NCAAB: Friday Ivy Teaser Mix-and-Match
Six of the teams are still playing for playoff spots or seedings. Two are playing for next year and to ruin someone else’s party. Remember, you can’t tease the spread and Over/Under int he same game.
Columbia + 6 @ BROWN (139), 5 pm. Brown (17-9, 5-5) can go a long way toward a 4th place finish (and an Ivy Tournament berth) with a win tonight as the team their tied with, Cornell, is a big underdog at Yale and is coming to Providence tomorrow. Columbia (7-17, 2-8) has no pressure and is playing for nothing but pride. Sometimes that’s enough and the Lions +11 seems like a solid play as they tend to play most teams close. I expect the Bears to win but they may be a little tight and looking ahead to the Big Red.
Pick: Columbia +11 Over BROWN and Over 134.
Cornell +12 @ YALE (147.5), 7 pm. Yale (18-5, 8-2) is the far better team, but are they 17 points better in a Friday game that Cornell (13-13, 5-5) has to win. Yale won a 98-92 shootout at Cornell so the teams can score on each other and Yale enjoys running it up at home and is probably still smarting from last week’s last-second loss to Harvard. Another teaser where I’d be comfortable either way (Cornell +17 or Yale -7) but I’ll go with Yale.
Pick: YALE -7 Over Cornell and Under 152.5.
Penn +5 @ HARVARD (140), 7 pm. Ugh. I’m just going to say flat-out that I’ve gotten every Penn game wrong and the Quakers totally baffled me last weekend by losing to Columbia then blowing out Cornell. Penn (16-10, 4-6) HAS to win if they want any chance at the Ivy Tournament. Harvard (14-9, 7-3) still has a chance to catch Yale for the title. I like Penn +10 because I think the Quakers will fight tooth-and-nail to the end, but are the overall odds better that home Harvard will sneak out a W and or beat Penn by 11? Yeah.
Pick: HARVARD Even over Penn and Over 135.
Princeton -1 @ DARTMOUTH (137), 7 pm. Dartmouth (11-15, 2-8) has lost 6 Ivy games by a total of 17 points -- the only team that blew them out was Yale. (Princeton (15-8, 7-3) almost lost to the Big Green at home (a 69-68 win) and they’ve got to be looking a little head to Harvard. So it wouldn’t surprise me if Dartmouth’s luck turned and they won -- by maybe 1.
Princeton +4 Over DARTMOUTH and Over 132.