Ivy League Basketball: 2024 conference tournament preview and predictions
By Kyle Craib
Ivy Madness is officially upon us.
This season, the Ivy League has opened the eyes of many college basketball fanatics to the talent within the conference. Princeton opened their season with a gutsy 68-61 win over Rutgers on neutral territory. Pennsylvania wreaked havoc with Villanova in a 76-72 victory in November. Yale brought the thunder to the freshly-crowned Mountain West champions at Santa Clara 66-58 to end 2023. All before conference play began.
After a thrilling year of basketball filled with many twists and turns, the four-team bracket is finally locked in. With only one spot in the NCAA Tournament projected to be up for grabs, it all comes down to this weekend in New York City.
The Princeton Tigers will look to follow up their magical run in the 2022-23 NCAA Tournament with another berth in the Big Dance. Meanwhile, their semi-final opponents, the Brown Bears, are entering just their first Ivy Madness Tournament in program history.
The memory of last year’s loss in the Ivy League finals is still fresh in the minds of the Yale Bulldogs; hungry for revenge and another chance at the promised land. On the other side of the court, the Cornell Big Red are looking to get back to March Madness for the first time since the 2009-10 season.
As we continue to close in on Saturday’s tip-off, let’s take a moment to preview the field, zero in on the key players, and predict who’s going dancing next week.