Princeton and Ivy League Heading to History?

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Stop the postings (in lieu of presses).

The Guru in posts below said he would be back quicker if news warranted and apparently it does.

While just posting a separate on the UConn-Temple game and another rounding up the other locals, as the Guru went about putting tweets in place to guide those who follow to the blog reports, he noticed here in the pre-sunrise hours that ESPN's latest bracketology from Charlie Creme was already out before the public.

By the way, the Guru says pre-sunrise because pre-Dawn in women's basketball is anything prior to May 1, 1970. (Hello down there in Columbia.)

So there it was -- three weeks after your Guru and AP national women's writer Doug Feinberg had our own speculation in looking ahead to the NCAA tourney, Creme had unbeaten Princeton listed as a sixth seed, which would be highest ever for an Ivy school, and hosting the first two rounds because in placing the Tigers with No. 3 Louisville on the projection, it has already been determined the Cardinal can't host because of another event set before the NCAA women changed their criteria for the first two rounds.

He has a whole discussion right now you can read -- the Guru retweeted so just find the link that way.

But here are some of the things he didn't say -- like explaining placing Yale in the field as an at-large team which would be a first for the Ivies and he also has Cornell moving into the field.

It could be that one would replace the other but understand this, the post reflects right now, but those of us who look to the future says, if a second team makes the NCAA field, with control of their own destiny, that likely could be Penn.

If Creme looked at the flat out standings to make that determination, those who follow the Ivies know that things are always disjointed early in the annual 14-team tournament -- there is no postseason event so regular season winner is the champ unless a playoff is warranted.

Two weeks from now, Yale's perfect record 4-0 and actually a game in front because of numbers of games played will likely be no more.

RPI-wise there is no way as an at-large the committee would ever take an RPI 116 team with a 155 schedule strength or a 106 with a 214 schedule strength.

But, can there be a multiple for the first time ever out of the Ivies -- if that team becomes Penn as the runnerup (two losses to Princeton only) -- yes.

Right now in conference RPI rankings, the Ivy is a 10 -- way higher than the days of 25-30 that usually meant the winner was going to get a 15 or 16 seed.

Having a 10 allows a multiple -- yeah, the Guru knows the committee doesn't look at conferences -- and Penn with a reading of 64 and 54 on the College News RPI simulation that is already out gets the Quakers on the table for discussion.

The question if the Guru can get a hold of Charlie later is why did he put a second Ivy on the books since that fact is not part of the Princeton discussion.

There is one tantalizing scenario that exists for now -- Princeton and Penn run 1-2 the rest of the way -- likely for the Tigers, tougher for the Quakers considering the improvement of the Ivies.

That gets us to another dramatic season-end game, this time at The Palestra, when the Tigers would arrive one game short finishing unbeaten and the Quakers one game short of a tie that could mean a playoff.

And if Penn pulled another upset, and then another -- Princeton would still deserve to go as an at-large team because forget the numbers -- the eye test and basketball discussion trump all others -- on the court the Tigers are one of the best right now.

We now return you to the Guru posts already in place.

-- Mel


- Posted using BlogPress from the Guru's iPad