a victory after its heartbreak there last season.

It certainly won’t be easy, but just like the U.S. News and World Report rankings and most everything else, I’m taking the Crimson to come out slightly ahead.

Pick: Harvard 68, Yale 65

DARTMOUTH (4-14, 0-2) AT BROWN (6-13, 0-2)

Perhaps Brown should hire Billy Bob Thornton, because this season, it’s been all bad news for the Bears. First, top recruit Rafael Maia was deemed ineligible by the NCAA in November. Soon thereafter, forward Tucker Halpern was lost for the season thanks to a bad case of mononucleosis, a crippling blow to a team that should have been on the rise this year.

Dartmouth, meanwhile, gave the Crimson a run for its money in the squads’ two games this season—even leading by seven in the second half of the teams’ Jan. 7 contest at Lavietes Pavilion—but eventually reminded everyone why the Big Green will be the league’s bottom dweller once again.

This game should generate as little interest as Rob Schneider’s new CBS sitcom, so let’s move on.

Pick: Brown 64, Dartmouth 57

HARVARD AT BROWN

The Bears, to their credit, gave the Crimson as much trouble as anyone last year. Brown held a 22-point halftime lead on Feb. 12 at Lavietes Pavilion before being outscored 54-25 in the second half of Harvard’s win, a major turning point in the Crimson’s season. Two weeks later, the Bears led by 11 at the break in Providence before again being dominated, 44-27, in the second.

Sophomore guard Sean McGonagill, the reigning Ivy Rookie of the Year, can be an elite scorer—as evidenced by his 39-point outing against Columbia last season—while Toledo transfer Stephen Albrecht and former Macaulay Culkin doppelganger Andrew McCarthy average double digits as well. But the Crimson has too many weapons of its own for the Bears to compete.

Pick: Harvard 73, Brown 60

COLUMBIA (12-7, 1-1) AT CORNELL (6-11, 1-2)

Much like Brown, both these teams were brutally hit by the injury bug early in their seasons, when Columbia guard Noruwa Agho—the conference’s leading scorer last year—and talented Cornell forward Errick Peck were both lost to season-ending knee injuries.

The result was two teams with little chance of competing for anything in the 2011-2012 season. In Ithaca, Big Red senior guard Chris Wroblewski was left to tearfully sit around and read the Cornell Basketball Blog, recalling the good 'ol days when he was achieving greatness with Ryan, Jeff, and Lou. Things have been better in N.Y.C., where the Lions finished with a winning record in non-conference play thanks in large part to the play of junior guard Brian Barbour.