The penultimate weekend of Ivy League play is upon us, dear reader. The allure of spring break, shining like The Strip in the far distance, is obscured by the impending cloud of midterms and blocking group drama. Housing day teasers have begun to usurp trite Buzzfeed articles on the author’s ever-prescient Facebook Timeline. As muddy ice piles grow, the Brown school newspaper’s blog has debuted a “Lana del Foreplay” column to keep spirits high amongst yet another Derrick Rose injury.

Indeed, it can only be spring.

Last weekend brought some more clarity to the Ivy League title picture. The Gentleman’s C’s continued their up and down play; a week after losing to Dartmouth, Columbia swept Brown and Yale to knock the Elis a full game back of leader Harvard. Cornell looked dispirited in consecutive losses, with its offense dropping to 307th in Ken Pomeroy’s standings.

Harvard completed a four-game home sweep with a now-characteristic dismantling of Penn and comeback victory against Princeton. It was the fourth consecutive sweep of the artists formerly known as the Killer P’s; afterwards Harvard coach Tommy Amaker praised the grit of his squad, which has won eight straight games and controlled the entire second half on Saturday.

The race has shaped up much like this year’s football one, where an unexpected Elis loss put Harvard in first and set up a climactic late-season tilt for the title. Unlike in previous years, Yale hardly wet the bed (or, as it is wont, defecate in its laundry) in the big game. A week out, a similarly titanic tilt feels inevitable. Both teams cannot—and will not—look past weekend foes and top-four Ancient Eight squads Princeton (at Yale Friday) and Columbia (vs. Harvard Saturday).

Before moving on to the games, however, I’d like to take a moment to honor the seniors. While Harvard’s senior day is not until next week, this weekend will feature the final home contest for half the league’s eldest members. From All-Ivy talents like Cornell’s Shonn Miller to key rotation players like Columbia’s Steve Frankoski, Senior Day will be a rightful celebration of the sacrifices made and careers had by the league’s greatest talents.

Frankoski in particular is emblematic of the classic archetype that has shaped the Ancient Eight race all season—the gritty veteran role player doing his job. These set doesn' include senior Miller, Dartmouth's Gabas Maldunas, or Harvard's Wesley Saunders-each unquestionably one of their team's brightest stars and the focal point of nearly each offensive set.

On Columbia, it is Cory Ostekowski—a smart, instinctive center who made six clutch free throws in the victory against Yale. Cornell has Galal Cancer, a savvy guard with good range whose 17 points were instrumental in the squad’s win over Princeton, its best victory over the season. Penn’s Greg Louis is his team’s second best shooter, a reserve who ranks second on the team in rebounding.

Harvard’s Jonah Travis is the quintessential example of this stereotype. Sidelined at the beginning of the season with injuries, Travis has been the Crimson’s first big man off the bench during its eight-game run and its most savvy inside player. An expert in drawing contact at the rim, Travis uses excellent footwork and sneaky pump fakes to draw defenders in the air—going around them for easy layups or into them to draw fouls. The team rallies around him; if junior co-captain Siyani Chambers is its heart, Travis is its motor.

Travis, Ostekowski, Princeton’s Ben Hazel, and Yale’s Armani Cotton—forgive the trite saying—will not draw the headlines. Yet, all will feature heavily into how the league shakes out. Don’t sleep on these guys.

Without further delay, onto the games.

DARTMOUTH AT COLUMBIA

Save Chambers skipping Saturday’s game to appear on Chopped, the most surprising Ivy League athletics event of the week will be the introduction of new Columbia Lions football coach Al Bagnoli. After serving 23 years on the sidelines for Penn, Bagnoli announced he’d retire after this year…only to, three months after retirement, sign with the Lions.

Bagnoli’s move—from the faded, once great empire of Penn football to the empty, shriveling carcass of Columbia’s program—is without comparison. I’d compare it to if Charlie Sheen traded his life in 2004 for his life in 2014—everyone involved thinks they are winning, but everyone on the outside knows nobody is.

Pick: Columbia