PRINCETON, N.J. – Harvard has been picked to defend its Ivy League crown in the 2018-19 Ivy League Men’s Basketball Preseason Media Poll.
The Crimson, which is coming off a share of its first title since 2015, received 12-of-18 first-place votes and accumulated 137 points. Harvard got the nod over co-champion Penn, which earned a share of last season’s title, and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after narrowly defeating Harvard in the title game of the 2018 Ivy League Basketball Tournament, 68-65.
Yale is predicted in the third spot rounded out by Princeton, Brown, Cornell, Columbia and Dartmouth.
The future is bright for the Ivy League, which returns 12 of its top-15 scorers from a season ago, including the entire 2018 All-Ivy first team and six out of the seven members of the second team are back. The season tips off Tuesday, Nov. 6 with a challenging non-conference that features 18 non-conference games against 2018 NCAA Tournament team participants.
The 2019 Ivy League Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament will be held on the campus of Yale University at the John J. Lee Amphitheater at Payne Whitney Gymnasium March 16 and 17. The League’s unique tournament format has enhanced the importance of the regular season as seven of the eight squads had an opportunity to earn a berth into the four-team tournament heading into the final week of the regular season.
Harvard will be in search of back-to-back titles since winning at least a share of five straight from 2011-2015. The Crimson is led by an extremely talented junior class that includes the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year
Seth Towns, first-team All-Ivy selection
Chris Lewis and dynamic point guard
Bryce Aiken, who was tabbed the 2016 Rookie of the Year and missed most of last season due to injury.
The Quakers return two All-Ivy selections from a season ago in juniors
AJ Brodeur and
Ryan Betley to finish with five first-place votes and 122 points. Brodeur, a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection and Betley combined for 27.4 points and 12.2 rebounds per game.
First-Team All-Ivy selection
Miye Oni headlines a strong returning class for Yale, which opens its season against California in the PAC-12 China Game in Shanghai. 95 percent of Yale’s production returns in
Alex Copeland,
Trey Phills and
Blake Reynolds. Additionally,
Jordan Bruner, who missed all of his sophomore season due to injury, is expected to return.
Princeton returns an experienced sqaud that features two All-Ivy selections in seniors
Devin Cannady and
Myles Stephens. The Tigers return nearly 75 percent of the team's scoring from last season. Brown returns 2018 Ivy League Rookie of the Year
Desmond Cambridge and
Brandon Anderson, who each averaged 17.3 points per game last season. Cornell is led by three-time All-Ivy selection
Matt Morgan. Morgan has paced the conference in scoring the last three seasons and looks to return the Big Red to Ivy Madness after claiming the No. 4 spot last season. Columbia will turn to junior
Mike Smith to lead a Lion squad heading into the third year under head coach
Jim Engles. Dartmouth will look to a trio of standouts returning in
Brendan Barry,
Chris Knight and
Guilien Smith.
The men's basketball roundtable, which features the eight Ivy League head coaches discussing a variety of topics, will be released Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 10 a.m., with the women's coaches roundtable to follow on Thursday, Oct. 25 at 10 a.m. The 2018-19 women's basketball preseason poll will be released tomorrow at 10 a.m.
2018-19 IVY LEAGUE MEN’S BASKETBALL PRESEASON MEDIA POLL
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
First-place votes in parentheses
| RANK |
SCHOOL |
POINTS |
| 1. |
Harvard (12) |
137 |
| 2. |
Penn (5) |
122 |
| 3. |
Yale (1) |
115 |
| 4. |
Princeton |
92 |
| 5. |
Brown |
64 |
| 6. |
Cornell |
54 |
| 7. |
Columbia |
43 |
| 8. |
Dartmouth |
21 |