Ivy League Tournament Odds: Defending Champion Yale is Favored to Win Another Ivy Crown

Will The 1 and 2 Seeds Advance to The Ivy League Title Game?

The Ivy League Tournament returned after a two-year absence with Yale winning a thrilling 66-64 win over Princeton to win the tournament for the second time. The Ivy League Tournament Odds are projecting a rematch between the top-seeded Bulldogs and No. 2-seeded Princeton.

After years of resistance, the Ivy League finally relented and held the league tournament following the 2016-17 season with the tournament champion earning the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.

Princeton and Penn won the first two titles since the tournament debuted during the 2016-17 season before Yale was the last two. There were no tournaments in 2020 and  2021 as a result of the global pandemic.

The top two seeds have reached the championship game in each of the last three events with the second-seeded squad winning the title and earning a spot in the NCAA tournament.

Yale and Princeton are the favorites followed by Penn and Cornell, looking for its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2010, a distant fourth.

The semifinals are on Saturday with the title game at 12 noon ET on Sunday at Jadwin Gymnasium in Princeton, N.J.

Yale is currently 64th in the NCAA NET rankings. If the Bulldogs win the Ivy League title again, they could be a popular pick in the first round of the March Madness bracket contest. Yale was seeded 14th in the 2019 tournament and threw a scare into LSU. In last year’s tourney, Purdue’s Jaden Ivey and Zach Edey were too much for the Bulldogs.

Favorites

Yale enters the tournament on a three-game winning streak and with Penn losing to Princeton on the final day of the regular season, the Bulldogs earned a share of the regular-season title and top seed in the tournament.

The Bulldogs rose to the top of the standings despite leading scorer Matt Knowling missing the wins against Princeton, Cornell and Brown. The Ivy League Tournament Odds list Yale at+115 to win the title again.

Yale led the Ivy League with a 16-8-1 record against the spread during the regular season. Keep an eye on the college basketball injury report for updates on Knowling.

Bez Mbeng had two 20-point efforts in the last three games, John Poulakidas had 30 points in an overtime win over Princeton while EJ Jarvis went off for 34 points in a victory against Cornell.

Cornell will be the opponent in the semifinals. The Big Red is responsible for one of Yale’s four conference losses.

Freshman Caden Pierce came off the bench to score 17 points as Princeton topped Penn to earn a share of the Ivy regular-season crown.

Tosan Evbuomwan has scored in double figures in 12 of the last 13 games and has come close to a triple-double on multiple occasions for Princeton, priced at +165 to win the Ivy League tournament.
Princeton goes for its third win of the season against Penn in the semifinals.

Outsiders

Jordan Dingle makes Penn a very dangerous team. He averaged a career-best 23.6 points on 46% shooting and he can score both in the paint and from the perimeter. Putting him at the foul line is not a wise strategy considering that he shot 87% on free throws. Dingle has scored at least 20 points in nine of the last 11 games.

Penn did split its two games with Yale so if the Quakers and Bulldogs both advance, Penn will have some confidence, even if the Ivy League tournament odds list them at +650 to rise to the top of the Ivy League.

Cornell is the only one of the four teams not to have previously played in the Ivy League Tournament.

The Big Red had to beat Columbia and have Brown lose to Yale on the final day of the regular season to get into the field.

With nine players on the court for at least 10 minutes per game, Cornell has some depth to work with. Senior Greg Dolan leads the way as he is averaging 13.5 points per game after contributing 4.8 and 6.5 in the previous two seasons.

Perhaps the recent 18-point loss to Yale is the reason that Cornell is priced at +1000 to win the Ivy tournament.

Projected Championship Matchup

There hasn’t been a repeat final in the first four Ivy League Tournaments. There is a first time for everything with the NCAAB betting lines favoring a Yale-Princeton matchup.

Yale will be favored to top Cornell in the first semifinal on Saturday at 11 a.m. ET. The second matchup could be something else with Penn and Princeton meeting again.

Penn led by eight points in the recent matchup before falling in overtime. The tournament being held on Princeton’s home court gives the Tigers the advantage.

Penn and Yale have won the Ivy League Tournaments at home and Princeton will look to do the same.
Follow us on Twitter

Can’t get enough? Here’s more!

• Road to 2023 March Madness: SWAC Tournament Odds & Preview
• SEC Tournament Odds: Alabama Remains Favored, Miller in Spotlight
• Mountain West Tournament Odds: Plenty of Teams Could Challenge Favored San Diego State
• Pac-12 Tournament Odds: Super Powers UCLA and Arizona Expected to Meet in Title Game
• MEAC Tournament Odds: 4-Team Race to the Finish