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After earning a share of the Ivy League title last season, Penn men's basketball was picked to finish behind Harvard in the preseason media poll.

Credit: Chase Sutton

The ball is tipped. Well, almost.

On Tuesday, the Ivy League released its men’s basketball preseason poll. Last year's co-champions, Penn and Harvard, were voted to the top two spots and received all but one first-place vote. Harvard sits at the top with 12 first-place votes and a total of 137 points, while Penn follows in the second spot with five first-place votes and a total of 122. The Quakers played the Crimson three times last season, splitting the two regular season contests before beating Harvard in the Ivy League Championship Game.

The only other team to get a first-place vote was Yale, which rounded out the top three in the poll. After underachieving in the 2017-18 season, Princeton comes into this year at the number four spot.

The bottom half of the group features Brown, Cornell, Columbia, and Dartmouth, respectively.

The Quakers proved last season that preseason polls are often not indicative of how the season will play out. The 2017-18 Ivy preseason poll placed the Red and Blue fourth, before they went on to win the conference title. 

Credit: Christy Qui and Alice Heyeh

Penn will hit the hardwood this Saturday in its annual intra-squad Red and Blue Scrimmage, and will open its regular season in a few weeks at George Mason on Nov. 6. The Ivy opener is Jan. 5 at Princeton, a team that the Quakers defeated twice last season.