Crown 'em

There was no drama, no doubt, no nothing. Cornell entered last night's game with its ticket to the postseason in jeopardy, but an 83-59 laugher over Penn turned it into a coronation.

The Big Red clinched the Ivy League championship outright, getting the help they needed from Columbia, which beat Princeton, 58-44. They became the first team other than Penn and Princeton to win back-to-back Ivy titles. The season's five remaining games are now just formalities, save for any RPI effects of Cornell's home contest with Princeton.

Without getting bogged down in Xs and Os, I gathered from the radio broadcast that Penn opened with a decent 15 minutes, faltered just before halftime and took a six-point deficit into the locker room, then somehow hit the 'off' switch and watched Cornell sink 19 of 25 second-half shots. I'm at a loss to explain how that happens, and trying to is a depressing excersise.

Coming into the game, three Ivy teams — Princeton, Yale and Dartmouth — all had a legit shot to finish tied for first place with Cornell. The Tigers had the best odds, with several plausible scenarios that would give them a share of the title. They had won three of their last four games and seemed like a real threat. The brass announced that Columbia's Levien Gymnasium would host any playoff. It appeared that the Ivy League might treat us to some last-minute excitement after a season of very poor-quality basketball.

No dice. The situation resolved itself as quickly as it could have and sucked any potential excitement out of the final games tonight and, for Penn and Princeton, Tuesday. The Quakers, for example, played a game with tangible NCAA implications for the first time in a while, even if only as a spoiler. But they won't even get another chance at that. Tuesday night's visit from Princeton will be about pride alone.

The Ivy League championship is often decided much earlier than this. Those who support the idea of a conference tournament (I don't) are right to point out that under the current system, clinching early can make late-season games of the seven non-title-winners seem irrelevant.