PRINCETON, N.J. – Yale was unanimously voted the Ivy League men’s basketball preseason favorite in the 2025-26 Ivy League Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll, voted on by 21 media members that cover the league.
The reigning Ivy League regular season and tournament champions, Yale returns First Team All-Ivy selection
Nick Townsend from a season ago. After averaging 15.4 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per game, Townsend helped lead the Bulldogs to their second-straight NCAA Tournament berth last season.
Harvard, led by the 2024-25 Ivy League Rookie of the Year
Robert Hinton, received 126 points to take second place in the poll. Harvard returns nine of its top 11 scorers from last season, including their top three scorers (Hinton,
Chandler Piggé, and
Thomas Batties II) who all averaged more than 10 points per game.
Cornell, last year’s runner-up in the Ivy League Tournament, took the third spot with 124 points after being one of only four teams in the country to have all five starters average double-figures. The Big Red return five of their top-eight leading scorers from a season ago and continue to play at one of the fastest paces in the NCAA, ranking in the top-10 for four straight seasons.
Princeton took the coveted fourth spot, the last spot in March’s Ivy Madness, with a total of 97 points, while Dartmouth (72), Brown (68), and Penn (66) took spots five through seven, separated by only six points. Columbia took the final spot with 35 points.
The top four teams will earn spots to Ivy Madness. The event, which combines the men’s and women’s tournaments, is set for March 13-15 at the Newman Arena at Bartells Hall on Cornell’s campus in Ithaca, N.Y.
Based on the average NET rankings, Ivy League men’s basketball has ranked as a top-13 conference in each of the last three years, recording a winning non-conference record in all of those years.
Since 2010, the league has enjoyed eight wins in the NCAA tournament, including a pair of trips to the Sweet 16: Cornell (2010) and Princeton (2023).
The 2025 Ivy League Men’s Basketball Media Day, hosted by the Field of 68, one of college basketball’s leading digital platforms, is set for Tuesday, October 28, beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET. The Field of 68 Ivy League basketball media day show will air live on the
Field of 68 YouTube Channel (@TheFieldOf68) and
X account (@TheFieldOf68).
2025-26 Ivy League Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll
1. Yale - 168 (21 first-place votes)
2. Harvard – 126
3. Cornell – 124
4. Princeton – 97
5. Dartmouth – 72
6. Brown – 68
7. Penn – 66
8. Columbia - 35