PRINCETON, N.J. — Reigning Ivy League regular season and tournament champion Princeton has been selected as the preseason favorite in the 2026–27 Ivy League Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll, as voted on by members of the media.
The Tigers received 15 first-place votes and 161 total points to top the poll. Princeton finished the 2025–26 season 26-4 overall and 12-2 in Ivy League play, capturing the outright regular season and Ivy Madness titles.
Columbia was picked second with 149 points and five first-place votes. The Lions are coming off a 25-8 campaign that concluded with the 2026 WBIT championship, as Columbia won five straight postseason games and defeated BYU, 81-64, in the title game. Reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Riley Weiss returns after averaging 19.7 points per game last season.
Harvard earned the final first-place vote and was selected third with 131 points. The Crimson finished 20-12 overall and 10-4 in Ivy League play last season, advancing to the Ivy League Tournament championship game and the WBIT quarterfinals.
Penn was picked fourth with 104 points, while Brown followed in fifth with 74 points. Cornell was selected sixth with 60 points, Yale seventh with 48 and Dartmouth eighth with 29.
The 2026 Ivy League Women’s Basketball Media Day is set for Thursday, Oct. 8, beginning at 10:50 a.m. ET. Ivy League Women’s Basketball Media Day will be streamed live on the
@IvyLeague X page.
The 2027 Ivy League Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments will be held at The Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania on March 12-14. The tournament champions will earn the league’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
The Ivy League has continued to establish itself as one of the strongest conferences in the country, finishing in the top 10 of the conference NET rankings in each of the last three seasons. Since 2021-22, Ivy League programs have also recorded 49 wins over power conference opponents, including 15 last season. The league has produced nationally ranked teams, multiple NCAA Tournament bids in several seasons and multiple WNBA Draft selections during that span.
The Ivy League women’s basketball season tips off on Monday, November 2 with seven programs opening their campaigns.
The 2027 Ivy League Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments will be held March 12-14 at The Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.
2026–27 IVY LEAGUE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PRESEASON POLL
Predicted Order of Finish (First-Place Votes)
| Rank |
Team |
Points |
| 1. |
Princeton |
161 (15) |
| 2. |
Columbia |
149 (5) |
| 3. |
Harvard |
131 (1) |
| 4. |
Penn |
104 |
| 5. |
Brown |
74 |
| 6. |
Cornell |
60 |
| 7. |
Yale |
48 |
| 8. |
Dartmouth |
29 |