The road to the Ivy League title was always destined to go through the Palestra. But for the first time this year, one of its main challengers actually will.
Cornell, a half game out of the Ivy League lead, will make its annual trip to Philadelphia with its season in the balance.
The spotlight is firmly on the Big Red this weekend, in every sense of the word. At 6-2, they will bring ESPNU and the YES network to Jadwin Gym and the Palestra, respectively.
The Quakers' other foe, Columbia, faces a similar task. At 4-4, though, Joe Jones's title hopes have been gradually quelched - most recently by his brother James in an 85-71 loss to Yale.
Meanwhile, Ivy League fans disappointed by the quality of play in Tuesday's Penn-Princeton clash will have a chance to complain about something else.
A new chapter of the Harvard-Yale rivalry - of the less-heralded variety - will tip off at John J. Lee Ampitheater. The Elis, also at 6-2, will try to keep pace with their neighbors as the free-falling Crimson try desperately to pretend that Brad Unger is Brian Cusworth.
And the Elis have no excuse not to be 8-2 on Sunday morning: Their Friday game is against Dartmouth. The Big Green's only road win thus far was against Princeton - and as the Tigers look worse and worse, that 45-44 triumph looks less and less impressive.
High hopes for Brown at the beginning of the year, buoyed by a huge upset of Providence, have now been tempered. Most recently, the Bears saw their pseudo-Princeton style torched by Columbia and Cornell for 138 points and two losses.
But this is as good a chance as any for Craig Robinson to bring his squad up from 2-6 in the league. His team hosts Harvard and then Dartmouth, and the latter opponent will have just tried to run with an athletic team for two hours the previous night.
Even Penn knows how that can turn out.
