By DAVID FREED/HARVARD CRIMSON
CORNELL AT YALE:
Stop the presses; Yale solved pot brownies.
No, seriously. The study?s lead author compared the desire of baked college students to eat inhuman amounts of Doritos to hitting the accelerator in your car instead of the brake. In this realm of ill-advised analogies, drunken public urination seems quite similar to giving your Valentine a turnip instead of a cupcake.
Pick: Yale
PRINCETON AT DARTMOUTH:
The league?s sneakiest rivalry rears its head again this weekend. The Big Green crushed the Tigers by 31 in football this year, following its 28-24 victory on the season?s final week last year that denied Princeton an outright title. On the football field, the teams play for arguably the coolest trophy in sports, the Sawhorse Dollar, and the overall series is tied 43-43-4.
The basketball hasn?t been droll?Dartmouth took out Princeton in Hanover last year and came five points from the feat in Jadwin the year before. Yet the two teams are looking at a long struggle to re-join the league?s upper echelon; on Friday, a (sawhorse) dollar might buy a ticket.
Pick: Princeton
COLUMBIA AT BROWN:
Dear reader, you know by now this column demands its writer scour the depths of Ivy League journalism, finding the bastions of irresponsibility and comedy that lie there. To quote a former teaching fellow of mine, it demands ?fighting the balrogs so you don?t have to.?
It is with this proposition I present to you the Brown Daily Herald?s Drunk/Sober/High series. Exactly what it sounds like, the most recent review of Fifty Shades of Grey?for the uneducated, the book-turned-film is Twilight fan fiction with teenage Miley Cyrus try-hard erotic overtones?shows how low alcohol can take you.
The nadir? ?Gmail is a highly underrated method of sexting.?
Oh Howard, I do worry about this generation.
Pick: Columbia
PENN AT HARVARD:
For the year, the Quakers are being outscored by 0.22 points per possession?the same margin as last year?s 1-13 Cornell team. Maybe that?s why Penn senior forward Greg Louis admitted this week in The Daily Pennsylvanian that he?d been asked by a group of eight-year-old girls how his team still tries with no hope of a league title.
I?m not sure what Louis told the precocious Girl Scouts, but I?d bet he didn?t mention the team has lost three of five by 25 points or more. Or that the losing got so bad a DP writer spent his Valentine?s Day tweeting moribund facts about the team?s historical pitifulness.
With Harvard having beaten Penn three straight times?and posting a plus-75 margin of victory in the process?a morose soliloquy from dear Steven Saturday almost seems inevitable.
Pick: Harvard
COLUMBIA AT YALE:
Much like last year, a Harvard-Yale showdown for all the marbles in the penultimate game of the year appears inevitable. Each team plays four of its last six at home, with no trips to Jadwin left on the schedule. In both cases, the Lions may have the best chance of the remaining teams at playing the spoiler.
Not only does Columbia play a high-variance strategy, but they have arguably the league?s third-best player in Maodo Lo. Before Chambers sent him sprawling on his game-winner Friday, Lo used a devastating crossover to put Crimson defender after Crimson defender on the floor. He was in total control?demonstrating proficiency at the rim, in the midrange, and beyond the arc. He had six threes in a narrow loss to Yale at Levien three weeks ago, and the team needs the same here to throw the race upside down.
Pick: Yale
CORNELL AT BROWN:
Both teams split a pair of contests last weekend, losing to one of the league?s upper echelon squads and crushing a bottom feeder the next night. Given that only the Gentleman?s C?s post a pair of consecutive challenging games, such a pattern isn?t unusual this year. In fact, teams handling the Harvard-Dartmouth, Brown-Yale, and Penn-Princeton duos have managed a split 61-percent of the time, with only three sweeps all year.
Pick: Cornell
PENN AT DARTMOUTH:
In what amounts to a suckerpunch to the hosts, Penn will play the game under the specter of potential legislation that could change campus forever. Yes, I am referring to the proposed Pennsylvania bill that could lower hard liquor prices across the state. In a wholly predictable series of events, a thirsty Dartmouth athletic department (25-25-1 since the announcement of the hard liquor ban) will welcome its hosts with commensurate jealousy and anger.
Pick: Dartmouth
PRINCETON AT HARVARD:
Two-and-a-half games out with five more to play, barring a road sweep of Yale and Harvard, the Tigers look to be fighting for a CIT bid. That?s not to say the Crimson will underestimate Mitch Henderson?s squad. Amaker admitted Wednesday the team adjusts more for Princeton?s offense than any other in the league, showcasing the on-ball pressure needed to deny Princeton?s quirky offense of backdoor cuts and three-point barrages.
Harvard begins a tough four-game stretch here against the rest of the league?s top five?anything less than 3-1, and it will be watching at home come NCAA Tournament time. If last weekend showed anything, however, it?s that this team embraces such moments.
