The Guru Report: Penn and Princeton Will Be Playing and Scoreboard Watching in Big Ivy Weekend; Clark Declares for WNBA Draft; Conference Showdowns; New NCAA Reveal

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

PHILADELPHIA — It’s going to be a combination of playing and scoreboard watching this weekend and through next weekend in the Ivy League as teams to try to determine their seeds for the Ivy Madness tournament later this month at Columbia’s Levien Gym or in the case of Brown, Penn, and Yale, become the fourth and final team in the field competing for the league’s NCAA automatic bid.

 

Princeton, Columbia, and Harvard have clinched berths, with Princeton and Columbia tied for first, Harvard is two games back, and Brown and Penn are tied for the fourth slot with Yale one game back.

 

On Friday night, at The Palestra at 5 p.m., the Quakers women’s contingent will host Dartmouth at 5 p.m., while Brown will be hosting Columbia.

 

Princeton, which got edged at Columbia last weekend to create a first-place tie, will host Harvard at Jadwin Gym in Central New Jersey at 5 p.m. also.

 

Yale will host Cornell at 4 p.m.

 

The Quakers are in a must-get-win motif, hoping that while they deal lowly Dartmouth, Columbia will take care of Brown.

 

Of course, Princeton would like to keep Harvard in third, and hope Brown can upset Columbia.

 

On Saturday, Princeton hosts Dartmouth while Penn hosts Harvard where if help comes a win over the Crimson could be the differential whether the Quakers get to the Madness. Yale will host Columbia.

 

Brown hosts Cornell.

 

Next Saturday Penn goes to Princeton, Columbia visits Cornell, while Brown hosts Yale.

 

On Saturday, VCU in the Atlantic Ten, and Saint Joseph’s and. George Mason are tied for third heading to the final day of the regular season.

 

Richmond has gained the top seed.

 

Saint Joseph’s will need to win at Duquesne in Pittsburgh and hope that George Mason can win at VCU, which would give the Hawks a two-seed.

 

All the Ivy and A-10 action will air on ESPN+.

 

Meanwhile in the Coastal Athletic Association, Drexel will host league-leader Stony Brook, Friday at 6 p.m., while Delaware on the same night will host Campbell at 7 at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark.

 

That covers all the what’s ahead action locally for Friday and Saturday.

 

La Salle will finish up its regular A-10 action Saturday playing at Fordham.

 

In the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), Rider, whose four-game win streak was snapped Thursday being beaten on the road by Niagara, the preseason favorite, will stay in Western New York to play at Canisius.

 

Fairfield, which last week clinched the top seed for the MAAC tourney, continued to win, routing visiting Quinnipiac 64-46 and the Stags are a few wins away from going into the MAAC tourney in Atlantic City with an unbeaten record and just one loss overall.

 

The National Scene: It’s the final day ever of the Pac-12 regular season on Saturday and on Thursday night No. 3 Stanford locked up the title winning at No. 11 Oregon State 67-63 as senior Cameron Brink had 25 points and a career-high 25 rebounds for the Cardinal (25-4, 14-3 PAC-12).

 

She was 11-15 from the field and missed the school record by one board.

 

Oregon State (22-6, 11-6) got 27 points from Talia von Oelhoffen.

 

“This is a great win for us,” said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, who extended her record collegiate win total to 1,211, which is six more than the total amassed by UConn coach Geno Auriemma.  “It wasn’t pretty, but it was gritty. We stayed with things and made some big plays.

 

Stanford is bound for the ACC next season.

 

“I told the girls just the other day, we should be really proud of the regular season,” Brink said. “You can argue what’s harder to do, the Pac, 12 tournament or the regular season, but that was one of my biggest goals coming into this year. So I’m just really proud of us.“

 

Elsewhere, in the PAC-12, No. 7 Southern Cal won at Arizona 95-93 in double overtime in Tucson as

 

Former Penn star Kayla Padilla completed a rally by hitting a tying 3-pointer to force overtime and then nailed another deep shot in the second extra period.

 

The Trojans (22-5, 12-5) won despite star freshman JuJu Watkins fouled out. 

 

Arizona fell to 16-13 overall and 8-9 in the league.

 

“It’s a character win and defining because we are trying to become an elite team nationally, and we know that’s about more than one or two players,” UFC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said.

 

Of Padilla, Gottlieb said, “She’s selfless in an unbelievable way,  but doesn’t lack confidence. She plays her role, doesn’t hunt shots, but hits the big ones when we need them.”

 

Padilla had 15 points, completing 5-of-7 3-pointers, while Watkins had 20 points, and Rayah Marshall had 26 points and 11 rebounds for the Trojans.

 

Arizona got 21 points, nine boards, and seven assists from Helena Pueyo.

 

No. 13 Colorado stopped visiting Washington 68-62 while No. 8 UCLA won at Arizona State 70-41, and No. 18 Utah beat visiting Washington State 82-67.

 

In the Atlantic Coast conference, despite No. 6 Virginia Tech losing at No.17 Notre Dame, the Hokies won the regular season league title, helped by No. 12 NC State in overtime beating visiting No. 19 Syracuse 75-71.

 

In the SEC, No. 1 South Carolina stayed unbeaten and rolled over Arkansas 98-61, while No. 9 LSU routed host Georgia 80-54, and Tennessee beat visiting Texas A&M 75-66.

 

The news of the day in the Big Ten came off the court as No. 6 Iowa star senior Caitlyn Clark announced she will forego the fifth-year option from COVID and will be ready for the WNBA draft in April.

 

NCAA Second Reveal

 

As expected, the movement that occurred since the NCAA committee issued its previous list of top 16 schools, has caused a shakeup plus allowing two new teams — Oklahoma and Gonzaga — to become eligible to host the first two rounds if the tournament started now.

 

The complete 68-team field will be revealed on Selection Sunday, March 17, at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

 

The 16 that would make the cut now with their regional sites in either Albany, N.Y., or Portland, Oregon, 

 

Albany Regional 1:

 

No. 1 South Carolina (S1R1) — S-Seed, R-Ranking

No. 2 Iowa (S2R7)

No. 3 Oregon State (S3R12)

No. 4 Oklahoma (S4R16)

 

Albany Regional 2

 

No. 1 Ohio State (S1R2) 

No. 2 Southern Cal (S2R8)

No. 3 LSU (S3R9)

No. 4 Colorado (S4R13)

 

Portland Regional 3

 

No. 1 Stanford (S1R3)

No. 2 Texas (S2R6)

No. 3 NC State (S3R11)

No. 4 Indiana (S4R14)

 

Portland Regional 4

 

No. 1UCLA (S1R4)

No. 2 Virginia Tech (S2R5)

No. 3 UConn) (S3R10)

No. 4 Gonzaga (S4R15)

And that’s the report.