Princeton favored to repeat as Ivy League basketball champs

Last year the theme of the Ivy League heading into the season was the high level of parity, this year there is a clear favorite standing above the others.

Princeton, on paper, is as good a team as the league has seen in recent years. New head coach Joe Scott looks to have the Tigers poised to win the Ivy championship and make some noise across the country.

In addition to Scott, the league will see another newcomer on the sidelines in Terry Dunn, who will take over a struggling Dartmouth program.

Dunn will have to look no further than Columbia's Joe Jones for a model of how best to turn around a program. Jones was in exactly the same position just a year ago in New York when he inherited a Lions program that managed just two wins the prior season. A year later, Columbia has the potential to be a contender in the league.

And despite Princeton being the favorite, there will be other contenders in the Ancient Eight. Penn and Yale look to be together in the middle of the pack. Between the second and eighth-ranked teams, it is anyone's guess who will separate themselves and challenge Princeton for the crown.

PRINCETON:

125(14) points, 1st

There is no doubt that the Princeton Tigers are the cream of the Ivy League crop this year. Although they lost guard Ed Persia to graduation, the Tigers return four out of five starters from their Ivy championship team last season.

Further bolstering Princeton's impressive preseason resume is its returning inside-outside tandem of Judson Wallace and Will Venable. As juniors last year, the two were named first-team All-Ivy, the only pair of teammates with that prestigious distinction.

"I have all the respect for a couple of guys from Princeton: Judson Wallace and Will Venable," Penn senior guard Tim Begley said. "I don't think there's a better big man in the league than Wallace, and I don't think there's a better defensive player in the league than Venable."

Penn coach Fran Dunphy echoed Begley's sentiment.

"I think [Wallace] gives the versatility of a typical Princeton center, where he has good moves inside, he's a good passer and he's also a very good three-point shooter," Dunphy said.

If there is any question mark at all for the reigning Ancient Eight champs, it is the coaching situation. Departing coach John Thompson III, whose tenure at Princeton lasted four years, will be replaced by new head coach Joe Scott.

However, the Tigers are trying to turn this question mark into yet another strength. And why not? Scott lead Air Force to a 22-7 record last season, the best in team history. After winning the Mountain West Conference, the Falcons made their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 42 years.

Scott is not unfamiliar with the Princeton offense. The system he ran at Air Force was very similar to the one he will inherit in New Jersey, as the Falcons held their opponents to a Tigers-esque 50.9 points per game last season. Add in the fact that Scott both played and was an assistant coach under Princeton coaching legend Pete Carril, and one can begin to see how difficult it will be for anyone to knock off the Tigers this season.

YALE:

85 points, 3rd

Last season, a Yale team that was picked to finish second in the Ivy League failed to even muster a winning conference record. The Elis found themselves at the end of the season in fourth place overall, posting a less-than-impressive 7-7 league mark. The 2003-04 campaign marked the second straight season in which the team underachieved.

Lost in their mediocre record and equally mediocre place in the standings, however, are some key prospects which are yet again bringing optimism to New Haven, Conn.

Yale fans can take solace in the fact that their team could easily have gone 11-3 in the Ancient Eight last year, as two of its losses went to overtime and two more were decided in the closing seconds. Also significant is the fact that the Elis knocked off the Ivy League runner-up Quakers in Connecticut last year.

The key returning player for the Elis is 6-foot-5 senior Edwin Draughan. He has started every game of his career in a Yale uniform, in addition to leading the team in scoring each of those three years. If he can repeat that feat this year, he would become only the third player in school history to lead the team in scoring over his entire collegiate career.

Rounding out the backcourt is senior point guard Alex Gamboa. Together, the tandem looks to be one of the best backcourts in the league.

Yale coach James Jones brings in a freshman class with players who could see some playing time this year. Guard Eric Flato, although playing behind stalwarts Draughan and Gamboa, could be a valuable addition to the Yale squad. The 6-1 guard holds the all-time scoring mark at Piedmont High School in California, where he notched 1,402 career points.

Aside from the key additions and returning players, the Elis lost several integral parts of their team from last season. Notably, the class of 2004 included the last five players to have been part of the Yale 2001-02 Ivy championship team. Among these players was key starter and contributor Matt Minoff.

The team will be playing with heavy hearts this season. They lost another player last year, though not to graduation. Center Josh Hill, who would have been a senior and critical asset to the team this year, died last May in a car accident. Whenever the Elis step onto the court, their departed teammate will undoubtedly be on their minds.

