2026 Ivy League Men’s Basketball Tournament Basics
Format
Traditional bracket. You don’t need a PDF for four teams.
Site
Cornell is the penultimate Ivy League member that will host for the first time, with only Dartmouth (2027) left to complete the rotation.
Participants
The Ivy League wisely limits its conference tournament to the top four teams, which means Columbia (16-12, 5-9, t-5th), Princeton (9-20, 5-9, t-5th), Dartmouth (11-6, 5-9, t-5th), and Brown (9-18, 3-11, 8th) did not qualify.
Schedule
Semifinals (Sat. 3/14)
Gm. 1: (1) Yale (23-5, 11-3) at (4) Cornell (15-12, 8-6), 11 a.m. (ESPNU) Home split:
Bulldogs 102-68 on 1/17 and Big Red 72-69 on 2/27. Gm. 2: (3) Penn (16-11, 9-5) vs. (2) Harvard (17-11, 10-4), 1:30* (ESPN News) Home split: Crimson 64-63 on 1/19 and Quakers 64-61 on 2/28.
Championship (Sun. 3/15)
Gm. 3: Semifinal winners, 12 (ESPN2)
Mayhem Potential
Data originally posted by Bob Vetrone Jr. on Twitter in 2020 with my own additions for the seasons beyond.
With only four teams participating, there’s no chance a team can earn a bid out of truly nowhere. Still, the No. 2 seed has had a significant advantage in this still small sample size of Ivy postseason tournaments. Note that there were one-game championship playoffs in both 2011 (Princeton over Harvard) and 2015 (Harvard over Yale) that helped lead to the establishment of the conference tournament.
- 2 seed (5): 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024
- 1 seed (2): 2017, 2025
NCAA Seeding Record In The 68-Team Era
Years with an NCAA win are in bold.
- 12 seed (5): 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017
- 13 seed (4): 2011, 2015, 2024, 2025
- 14 seed (3): 2013, 2019, 2022
- 15 seed (1): 2023
- 16 seed (1); 2018
The Ivy champ had recorded wins in consecutive NCAA Tournaments, as Yale took down Auburn in a 13-over-4 upset in 2024 after Princeton matched 2010 Cornell’s Sweet Sixteen run as a 15 in 2023. But the Bulldogs couldn’t make it three in a row, falling to Texas A&M in last year’s First Round.
Yale is 65th in the nET as of Wednesday, so they’re right on the 12/13 seed bubble. Once again, their three title rivals are further down the table: Cornell is 74 spots lower at 139, while Penn and Harvard are sitting right next to each other at 149 and 150. Given what’s happened in other conference tournaments, any team other than the Bulldogs is looking at a 14 or 15 seed.
Last NCAA Tournament Appearances
Yale: 2025 (13 seed, 1st Round)
Penn: 2018 (16 seed, 1st Round)
Harvard: 2015 (13 seed, 1st Round)
Cornell: 2010 (12 seed, Sweet 16)
While all eight Ivy League teams have appeared in the NCAA tournament, Columbia (1968, Sweet 16) and Dartmouth (1959, Elite 8) haven’t reached the field in the seeded era. Both need to wait to change that, along with more recent qualifiers Princeton (2023, 15 seed, Sweet 16) and Brown (1986, 15 seed, 1st Round).