Pick: Harvard
CORNELL AT YALE:
Stop the presses; Yale solved pot brownies.
No, seriously. The study?s lead author compared the desire of baked college students to eat inhuman amounts of Doritos to hitting the accelerator in your car instead of the brake. In this realm of ill-advised analogies, drunken public urination seems quite similar to giving your Valentine a turnip instead of a cupcake.
Pick: Yale
PRINCETON AT DARTMOUTH:
The league?s sneakiest rivalry rears its head again this weekend. The Big Green crushed the Tigers by 31 in football this year, following its 28-24 victory on the season?s final week last year that denied Princeton an outright title. On the football field, the teams play for arguably the coolest trophy in sports, the Sawhorse Dollar, and the overall series is tied 43-43-4.
The basketball hasn?t been droll?Dartmouth took out Princeton in Hanover last year and came five points from the feat in Jadwin the year before. Yet the two teams are looking at a long struggle to re-join the league?s upper echelon; on Friday, a (sawhorse) dollar might buy a ticket.
Pick: Princeton
COLUMBIA AT BROWN:
Dear reader, you know by now this column demands its writer scour the depths of Ivy League journalism, finding the bastions of irresponsibility and comedy that lie there. To quote a former teaching fellow of mine, it demands ?fighting the balrogs so you don?t have to.?
It is with this proposition I present to you the Brown Daily Herald?s Drunk/Sober/High series. Exactly what it sounds like, the most recent review of Fifty Shades of Grey?for the uneducated, the book-turned-film is Twilight fan fiction with teenage Miley Cyrus try-hard erotic overtones?shows how low alcohol can take you.
The nadir? ?Gmail is a highly underrated method of sexting.?
Oh Howard, I do worry about this generation.
Pick: Columbia
PENN AT HARVARD:
For the year, the Quakers are being outscored by 0.22 points per possession?the same margin as last year?s 1-13 Cornell team. Maybe that?s why Penn senior forward Greg Louis admitted this week in The Daily Pennsylvanian that he?d been asked by a group of eight-year-old girls how his team still tries with no hope of a league title.
I?m not sure what Louis told the precocious Girl Scouts, but I?d bet he didn?t mention the team has lost three of five by 25 points or more. Or that the losing got so bad a DP writer spent his Valentine?s Day tweeting moribund facts about the team?s historical pitifulness.
With Harvard having beaten Penn three straight times?and posting a plus-75 margin of victory in the process?a morose soliloquy from dear Steven Saturday almost seems inevitable.
Pick: Harvard
COLUMBIA AT YALE:
Much like last year, a Harvard-Yale showdown for all the marbles in the penultimate game of the year appears inevitable. Each team plays four of its last six at home, with no trips to Jadwin left on the schedule. In both cases, the Lions may have the best chance of the remaining teams at playing the spoiler.
Not only does Columbia play a high-variance strategy, but they have arguably the league?s third-best player in Maodo Lo. Before Chambers sent him sprawling on his game-winner Friday, Lo used a devastating crossover to put Crimson defender after Crimson defender on the floor. He was in total control?demonstrating proficiency at the rim, in the midrange, and beyond the arc. He had six threes in a narrow loss to Yale at Levien three weeks ago, and the team needs the same here to throw the race upside down.
Pick: Yale
CORNELL AT BROWN:
Both teams split a pair of contests last weekend, losing to one of the league?s upper echelon squads and crushing a bottom feeder the next night. Given that only the Gentleman?s C?s post a pair of consecutive challenging games, such a pattern isn?t unusual this year. In fact, teams handling the Harvard-Dartmouth, Brown-Yale, and Penn-Princeton duos have managed a split 61-percent of the time, with only three sweeps all year.
Pick: Cornell
PENN AT DARTMOUTH:
In what amounts to a suckerpunch to the hosts, Penn will play the game under the specter of potential legislation that could change campus forever. Yes, I am referring to the proposed Pennsylvania bill that could lower hard liquor prices across the state. In a wholly predictable series of events, a thirsty Dartmouth athletic department (25-25-1 since the announcement of the hard liquor ban) will welcome its hosts with commensurate jealousy and anger.
Pick: Dartmouth
PRINCETON AT HARVARD:
Two-and-a-half games out with five more to play, barring a road sweep of Yale and Harvard, the Tigers look to be fighting for a CIT bid. That?s not to say the Crimson will underestimate Mitch Henderson?s squad. Amaker admitted Wednesday the team adjusts more for Princeton?s offense than any other in the league, showcasing the on-ball pressure needed to deny Princeton?s quirky offense of backdoor cuts and three-point barrages.
Harvard begins a tough four-game stretch here against the rest of the league?s top five?anything less than 3-1, and it will be watching at home come NCAA Tournament time. If last weekend showed anything, however, it?s that this team embraces such moments.
Pick: Harvard