BROWN:

83(1) points, 4th

Brown, picked to finish fourth in the league last year, managed to silence the preseason critics last year en route to a second-place finish, tied with Penn at a respectable 10-4. Picked fourth again this year, coach Glen Miller's Bears hope for a similar outcome, and maybe even a run at the title.

First, the team will have some obstacles to clear. The Bears will have an extremely young roster this year, with only one senior and one junior. In addition, three starters from last year ran out of eligibility.

On the positive side, Brown's lone senior is arguably the best player in the league. Jason Forte, the speedy point guard who garnered Ivy League Player of the Year honors last year, will look to do the same this season. Indeed, he is the favorite to do so.

"Forte, up at Brown, is probably the guy that does the most for his team," Penn guard Tim Begley said. "I think he can singlehandedly take games over and if he keeps improving his jump shot, he's going to be nearly impossible to guard."

Joining Forte -- who is currtly serving a suspension for "behavior detrimental to the team" -- among the only returning starters is junior Luke Ruscoe. The co-captain started all 27 games last season and will look to provide the veteran leadership his young team so desperately needs.

The Bears run a style of play that can be likened to the Dallas Mavericks' "run and gun" offense of the last two years. Forte's fast break is the most prolific in the league, providing the spark for a Brown offense that led the league in scoring last season.

Unfortunately, defense and rebounding are not among the team's strengths. Last season, the Bears finished dead last in the conference in rebounds against, and seventh in scoring defense and rebounding margin. The team's rebounding woes only look to get worse as its top rebounder from last year, Jamie Kilburn, graduated last year.

For Brown to be successful, Forte and Ruscoe must each have a huge year and provide much needed veteran leadership. The Bears must find a legitimate rebounder and manage to play some solid team defense to keep up with their frantic offensive pace.

Dunphy believes that Miller is up to the task.

"Coach Miller is a good coach. He knows what he's doing out there," Dunphy said. "They're going to be formidable in every sense of the word."

COLUMBIA:

62 points, 5th

Easily the biggest surprise of the league last season was Columbia, which was picked to finish last but instead posted a 6-8 conference record, good for a share of fifth place.

Looking at the team last year, though, it would have been hard not to peg them as the league cellar dwellers. The Lions were coming off a dreadful season during which they managed only two wins. There was no reason to think they would improve, either, as they lost their top two scorers and rebounders to graduation.

Hiring new head coach Joe Jones, however, appeared to do the trick. In his first season at the helm, Jones shelved the Princeton offense and opened up the transition game -- and it worked.

This year, the Lions find themselves in the opposite situation. Coming off their moderate success from just a year ago, expectations are now raised.

Columbia returns its top five scorers and rebounders this season. Among these is senior Matt Preston, whose breakout year last season mirrored that of his team. A co-captain, he was named second-team All-Ivy and looks to be a contender for the first-team this year.

Joining Preston in the frontcourt are fellow seniors Matt Land and Colin Davis, along with junior Dragutin Kravic. In all, the team boasts nine upperclassmen.

Add up the evidence, and the prognosis looks good for the Lions. Dunphy certainly thinks so.

"They've got a lot of bodies," Dunphy said. "Preston is hard to guard. He's an undersized power forward, as it were, but he can step away from the basket and make shots. He's difficult to defend inside. So I think he's one of the premier players in our league as well. I expect them to continue to improve."

CORNELL:

54 points, 6th

Cornell coach Steve Donahue, now in his fifth year, is faced with one of the most glaring losses in the league this season. Ka'Ron Barnes, first in the league in scoring last year at 20.1 points per game and second in both assists (4.59) and steals (1.89) per game, will no longer don the Big Red uniform after graduating last spring.

There is no doubt that the first-team All-Ivy performer will be missed, but if there was a team that could cope with such a loss, it would be Cornell.

The Big Red, which went undefeated in its first five league games and jumped out of the gate to first place last season, has several prospects that Donahue hopes will overshadow the loss of Barnes. Aside from Barnes, the only other player the Big Red lost from last year's fifth-place team is big man Gabe Stephenson, who transferred to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo over the summer.

Cornell is without a marquee player this season, so it hopes to get contributions from several players on its deep roster.

Among the proven contributors the Big Red expect to put on the court this season are Cody Toppert, Lenny Collins and Eric Taylor. Toppert, who averaged 14.6 points per game last year, has started every game since he arrived in Ithaca, N.Y.

Collins was the 2002-03 Ivy Rookie of the Year, and managed to set a school record with eight steals in a 63-55 loss at Bucknell last year.

