2025 Ivy League Basketball Tournament Preview, Odds, And Predictions

Yale has won three of the last four Ivy League basketball tournament titles played, and the Bulldogs are again considered the team to beat this year.

Most impressive about Yale’s recent run is that there was no Ivy League tournament during the 2019-2020 season due to COVID, but Yale was the regular-season champion that year.

Unlike many conference tournaments, which include more teams, only four of the eight Ivy League teams qualify for the tourney.

RELATED: 2025 NCAA Tournament Auto-Bid Tracker

Here are some key facts about the tournament

Dates: Saturday and Sunday

Where: Brown University

Saturday’s semifinals

No. 4 Princeton vs. No. 1 Yale

No. 3 Dartmouth vs. No. 2 Cornell

Championship: Sunday, noon ET (ESPN2)

Defending Champion: Yale

Who’s hot: Cornell enters the tournament with the longest current win streak, four games. In those four games, Cornell is averaging 94.2 points per game.

Top four NCAA NET Rankings (through March 9)

1. Yale (70)
2. Cornell (127)
3. Princeton (169)
4. Dartmouth (203)

Players to watch: John Poulakidas, 6-6, Sr. Yale (19.3 ppg.); Nick Townsend, 6-7, Jr. Yale (15.4 ppg., .490 three-point %), Xaivian Lee, 6-4, Jr. Princeton (17.0 ppg., 6.1 rpg., 5.4 apg.); Nazir Williams, 6-3, Sr. Cornell (14.9 ppg., 4.5 rpg.); Ryan Cornish, 6-4. Sr., Dartmouth (17.2 ppg., 5.0 rpg., 3.2 apg.).

Fast fact: The Ivy League first instituted a tournament in the 2016-17 season. Only three teams have won the six titles – Yale (3), Princeton (2), and Penn (1).

Ivy League Basketball Tournament Odds

College basketball odds via BetMGM as of March 11

Ivy League Basketball Tournament Predictions

Yale (20-7, 13-1) is the favorite (and for a reason) and is my pick. The Bulldogs’ lone Ivy League loss was 74-69 at Harvard, a team that was hot near the end but didn’t qualify for the tournament.

So, Yale has gone 2-0 this year against the other three teams in the field. One of Yale’s games against each of the other three teams was won by more than double digits, but the other games were won by seven or fewer points.

Nobody is infallible in the Ivy League.

A dark horse, if one can call it that, is Princeton (19-10, 8-6), which must open against Yale. Princeton lost 77-70 at home to Yale, but it then lost 84-57 in the more recent meeting in New Haven.

A key for Princeton will be the play of 6-foot-7 junior Caden Pierce, who was the Ivy League Player of the Year in 2024 but has been hampered by injuries this year, although he only has missed one game. Pierce is averaging 11.3 points and has averaged 13 in his last three games.

Actually, any of the four teams are viable contenders. Cornell (17-10, 9-5) lost 103-88 at Yale, but then played a more competitive game, losing 92-88 at home in the rematch. The Big Red lead the Ivy League and began the week 15th nationally with 14.85 fast break points per game. If Cornell has its transition game going, it could be a dangerous team.

Dartmouth (14-13, 8-6) is not coming in with momentum. The Big Green have lost three of their last five games, including the season finale, 66-58, at Harvard. Dartmouth lost its two games to first-round opponent Cornell by 12 and 39 points respectively, so it would be a major surprise if the Big Green advanced.

Yale has the most well-rounded team in the Ivy League basketball tournament. The Bulldogs are second in the Ivy League in scoring (82.2 ppg.) and first in scoring defense (69.7). The Bulldogs’ 12.5 scoring margin leads the Ivy League, followed by Cornell (7.7), Dartmouth (6.3), and Princeton (1.7).

Cornell is the Ivy League scoring leader (85.0), but the Big Red allow 77.0 points, which is sixth in the Ivy League. Yale leads the conference in three-point percentage (.385), followed by Cornell (.376), Princeton (.358), and Dartmouth (.356).

If Dartmouth can hang its hat on anything is its three-point defense, where the Big Green are holding teams to .294, which is best in the Ivy League.