And the Smart Shall Inherit a Bid

With the power conference tournaments still nearly a week away, the little guys have begun fighting for their tickets to the dance. In the monumental moment that marks the begin of bracket season, the first bid could potentially be locked up TONIGHT. In the enigma that is the Ivy league with its lack of tournament, four teams can technically still lay claim to the leagues automatic birth, but realistically it comes down to two, this years powerhouse Cornell and Princeton, the inventor of so many low majors saving grace, the Princeton offense.
Cornell is the lone team in the league with an above .500 overall record and they stand on the cusp of 20 wins if they can beat Penn tonight. Princeton is one of two other teams who sit right on the .500 mark (the other is...*cough* Harvard *cough*) and sit only a game back of the Big Red with an extra game to play in addition to the usual weekend two game set.
Bid can be locked up only with their win over Penn and a Princeton loss at Columbia tonight. As long as both teams produce the same result, or even if Cornell falls, tomorrow should be interesting as it would set up a matchup between Cornell and Princeton in Ithaca, NY. Princeton won the first meeting so a win on Saturday would turn their unusual Tuesday contest with Penn into a win and your in, lose and your out game for the Tigers, barring Cornell losing both home games this weekend.
To make things REALLY interesting, Yale could also sneak in with two wins, two Cornell losses and a 1-2 stretch run from Princeton. This is by far the most interesting Ivy league race in years. I'll preview the game tomorrow as I would a conference championship game if it turns out to have all its importance. As of right now my prediction for the Ivy league champs is the team I got to cover twice as a guest writer for the Daily Sun when they came to visit Chestnut Hill for the NIT Tipoff and was fairly impressed with, the Cornell Big Red.