Basketball Preview 2008 | Ivies: There's Cornell and then there's everyone else

Cornell may be the unanimous choice to defend its Ivy League hoops title, but the rest of the conference isn't holding up the white flag just yet - especially with star Big Red guard Adam Gore out with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (his second such injury in three years).

"You've got to come out and play every night in our league because anybody can beat anybody on a given night," Penn coach Glen Miller said.

But with no clear candidate to replace the void left by the graduated Brian Grandieri, the Quakers will have to hope for a lot from sophomores Tyler Bernardini and Harrison Gaines if they hope to keep up with their fellow Ivy brethren.

Brown made great strides last year, finishing second with a league record of 11-3. Now, the Bears look to improve upon that mark with the return of senior guard Chris Skrelja and new coach Jesse Agel.

Skrelja finished third in the league in rebounds last season with 193 and second in assists with 118.

Yet the Bears will be hampered by the graduation of first-team All-Ivy performers Mark McAndrew and Damon Huffman, earning them a predicted fifth-place finish in the preseason media poll.

Columbia was hyped up to be a title contender last season, but Joe Jones' squad limped to a 7-7 finish, good for fourth place. The loss of John Baumann - the Ancient Eight's second leading scorer and rebounder in 2007-08 - won't make it any easier for the Lions to live up to any expectations this season.

They'll turn to co-captains Joe Bova and Patrick Foley to fill the large shoes of Baumann.

Bova is a versatile 6-foot-7 forward who finished third on the team last season in three-point percentage (25-for-70, .352), while Foley's specialty is controlling the game. He posted a 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio in the nine games he played in last season.

The return of junior guard Niko Scott, who averaged 7.7 points in 29 games (19 starts) last season, provides the bulk of the Lions' experience, as they graduated four starters.

But the Lions won't get the boost they expected from La Salle transfer Brian Grimes, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in his first practice in New York.

Cornell will find that its biggest obstacle to another NCAA berth is Gore's left knee. The Monrovia, Ind., native had 10.2 points per game, a .415 three-point percentage and a league-best .917 free-throw percentage, helping lead the Big Red to a 14-0 Ivy mark.

But Gore is out until at least January and perhaps the season, leaving the team in the hands of reigning Ivy Player of the Year, junior guard Louis Dale.

Junior forward Ryan Wittman will also be a key figure on the court, as his 15.1 points per game was good for fourth in the league.

This team is relatively young, leaving it poised to remain competitive for a while.

Dartmouth finished in a three-way tie with Harvard and Princeton at the bottom of the Ancient Eight last year with a 3-11 record.

But the Big Green have quite a weapon in senior forward Alex Barnett, who led the team and was fourth in the league with 15.6 points per game. He also dominated the boards last season, leading the league with 7.3 rebounds per game.

Aside from Barnett, Dartmouth doesn't have many strengths - it averaged a mere 63.2 points per game, shot just 42.7 percent from the field and doesn't look very different from last year.

Harvard did not lose a single starter this season - despite a dismal 2007-08 campaign - making it perhaps the most improved team heading into the season opener.

Among that group are four who averaged 10.6 or more points per game last season.

All-Ivy guard Jeremy Lin was ninth in the league with 12.6 points per game, but he's even better known for his defense - he led the league with 58 steals.

Coach Tommy Amaker brought in a lot of talented freshmen, many of whom should make an immediate impact on the court. Andrew Van Nest, for one, may be the best incoming power forward in the league.

Princeton was probably the worst team in the Ivy League last season, and there is no reason to see why it won't slip to the bottom again this year.

Princeton's famously slow offense was predictably dead last in the conference last year, averaging only 57.7 points a game. More troubling, though, the Tigers were also second-to-last in field goal percentage.

And with Princeton's fourth-leading scorer from 2007-08, Lincoln Gunn, leaving the team just before the season, things may only get worse on offense.

But the Tigers will be aided by the presence of center Zach Finley, who along with Yale's Ross Morin, is arguably the best center in the league. Finley had the highest field goal percentage in the Ivies last season and finished fifth in blocked shots.

Another player to watch will be guard Jason Briggs. He averaged 3.7 points per game last year and will have to step up his perimeter game if the Tigers want to avoid finishing at the bottom of the standings.

Yale hopes to improve on last year's 7-7, fourth-place showing.

The loss of guard Eric Flato to graduation will hurt the Bulldogs on the perimeter, but junior Alex Zampier and sophomore Porter Braswell should quickly fill in the gap.

Zampier tied for second in the league in steals last season with 49, and Braswell was Yale's best freshman.

The return of Ross Morin and Travis Pinick will also aid the Bulldogs in their 2008-09 campaign. Morin and Pinick, both second team All-Ivy selections last year, bring a lot of versatility to a deep Yale roster.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.