Ivy League Tournament tiebreaker scenarios: Penn and Columbia battle for the final Ivy League spot

Princeton, riding a 16-game winning streak and a perfect record in conference play with one game left, has locked up the Ivy League regular season title. The Tigers’ run through the conference schedule has been on the back of one of the hottest players in the Ivy League in sophomore guard Devin Cannady. Over the last two games, Cannady has averaged 22 points, including 18 against Columbia on Friday that saw the guard get all of his points from beyond the arc.

The Tigers have not lost a game since Dec. 20, and if it was any year prior to this, Princeton would have wrapped up its first NCAA Tournament bid since 2011.

However, thanks to the introduction of the Ivy League Tournament, Cannady and his teammates will have to keep fighting to punch their ticket to the Big Dance. Harvard, winner of its last five, has clinched the second spot, and Yale has locked up the third. This leaves only the fourth and final spot up for grabs.

Saturday is the final day of the regular season. Penn and Columbia enter the day with their seasons on the line, and by days’ end, one will likely find itself headed to the Palestra

Saturday’s schedule is as follows:
(all times Eastern)

Cornell at Brown, 6 p.m.
Dartmouth at Princeton, 6 p.m.
Columbia at Yale, 7 p.m.
Harvard at Penn, 7 p.m.

Here are the scenarios for how Columbia gets into the tournament:

-Columbia beats Yale, and Penn loses to Harvard.

-Columbia beats Yale, Penn beats Harvard, and Dartmouth beats Princeton and Brown beats Cornell.

-Columbia loses to Yale, Penn loses to Harvard, Princeton beats Dartmouth.

And here are the scenarios for Penn:

-Penn beats Harvard, Columbia loses to Yale

-Penn beats Harvard, Columbia beats Yale and Cornell beats Brown and Princeton beats Dartmouth.

Finally, there is still a way that Dartmouth could sneak in:

- Dartmouth beats Princeton and Penn and Columbia both lose

(this is incredibly unlikely because, as mentioned above, Princeton is undefeated and Dartmouth is uh... not great)

Columbia lost its first matchup against Yale, 87-78, and enters the final game having lost four of five overall. As for Penn, the Quakers lost their first game against Harvard, 69-59, and enter this final have won three out of five.

Hold on to your seats. This is what March is all about.