Quakers fans: Start getting ready for the Big Dance.
Just when it appeared that there would be an Ivy League race, Yale's season came crashing down.
And just when it seemed that Penn would have to earn its NCAA tournament berth, the automatic bid may just fall into the Quakers' laps.
After cruising to eight consecutive wins to start the Ivy League season, first-place Penn (14-8, 8-1 Ivy) was fed a dose of reality on Saturday night, falling on the road to the Elis, 78-60.
The victory provided Yale (9-13, 5-4 Ivy) with a weekend sweep over Princeton and Penn, and it ended the Quakers run at perfection in the Ivy League.
But three nights later, Brown defeated Yale in New Haven, extending Penn's lead to three games over Yale and two and a half games over Cornell (11-12, 6-4 Ivy), with only five games left to play in the season.
The second-place Big Red edged out Harvard (10-13, 5-5 Ivy) Saturday night, but Cornell significantly hurt its chances of winning the Ivy League with a 67-54 loss to Dartmouth on Friday.
Despite Penn's first conference loss, it still controls its own destiny.
If the Quakers defeat Cornell and Columbia this weekend, the Big Red will be eliminated from the title race, and Penn would clinch at least a share of the Ivy League title.
Swiping into history
With four steals against Yale, Penn's Ibby Jaaber has the Ivy League single-season steals record well within the reach of his long arms.
The sophomore guard now stands at 63 steals, 11 short of the 74 recorded by Harvard's Andrew Gellert in the 1999-2000 season. He will have at least five games remaining in his quest to set the mark.
Against the Elis, the native of Elizabeth, N.J., broke Matt Maloney's school record of 62, which the former Penn guard set in the 1993-94 season.
Jaaber, now nearly finished with his sophomore season, has 95 career steals, not quite on pace to break Gellert's Ivy League career record of 242. But with the kind of playing time he figures to get in the next two years, a pair of 70-steal seasons is by no means out of the question.
Big Green rising
Dartmouth entered this past weekend with a dismal 3-5 Ivy League record, having lost two of its last three conference games. A few days and two games later, the Big Green is now an even .500 in conference play, after crushing Cornell on Friday night and narrowly edging out Columbia the following night.
The Big Green's season got off to a tumultuous start, after sophomore Leon Pattman -- the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year and the Big Green's leading scorer last season -- left the team after just four games.
Against Cornell, Dartmouth (8-15, 5-5 Ivy) jumped out to a 14-3 lead in the first half and never trailed. The Big Green went into the locker room up 34-12, led by junior Mike Lang, who scored a team-high 18 points and dished out a game-high six assists.
Against Columbia, senior center David Gardner led the way with a game-high 18 points and six rebounds.
Dartmouth's 5-5 conference record reflects a major turnaround from last season. After winning last year's first conference game, the Big Green lost its final 13 games, finishing dead last in the Ivy League.
Much of the credit for Dartmouth's turnaround this season -- despite losing Pattman -- should be attributed to first-year coach Terry Dunn, who has guided a seemingly depleted roster into a tie for fourth place in the Ivy League.
Post-POY Slump
Brown's Jason Forte, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year, has failed to post MVP-caliber numbers this season, and his team is struggling as a result.
After scoring a career-high 36 points in a losing effort against Cornell on Feb. 4, Forte connected on just 13 of 55 shots over the course of Brown's next five games.
During that span, the Rockville, Md., native scored 23 of his 56 total points from the charity stripe.
After starting the Ivy season with a 2-2 record -- including a convincing victory over Princeton -- Brown (9-13, 3-6 Ivy) lost its next four games before defeating Yale on Tuesday.
This past weekend, the Bears were swept by Penn and Princeton, losing by 17 points in each contest.
Forte appeared to bounce back from his offensive slump on Saturday night, scoring 26 points on 7-of-14 shooting against the Tigers. In Brown's victory over Yale, however, the Bears' lone senior scored 13 points on 4-of-13 shooting.
