Harvard Clinging to Ivy Lead

College Hoops Player of the Day for Friday, February 25, 2011

Oliver McNally led the Crimson to their sixth straight victory, a come-from-behind, 74-68, win at Brown to remain 1/2 game ahead of Princeton in the Ivy League race. The winner of the conference gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and with the regular season closing fast, chances for the title have been whittled down to just the two top teams.

McNally hit 7 of 13 shots from the field with three 3-pointers. He also had five steals, helping trim an 11-point half time lead by Brown. His 20 point effort matched his season high.

Harvard is 10-1 with three games remaining, while the 9-1 Tigers have four contests still to go, the final three all on the road, though the most important of them is surely next Saturday's (March 5) tilt at Harvard. The winner of that game will most likely be the Ivy League champion, though, with the field opening up to 68 teams this season, there's a chance both could punch a ticket to the Big Dance.

Harvard is 21-4 overall, while Princeton sports a 21-5 record and both teams have a number of quality wins on their respective resumes.

NOTABLE: 17 of the top 25 teams in the nation will see action on Saturday, including a number of match-ups featuring ranked rivals. The action gets underway at noon ET when #17 Syracuse invades #11 Georgetown. At 2:00 pm, the Mountain West regular season title is on the line when Jimmer Fredette brings #7 BYU to #6 San Diego State. Both squads are 12-1 in conference play.

Also at 2:00, there's more Big East action, with #23 St. John's at #17 Villanova. At 4:00, #13 Florida can wrap up the SEC East with a win at #22 Kentucky. At 9:00 pm, #1 Duke plays at unranked, but dangerous, Virginia Tech. The Hokies find themselves in their usual spot within the ACC bubble, so a home win over the top team in the conference would go a long way toward securing an NCAA bid.