Harvard And Princeton Will Fight Old-Fashioned Douchebag Standoff In Saturday Playoff

Big news for our high net worth contingent: Princeton defeated Penn in the Ivy League's regular-season finale tonight, meaning—you guessed it—the Tigers will battle Tommy Amaker's Harvard squad for the conference's automatic berth in a playoff at Yale on Saturday.

You don't think this game is a (blue) blood feud? Reader Brad writes in:

Harvard is vying for their first outright Ivy League title in basketball ever, and their first NCAA bid since 1946. There will be a one-game playoff at Yale's court this Saturday. How is Harvard having to play at their fiercest rival's court, where "neutral" fans that show up will automatically root against Harvard? Would Duke in a playoff have to play at NC, or Ohio St at Michigan? This is insane. Why doesn't the NCAA and/or the Ivy League want to give Harvard a fair shake?

Brad is correct in noting that there's not a chance of a postgame party at Mory's. But Fair Harvard isn't so blameless either!

Here's emailer Vikram (who has an @princeton.edu address, full disclosure):

So it's not hard to tell that I'm somewhat biased about this, but I think you guys should do something about how Harvard's fans stormed the court after beating Princeton on Saturday night. This is funny because in winning, Harvard didn't actually win the Ivy League or a spot in the tournament. Harvard clinched a probable spot in an Ivy League championship game on a neutral site, but its fans celebrated like they'd just won a national title and stormed the court like there was no tomorrow. Perhaps you could make fun of them over their likely confusion about the scenarios. I can only assume that they reacted as they did because they were ignorant of what they had actually won. If they weren't ignorant, they're idiots, which is funny because they go to the best school in America.

Aw, Vikram. I applaud your humility at the end. Your parents are still beating you up about not getting into Harvard, aren't they? I hate to break it to you, but they're not going to get over it. Better just to forge a diploma and pocket the cash.

In any event, though we'd like to side with our friends (and contributors) at the Harvard Sports Analysis Collective, their school is still Harvard. And though we'd like to like Princeton, a program that has made real contributions to collegiate basketball over the years, their school is still Princeton.

Any chance we can get Cornell back in the tournament instead?

Princeton tops Penn, sets up one-game playoff with Harvard [ESPN] Highlights: Harvard v. Princeton Men's Basketball [The Crimson]