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PRINCETON, N.J. \u2013\u00a0The Ivy League men\u2019s basketball season tips off Friday night with six of the eight programs in action. The league enters the 2025-26 campaign coming off NCAA Tournament wins in two of the last three seasons, with Princeton\u2019s Sweet 16 run in 2023 and Yale\u2019s win over fourth-seeded Auburn in the first round in 2024.
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\n2025-26 PREVIEW
\nYale enters the season voted as the unanimous favorite in the Ivy League men\u2019s basketball preseason poll. The reigning Ivy League regular season and tournament champions, the Bulldogs return First Team All-Ivy selection\u00a0Nick Townsend\u00a0from a season ago. After averaging 15.4 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per game, Townsend helped lead Yale to their second-straight NCAA Tournament berth last season.<\/p>\n
Harvard, led by the 2024-25 Ivy League Rookie of the Year\u00a0Robert Hinton, prove to be the top challenger to Yale in the voters’ eyes, placing second in the preseason poll. Harvard returns nine of its top 11 scorers from last season, including their top three scorers (Hinton,\u00a0Chandler Pigg\u00e9, and\u00a0Thomas Batties II) who all averaged more than 10 points per game.
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\nCornell, last year\u2019s runner-up in the Ivy League Tournament, is hoping to take another step forward this season. The Big Red play a unique style of basketball, ranking in the top 10 nationally in assists in four straight seasons, while also\u00a0ranking in the top eight nationally in fastest pace in four consecutive seasons.\u00a0Cornell was one of four teams (Delaware, Maryland and Mississippi) in the country to have all five starters averaging double figures last season.
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\nPrinceton took the coveted fourth spot, the last spot in March\u2019s Ivy Madness, in the preseason poll as the race to Ivy Madness figures to be a competitive one this season with teams five through seven in the poll separated by only six points.
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\n2024-25 RECAP
\nComing off a win over Auburn in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, Yale continued to improve in the 2024-25 season as the Bulldogs marched to a 13-1 conference record and a 22-8 overall record. Yale was led by seniors Bez Mbeng and John Poulakidas\u00a0throughout the season as the two helped Yale to another Ivy League regular season and tournament title. In a competitive game, the Bulldogs could not replicate their 2024 win in the NCAA Tournament, however, falling to Texas A&M in the first round.
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\nDartmouth was one of the biggest stories of the Ivy League season as the Big Green made their first-ever appearance in the Ivy League Tournament, earning the fourth seed. Head Coach David McLaughlin and his staff earned Ivy League Coaching Staff of the Year honors following an 8-6 record in Ivy League play.<\/p>\n
MEDIA DAY
\nThis year, all eight Ivy League men’s basketball programs participated in preseason media day in collaboration with The Field of 68, hosted by Jeff Goodman and Rob Dauster. To view the whole program, click here<\/a>.\u00a0
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