Yale has a basketball team?

I must have missed something. Apparently, there's a new men's basketball team to beat in the Ivy League. That's right. Penn and Princeton, who have combined to win all but two of the past 32 Ancient Eight crowns, are out of the race. The 2-0 league records that the Quakers and Tigers sport are no match for the new top dog in the Ivy League -- Yale. Yale? Yes, Yale. You see, the Elis are already running away with the Ivy League title. Their 3-0 record puts them an entire half game ahead of Penn and Princeton with just 11 conference games remaining on their schedule. "I believe we can win the Ivy League championship," Yale coach James Jones said. "We're one of the teams that can do it right now." Yes, Coach, your team is in fairly good shape. But you still have to make the dreaded trip to Penn and Princeton this weekend, where in 44 years of Ivy League play, only three teams had succeeded in winning back-to-back games. Besides, it's only a couple of games into the season. Isn't it a bit premature to start crowning Yale champions? Well, ESPN.com doesn't think so. The "expert" sports prognosticators are already projecting Yale in the NCAA Tournament, and ESPN columnist Andy Katz is already declaring that Yale has the "stuff" to unseat Penn and Princeton. Are you kidding me? This is a team that last won the Ivy League during the Kennedy administration. Seeing Yale in the NCAA Tournament would be a like seeing the Cubs in the World Series. Don't get me wrong. Yale does have a great basketball tradition. For instance, the Elis boast standout backup center Chris Dudley, Yale alum and the worst foul shooter in the history of the NBA. But even Dudley wasn't able to bring the Ivy League title back to New Haven. I'm not saying it's impossible for a school that doesn't start with "P" to win the Ivy League. I'm just saying that it's highly unlikely. It's very easy to jump off the Red and Blue bandwagon right now. After all, Penn has struggled mightily in the early going. This year's Quakers are inconsistent and much more flawed than last year's version. But are the Quakers better than their 5-11 record might indicate? Yes. Are the Quakers better than their RPI of 230, which makes them just the fourth-strongest team in the Ivy League? Yes. Do I think the Quakers will threepeat as Ivy champs? Yes. ESPN.com is making a bold prediction. They're tired of seeing Penn in the NCAA Tournament. They want to stir up some mid-season talk, mix things up a little. They want to give Dick Vitale a chance to say, "It's upset-city, baby. The Yale Bulldogs -- who would've expected this? Wow! It's just incredible...." [Insert loud and obnoxious voice and wild hand gestures here.] But ESPN is forgetting one thing -- Penn is still the best team in the Ivy League. The inside presence of Geoff Owens and dynamic tandem of sophomore forwards Koko Archibong and Ugonna Onyekwe cannot be matched by any other team in the league. In Penn's backcourt, three-point shooter Lamar Plummer is the perfect complement to point guard David Klatsky's pass-first mentality. With Duane King's recent injury, it's true that Penn is a little light off the bench. But I have a feeling that the Quakers' freshman class will improve its play once the Ivy League season picks up. Despite losing sophomore Onaje Woodbine, Yale has a strong inside-out presence in senior center Neil Yanke and sophomore sharpshooter Chris Leanza. But are the boys from New Haven good enough to unseat Penn from its Ivy pedestal? Not a chance. True, this season's edition of the Ivy League race will be more competitive at the top than it has been in recent years. Harvard, Brown and Yale are all much improved and are vying for a trip to the Big Dance. And it seems no matter how many players Princeton loses, the Tigers will always be solid. But none of that means Penn will relinquish its Ancient Eight crown. I'm not guaranteeing anything. I was recently heard promising a Giants Super Bowl win, so I'll stay away from that area. But I'm still very confident that when Yale comes to town this weekend, the Quakers will prove that they're still the team to beat in the Ivy League. Upset city? Nah, not Philadelphia.

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