You wouldn’t ignore this lion’s emails, would you?

When it comes to reaching the pinnacle of college basketball, the NCAA Tournament, only 14 games matter for each Ivy school. Home and away games against each Ancient Eight opponent determine the postseason fate of the Lions, who would have to win the conference to punch their ticket. To give an idea of how much each game counts, the last time a team won the Ivies with four losses was 1987. It’s considered a very competitive year when a three-loss team wins the crown. Preseason polls pinned this season as having many strong teams, with Harvard, Yale, and Columbia all leading the way. However, the Lions and Crimson have both fallen to 1-1, while the Bulldogs hold a league-best 2-0 in conference play.

We at Bwog spent a lot of time yesterday partying analyzing every near-future scenario in Ivy basketball, and here’s the impending truth for Columbia. If they don’t sweep this home weekend, the Lions will be a two (or three) loss team trailing a 3-1 Harvard, a 4-0 or 3-1 Yale, and possibly even a 3-1 Cornell team. Two losses this early in the year would make Columbia dependent on the missteps of other teams; three losses would demand perfection from here on out. The Lions cannot afford to let Yale rocket to an insurmountable lead in the Ivy standings, and they must at least stay tied with the Bulldogs and Crimson before the trickiest part of the road schedule comes around. This and many other reasons have led us to dust off our bright neon “MUST-WIN” sign and hang it above Levien Gymnasium at 8 pm tonight.

Yale’s historically terrific season so far has been noticed nationally. Their 11 non-conference wins set a program record, and their buzzer-beating victory over the reigning national champion UConn Huskies made the rounds of every top 10 sports list in the country. The Bulldogs are led by guard Javier Duren and forward Justin Sears, who combine for 27.6 points per game. Duren and Armani Cotton both shoot from beyond the arc with Maodo Lo-ian accuracy, while Jack Montague nails a terrifying 45% from three-land.

Columbia, for their part, will need a resurgent performance from Lo and strong complementary performances from the rest of the team in order to knock off Yale. Kyle Castlin will have to drive as well as he does when Lo is off the court. Steve Frankoski will have to nail his open threes in rhythm. Cory Osetkowski will have to contain Justin Sears and maintain an offensive post presence. And some one of the sophomore forwards will have to step up. But as I’ve said before, Columbia can play that well. That’s how they looked against Kentucky, UConn, Hofstra, and all of their other great games this season. A return to 2014 form will carry the Lions to victory. I predict the Lions defeating the Bulldogs, 66-60.

The most popular lion on campus via Pinterest