No, I am not referring to the Wisconsin center—the droopy-eyed Naismith award candidate and self-proclaimed co-founder of the #DirtyDub. I refer to the “other” Frank Kaminsky—the greatest basketball player in Yale history. This Kaminsky, the centerpiece of the last Yale team to make the tournament, proclaimed that his Bulldogs “weren’t afraid of any team.... We never cared about how we won our games, as long as we won.” 

The Yale faithful would do well to remember such lessons—and perspective. Their current squad, which took out Connecticut and appears unafraid of its Crimson rival, embodies Kaminsky’s words as well as any in recent memory. The team will remember that last year a 5-0 Harvard team got outplayed start to finish by a 4-1 Yale team at home, only to come back in the final week and stomp the Bulldogs on the road. 

The journey back to the top starts with a snoozer in Philly. 

Pick: Yale

BROWN AT PRINCETON

The Bears came off the mat by nearly completing the impressive home sweep of Harvard and Dartmouth. After Leland King’s departure, the team has massive Ewing Theory potential due to the outstanding play of sophomore guard Tayvon Blackmon. With Rafael Maia and Cedric Kuakamensah in the frontcourt, Brown can dominate opponents inside. 

Against Princeton, however, the Bears must take care of the ball. That Brown managed a win against Dartmouth playing hot potato (19 turnovers) is darn impressive, but that won’t happen against a better team. 

Pick: Princeton 

COLUMBIA AT HARVARD

Before the season, this was circled as the game where Columbia rode its upperclassmen back into the top tier of the Ivy League. The Lions have been knocking on the door for some time—beating Yale by 16 at home last year before taking out Princeton in Jadwin. It returns to face its nemesis; Harvard has fared poorly in Levien the last two years, but has won the two home games by an average of 19 points. 

Columbia—which takes more than 46 percent of its shots from three—has the league’s best offense while Harvard boasts the league’s best defense. Lions coach Kyle Smith compared Harvard to “a smaller version of Kentucky” this week. Smith’s team nearly beat Kentucky at Rupp this year before fading away, and a similar result is likely in Boston. 

Pick: Harvard

YALE AT PRINCETON

This game feels like a kitchen sink game for the Tigers after Princeton blew a golden chance to sweep the Gentleman’s C’s last weekend. Both teams come to Cambridge in the next three weeks, where Harvard has won 27 of 29 contests; a loss here will push either into major desperation mode. 

Pick: Princeton