Yale may have just put Harvard in the NCAA tournament. Ivy League students study during the week and play their games on Friday and Saturday. They also cannot take time away from the books for a tournament, so they are the only of 31 conferences to settle their champions automatic bid through the regular season, and that has set up a showdown between 9-3 Princeton and 10-3 Harvard that could force a one-game playoff next Saturday if not before.
Harvard was in control with a 9-1 mark to a 7-2 mark for Princeton heading into last weekend. However last Friday the Crimson travelled to Princeton and were hammered by the best player in the league and fourth best Low Major player in the country, Ian Hummer. Hummer delivered 23 points and 14 rebounds in a 58-53 win over Harvard last Friday, and after Harvard lost against on Saturday and Princeton won, Princeton took over first place – until tonight.
Yale upset Princeton tonight, thus handing their rival Harvard first place for at least a day once Harvard beat Clemson. Princeton will now hope to win at Brown and Penn to close out the season and guaranty at least a tie for first, which would force a one-game playoff next Saturday back at Princeton.
Harvard has a much easier road, as they simply need to defeat Cornell Saturday at home and then hope Princeton loses one of their last two to give Harvard the crown and the bid without needing a playoff game.
Wesley Saunders of Harvard joined Hummer on the Breitbart Sports Low-Major All-American team as the 4th and 9th best Low-Major players, and both have led their team into www.kenpom.com – good enough to potentially upset a team once in the NCAA tournament. Here are the top eight players from www.valueaddbasketball.com and the ranking of the eight teams from www.kenpom.com.
| Conf Rnk | Low-Maj Rnk | Elite 8 Players/Teams | Ivy League | Ht | LM Val Add |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Hummer, Ian | Princeton | 6-07 | 11.07 |
| 2 | 9 | Saunders, Wesley | Harvard | 6-05 | 10.02 |
| 3 | 63 | Barbour, Brian | Columbia | 6-01 | 7.21 |
| 4 | 81 | Chambers, Siyani | Harvard | 6-00 | 6.77 |
| 5 | 103 | Bray, TJ | Princeton | 6-05 | 6.44 |
| 6 | 108 | Miller, Shonn | Cornell | 6-07 | 6.36 |
| 7 | 132 | Sullivan, Matt | Brown | 6-05 | 6.01 |
| 8 | 139 | Barrett, Will | Princeton | 6-10 | 5.89 |
| 1 | 81 | Team Rank | Princeton | ||
| 2 | 100 | Team Rank | Harvard | ||
| 3 | 194 | Team Rank | Columbia | ||
| 4 | 202 | Team Rank | Yale | ||
| 5 | 231 | Team Rank | Brown | ||
| 6 | 238 | Team Rank | Pennsylvania | ||
| 7 | 257 | Team Rank | Cornell | ||
| 8 | 278 | Team Rank | Dartmouth |
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