Since the Ivy League instituted a conference tournament in 2017, Princeton and Yale have been the dominant teams. Princeton has won two of the six championships, and Yale has won three, including last year when the Bulldogs beat Brown 62-61. (Two of the tournaments weren’t played due to COVID).
Princeton was last year’s regular-season conference champion. Not surprisingly, these are the two favorites this season according to BetMGM’s college basketball odds.
Odds as of Jan. 8
Ivy League Basketball Odds (Regular-Season Champion)
| Team | BetMGM Odds |
| Princeton | +115 |
| Yale | +175 |
| Cornell | +400 |
| Columbia | +800 |
| Brown | +2500 |
| Harvard | +20000 |
| Penn | +25000 |
| Dartmouth | +50000 |
Ivy League Basketball Predictions
Princeton was the Ivy League’s preseason favorite in its media poll, earning 15 of the 16 first-place votes. Yale was second and Brown, which received the other first-place vote, was third.
Princeton has had an up-and-down non-conference showing, but the Tigers’ best win was an 83-82 win over Rutgers in a neutral court in Newark, NJ. Caden Pierce, a 6-foot-7 junior who was last season’s Ivy League Player of the Year, had 21 points and 14 rebounds. He also had the game-winner in the paint with five seconds left.
Pierce (11.4 points per game entering the week) hasn’t really hit his stride. Fellow first-team All-Conference choice Xaivian Lee, a 6-foot-4 junior, has been Princeton’s leading scorer, averaging a team-high 15.6.
Princeton went 11-4 in its non-league schedule and will open its Ivy League schedule on Jan. 11 at Harvard. Three of the four non-league losses were by six or fewer points. This is a team that may not blow out many opponents, but it is a veteran squad that knows how to win close games, evidenced by the victory over a Rutgers team that hopes to contend for an NCAA berth.
Yale went 7-6 in its non-conference schedule, but the Bulldogs were competitive in most games, including losses to Big 10 teams Purdue and Minnesota by a combined 11 points.
John Poulakidas, a 6-foot-6 senior, is back after missing three games due to injury. In 10 non-conference games, he averaged 20.7 points and shot 44.4% from three-point range. Along with 6-foot-7 junior Nick Townsend (13.4 ppg.), he gives Yale a top scoring duo.
Can anybody else in the Ivy contend?
The Ivy League postseason tournament is unique in that only four teams comprise the field, so the regular season takes on even greater importance.
While Princeton and Yale are strong bets, the other two spots appear to be up for grabs among three teams.
Cornell and Columbia had the next two best odds, according to BetMGM. It wasn’t an overly impressive non-league showing by Cornell, which enters its Ivy opener at Columbia with an 8-5 record.
Cornell’s top non-league win was an 88-80 triumph at California. This is a balanced team with five players who are double-figure scorers, led by second-team All-Ivy selection Nazir Williams (14.5).
Columbia went 11-2 in non-league games, highlighted by a 90-80 win over Villanova in the second game of the season. It wasn’t an overly ambitious non-league schedule, that concluded with a 91-64 loss at Rutgers on Dec. 30.
Brown only has the fifth-best odds, but the Bears should not only contend for a playoff berth but could be an outside championship contender. The Bears will get a chance to immediately show their contender status when they open Ivy League competition on Jan. 11 at Yale.
Brown also has its own scoring duo to compete favorably in the Ivy League. Six-foot senior Kino Lilly Jr. and 6-foot-7 junior Landon Lewis combine to average more than 33 points per game. Brown didn’t ease into its conference schedule. The Bears faced two Top 10 teams at the time, Kansas and Kentucky on the road and lost each game by 34 points. Still, facing that type of competition is what should prepare the Bears for their Ivy League schedule.
The other three Ivy League teams Dartmouth (6-7), Harvard (5-8), and Penn (4-9) are long shots just to reach the conference tournament.
