Nobody’s expecting the center to be Player of the Year—I’m sure he’s more than happy with Player of the Week—but if Smith can stay out of foul trouble (still a big question mark) and continue to provide Harvard with the two-way interior threat it has lacked since Wright’s graduation, the team will have that final piece to the puzzle.

As for the rest of the league, things are a bit of a mess. Since it’s Oscars week, for the third straight year let’s compare each team to a best picture nominee:

Brown is Beasts of the Southern Wild. Neither film nor team has any chance of winning anything, but the Bears do have a pair of beasts in the league’s two leading rebounders: freshman Cedric Kuakumensah and sophomore Rafael Maia, who actually is from the south (Brazil). With two more years of that pair playing next to each other, the future is bright for Brown, just as it is for young Quvenzhané Wallis.

Columbia is Les Misérables. A bunch of solid individual performances, but in both stories, things end up terribly for everyone. To be honest, Javert was probably happier about her fate than Brian Barbour is about his right now. I still have no idea how the Lions could be this bad.

Cornell is Silver Linings Playbook—the darkhorse contender. Shonn Miller is Jennifer Lawrence, the young star who continues to improve. But unfortunately for the Big Red, Errick Peck is Bradley Cooper—he’s good, but even at his absolute best he’s just not good enough to win anything for you.

Dartmouth is Amour. Nobody has seen either (the Big Green are dead last in the Ancient Eight with an average of 800 fans per game). But like France, Dartmouth is used to being a bottom-dweller, so both have to be thrilled they have a decent chance to not be one again this year.

Penn is Life of Pi. Miles Cartwright probably feels like Pi right now, stranded all alone without any help while things fall apart around him. Just as with Pi’s monkey and zebra friends, Miles lost Fran Dougherty and Steve Rennard for the rest of the story due to serious injuries.

Princeton is Argo. Headlined by one true star but average role players, both film and team are one of two realistic contenders for the title. One more loss to Harvard would doom the Tigers, but considering the Crimson hasn’t won at Princeton since before its players were born, Tony Mendez’s confidence about going into Iran and getting the Americans out was probably much higher than Harvard’s is about going into Jadwin and getting a win.

Yale is Django Unchained. It’s fine, but just as Django is pretty much the same as every other Tarantino film, so too are the Bulldogs headed towards yet another third-to-fifth place finish (that would make 11 in 12 years). Both team and film are also still reeling a bit from losing a huge star, be it Greg Mangano or Will Smith (who turned down Tarantino’s lead role), and both take place in pretty terrible settings, whether its New Haven or the antebellum South.

That leaves Harvard and two films: Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty. Appropriately, the Crimson is a combination of both. It’s the latter because at very different levels, both the film and the movie have faced questions about the methods used to achieve their ultimate goal. Questions have emerged as to whether waterboarding, as depicted in the film, goes against the principles of the country, or whether recruiting elite basketball talent, as Harvard has done, goes against the principles of the school.

It’s also Lincoln, with Amaker playing the titular role of trying to keep a divided house together. The coach was not met with an easy task, trying to win after Kyle Casey and Brandyn Curry seceded from the school. Could he bring everyone together towards a common goal, or would the strength of the opposition be too strong? So far, like Daniel Day-Lewis, Amaker is turning in his best-ever performance.

In both films, the U.S. achieved its goal, whether it was preserving the union or capturing the world’s most wanted terrorist.

Thanks to a breakout performance from supporting actor Kenyatta Smith, the Crimson appears on its way to achieving its own goal—a third straight Ivy title—as well.

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.