Finally, Eric Taylor anchored the front line last year and tied Penn's Adam Chubb for the league lead in rebounds with 7.5 per game.

Rebounding was a strength for the Big Red last year, as it finished first in the Ancient Eight in rebounding offense and second in rebounding margin. The loss of Stephenson, who averaged 6.6 boards per game last year, will undoubtedly hurt Donahue's team, but Cornell still boasts excellent team height up front.

On offense, the Big Red is coming off an excellent season. Cornell had the third-best scoring offense in the league and also put up the third-best scoring margin. It is here that Barnes' absence will be noted, and Cornell will have to find some other scoring options.

In addition, the Big Red must improve its free-throw percentage from last season. In the 2003-04 campaign, the Big Red finished seventh in the league, shooting only 68.6 percent.

Donahue's squad will look to fill the big shoes left by Barnes, more so with quantity than with quality. If it can do so, Cornell can expect to improve, as it has done over the past two years. It would hardly be a surprise if the Big Red wind up in the upper half of the Ivy standings this season.

HARVARD:

37 points, 7th

Last year, with no seniors in the lineup, Harvard was projected to finish sixth in the Ancient Eight. The Crimson ended up in seventh place overall, with a 3-11 record in a season mired by an atrocious 13-game losing streak. But then, who could expect anything else from a team with no senior leadership and just one player who had ever started a game in college?

This year, though, veteran head coach Frank Sullivan has all five starters back and the Crimson is looking to make marked improvement over its poor showing last season.

A key element of the turnaround could be a healthy Brian Cusworth. The 7-foot center was one of the most highly touted incoming freshmen in the Ivy League last year, but was unable to play a single game due to injury. Harvard will desperately need his size inside, as the next tallest player on the roster is only 6-foot-8.

"Cusworth didn't play at all last year," Dunphy said. "If, indeed, he was healthy, he may have been one of the best big players in the league."

In addition to Cusworth, Sullivan can expect valuable contributions from his one-two-punch of Kevin Rogus and Matt Stehle.

Rogus, a senior and one of the best sharpshooters in the league, was the Crimson's leading scorer a season ago. During the 2003-04 campaign, he managed to hit a Harvard single-season record 74 three-point baskets.

Stehle, a junior forward who was named honorable mention All-Ivy last year, will look to use the presence of Cusworth to his advantage down low. On paper, the two appear to be excellent complements for one another.

"I think adding to the fact that [Stehle] had a good year, he's going to have a kid like Cusworth alongside him, where you're going to have to concentrate a lot of your efforts on him," Dunphy said. "So that should open up things even more so for Stehle. But he's a good basketball player who really came on last year."

If the Crimson want to improve, it must eliminate some of the mistakes from last season. The team averaged 19.1 turnovers per game, ranking Harvard No. 321 out of 326 Division I schools nationally. In addition, Sullivan's team was last in the league in scoring defense, scoring margin, field-goal percentage and three-point field-goal percentage.

It is likely that the Crimson will improve in several of these areas, especially with the extra year of experience under its belt. It is unlikely, however, that this improvement will take them into the upper echelon of the league, at least not this season.

DARTMOUTH:

19 points, 8th

It is safe to say that there is plenty of room for improvement for the Big Green after last year's 3-25 record and last place Ancient Eight finish.

More significant to Dartmouth this season is the change at head coach. Terry Dunn, a former assistant at Colorado and Colorado State, will be traveling east to take over the reins from the departed Dave Faucher. The position will be the first ever collegiate head coaching job for Dunn.

While the coaching situation is a change from last year, one thing that remains constant is the lineup the Big Green will put on the floor. Dunn's new team lost only one senior from last year, 6-11 center Scott Klingbeil.

Among the many players returning for Dartmouth is sophomore Leon Pattman. The 6-2 guard won Ivy Rookie of the Year honors for the 2003-04 season, and is considered among the elite players in the league this year.

Unfortunately for the rising star and his team, he has been experiencing recurring groin injuries that may sideline him for much of the coming season. If Pattman does not play, Dartmouth has little chance of being competitive in the league this year.

If Pattman can log significant time, it is difficult to know what to expect from the Big Green.

"Dartmouth, probably, is the team you're going to know the least about until we watch them play, just because it's a new coach, a new system, a new style of play, and some of the players are still the same," Dunphy said. "I think Pattman is potentially a first-team all-league player, so I think a lot of their offense is going to run through him, but we'll just have to wait and see."

"Wait and see" seems the popular attitude to adopt with this Dartmouth team. It would be optimistic, however, to expect big things from the Big Green this season.

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