Some things never change in Ivy hoops

Dating back to 1963, 33 of 36 Ivy League basketball titles have been won by either Penn or Princeton. But is this the year when another Ivy League school challenges for the title? Or will this be another championship decided by a Penn-Princeton battle in March? Brown should be one of the more-improved teams in the conference. After a disastrous 6-20 (3-11 Ivy League) campaign which put them in last place, it needs to be. Brown is returning three starters, including senior captain Kamal Rountree, who has All-Ivy potential this year at the forward position. He was second on the team in scoring (8.3) and rebounding (4.3) last year. The backcourt should be the Bears' strength since both starters are returning. Junior Corey Vandiver, a strong defensive player, will be the point guard after dishing out a team-high 62 assists last year. Sophomore Patrick Nee, Brown's leading three-point shooter in '97-'98, will start at shooting guard. With seven freshmen on the team, Brown has the potential to eventually move into the middle tier of the Ivy League. This probably won't be the year, though, since the Bears will be too young and too similar to their '97-'98 edition. Last year, Columbia had the 15th-best scoring defense in the NCAA, holding opponents to 62.2 points a game. Unfortunately, the Lions only scored 57.2 points a game themselves. The lack of a consistent offensive attack cost them a shot at being one of the better teams in the Ivy League. The Lions (11-15, 6-8) are looking to build on last year's fourth-place conference tie. With four returning starters, their chances would appear to be good, but coach Armond Hill disagrees. "I think that we're still a team learning to play and compete and trying to knock on the door," Hill said. "Penn and Princeton are still much better than everyone else." The Lions' four returning starters are all seniors, led by '97-'98 second team All-Ivy guard Gary Raimondo. He averaged 14.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and a league-high 2.4 steals a game. Justin Namolik and Erik Crep will be Columbia's starting forwards. They averaged 11.3 and 10.3 points a game, respectively. After those three players, Columbia had no consistent scoring threats last year. However, Tony Mboya -- brother of ex-Quaker George Mboya -- plans to provide some much-needed scoring off the bench. This could be Columbia's best opportunity to have a successful season for a few years, since they will be losing four starters to graduation. In 1988 Cornell won the Ivy League title -- the last time a school other than Penn or Princeton was able to do so. This season the team will not see a repeat of that performance, but the Big Red does have a promising squad with three returning starters. After starting last season 1-9, the Big Red were able to put together a solid last two months, finishing 9-17 (6-8). The leading scorer and most important player for Cornell is sophomore forward Ray Mercedes, who broke the Cornell freshman record for points scored, averaging 12.6 a game in '97-'98. Six-foot-eleven senior captain Jeffrion Aubry, the Ivy League's blocked shots leader at 2.2 per game, will be the man in the middle for the Big Red. Sophomore Kevin Cuttica was Cornell's starting point guard every game last year but will move to shooting guard this year with the arrival of freshman Wallace Panther, who will play the point. In order to beat a bunch of teams contending for third, the Big Red must improve from last year's 2-13 record on the road. Dartmouth finished 18-8 two years ago but only 7-19 (4-10) last year. The main reason was the absence of a true point guard. That will change this season with the emergence of freshman Flinder Boyd, who turned down several scholarship opportunities to play with the Big Green. The top returnees are junior Shaun Gee and sophomore Ian McGinnis. Gee was a first team All-Ivy forward last year, after averaging a league-high 18.3 points per game. McGinnis, also a forward, was the leading rebounder on the team. Dartmouth figures to improve its seventh-place finish from a year ago. A team with no seniors, the Big Green are clearly another Ivy League team on the rise. They are not, however, able to realistically compete at their current stage. The year hasn't even begun, but Harvard is already the tough-luck team in the Ivy League. After a 13-13 season last year (6-8 Ivy), Harvard was expected to finish third and possibly even compete with Penn and Princeton. The Crimson suffered a serious setback, however, with the season-ending injury to '97-'98 Ivy League Rookie of the Year Dan Clemente. The forward's 13.8 points a game will be severely missed. "We had the luxury of having a skilled shooter at the four position last year," Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. "Dan was somebody who could screen or step behind the line, and we don't have that caliber of shooter at the four anymore." That puts even more of a burden on senior guard Tim Hill, who averaged 14.9 points and 5.3 assists a game. Given the reshuffling after Clemente's injury, the Crimson may also experiment with a three-guard lineup, as junior Damian Long would fill that third slot. Harvard was supposed to be the best of the rest of the Ivy League. With Clemente's injury, the Crimson are just another team competing for third place. Princeton coach Bill Carmody is 28-0 in the Ivy League after his first two seasons, and an amazing 51-6 overall. Last year Princeton reached the NCAA tournament's second-round, when they lost to Michigan State. Princeton peaked at No. 7 in the national rankings while going 27-2 (14-0). This year's team will attempt to win with several new faces. The Tigers lost Ivy League Player of the Year Steve Goodrich to graduation. Also gone are floor leader Mitch Henderson and starting forward James Mastaglio. The lone returning starters are senior guard Brian Earl and senior forward Gabe Lewullis, but they should be two of the top players in the conference. Earl needs only 23 three-pointers to set the Princeton record and 62 to break former Quaker Matt Maloney's all-time Ivy League record of 273. Sophomore C.J. Chapman replaces Henderson at point guard. His job won't be easy, since he will be in charge of running an offense built on precise passing and great outside shooting. Junior Mason Rocca joins Lewullis at the forward position. Rocca needs to improve his 5.6 percent shooting touch from three-point range in order to fit in on the team. The biggest question for the Tigers lies at center, where either junior Nathan Walton, a true forward, or freshman Chris Krug is expected to start. Walton is the son of college basketball legend Bill Walton, while Krug -- who narrowly chose Princeton over the Quakers -- is the brother of former Penn star Tim Krug. Yale will have to find a way to replace first team All-Ivy forward Emerson Whitley in order to have a successful year. Three starters return from last year's 12-14 (7-7) Elis team which finished third in the conference. Seniors David Tompkins and Charlie Petit will start at forward. Tompkins was 71-of-98 (.724) from the field in Ivy League play. Neil Yanke and Tom Kritzer, both 6-10, will share the center role. The Elis may try to use a twin-tower strategy and play both at the same time. Yale will probably take a step backward this year, since not a single returning Eli averaged double figures in scoring last year.