Three-bid Ivy? Why Princeton, Columbia and Harvard WBB make it possible

A primer on the Ivy League, the most intriguing race in the final month of the women’s basketball season.

Parker Hill prepares to drive to the basket during Princeton’s win over Cornell on Jan. 4, 2025. (Photo by Adam Zielonka)

Back on Jan. 11, Ashley Chea hit one of the most thrilling shots in New Jersey college hoops this year, allowing Princeton to stun previously 12-1 Harvard:

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The long stepback winner was not only exciting, it was impactful. Princeton is currently second in the Ivy League standings, but it’s third in a three-horse race for an at-large NCAA Tournament berth. A notable win like that is keeping the Tigers’ hopes alive.

Back up: Three teams from the Ivy League are in the mix for an at-large bid? You read that right. (For newcomers: Even as the top of the Ivy League has grown so strong, multiple NCAA bids in one year are uncommon for a “mid-major” conference. For long-timers: It may have sounded preposterous before, but we’re in the golden age of Ivy League women’s basketball, and this is a race unlike any we’ve ever seen.)

In 2024, Princeton won its sixth straight Ivy League championship and Columbia earned an at-large nod, the first time since 2016 that the league received two bids to the tournament. That year, the final season before the league implemented a four-team postseason tourney, Penn beat Princeton for the league title by one game but Princeton (RPI: 36) became the first Ivy to receive an at-large invite to the men’s or women’s tournament.

A multi-bid Ivy would feel like pie in the sky were it not for 2016 and 2024 setting the stage. Now we can see the league is at its strongest. Columbia, Harvard and Princeton are all top-45 in the NET. They’re all ranked in the top 50 by BartTorvik.com, where the Tigers (No. 41) have the edge on the Crimson (No. 46) and Lions (No. 50).

Lo and behold, on Jan. 31, ESPN women’s bracketologist Charlie Creme had Columbia in the field as the Ivy champion, Harvard in as an at-large and…

So, if the thrust of this piece were simply to speculate, “Is a three-bid Ivy possible?” I won’t withhold that answer. It’s a resounding yes. If these teams don’t lose to anyone except each other the rest of the way, there is a path for all three to have strong enough records and metrics for tournament consideration.

That said, let’s lay out a primer on the Ivy race: What’s happened thus far, which head-to-head games remain, how the women’s field is selected and what Princeton has to do to bolster its case for an at-large bid.

How is the Ivy League race shaping u?

Each of the top three teams has played the other two once so far, and they’ll all meet again later in February. The first game was Chea’s buzzer-beater against Harvard, which we’ve covered. On Jan. 20, Columbia hosted Princeton and won 58-50 as the Lions forced 24 Tigers turnovers to offset a poor shooting day.

Then, on Jan. 31, Columbia pulled off an 80-71 victory at Harvard with Riley Weiss (26 points, six rebounds) and Kitty Henderson (22, 10) putting up dominant games. This was the only road win of the triad, and thus the only Quadrant 1 win, hugely important for the Lions’ resume going forward (we’ll get to those in a second).

These results make the pecking order clear at the halfway pole: Columbia is 7-0 in league play, Princeton is 6-1 and Harvard is 5-2. But as you’ll see, that’s not necessarily the power ranking of their at-large resumes at the moment, and I’ll delve into why.