With 13 minutes to go last week, Cornell led Yale 37-35 at home. With a win, the Big Red would have forced a three-way tie atop the Ivy League and stood a fair chance this week to surge into first place with a sweep. Of course, Yale dominated the rest of the way, as Armani Cotton finished with 13 rebounds in 28 minutes and the Elis crushed everyone not named Shonn Miller on the glass by a 46-20 margin.
In fact, Miller made just one of his six treys, putting him at 3-for-23 shooting on the year in conference play. After shooting 30 percent in nonconference play, I anticipate Miller having a nice reunion with the Law of Averages against Princeton’s feather-soft defense.
Pick: Cornell
PENN AT COLUMBIA
In the midst of a gut-wrenching loss to Yale, I wondered what the Lions had done to upset the sporting gods over the summer. Since school began, a Columbia basketball team laden with talent has seen top player Alex Rosenberg leave with injury. After competing well throughout nonconference play behind the emergence of Castlin and junior “Chariman Maodo” Lo, the Lions were handled consecutive gut-punch losses by Cornell and Yale. And that’s without mentioning the second consecutive winless football season and the resignation of a coach who allegedly told his players that they were “terrible [expletive] people.”
It’s been a tough season in Morningside Heights. However, playing Penn is usually a good way to turn things around.
Pick: Columbia
HARVARD AT YALE
At this point in the article, dear reader, I wouldn’t dare bore you with more details of Saturday’s gladiatorial class in New Haven.
Instead, I present the Yale Daily News answer to Datamatch: The Valentine’s Day Blindest Date contest. For those of you aiming to venture into Connecticut to pay homage to Cupid, the YDN has courteously assembled a group of 20 eligible dates. The article, sadly filled with even more excessive exclamation points than a YDNSports live tweet, presents a number of interesting candidates. A personal favorite, Bachelorette #7, declares one of her celebrity spirit animals to be “The Taco Bell Dog.” Sign me up.
Pick: Harvard
—Staff writer David Freed can be reached at david.freed@thecrimson.com.