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Ivy League Tournament Semifinals preview for Saturday, March 12

The Ivy League Conference will narrow down the field Saturday to advance two to the Ivy League Tournament Championship game.

NCAA Basketball: Yale at Seton Hall Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The four-team Ivy League Tournament will get started with Saturday’s semifinal round from Lavietes Pavilion in Boston, Massachusetts. The first game will get started when the top-seeded Princeton Tigers take on the No. 4 seed Cornell Big Red, followed by the matchup between the No. 2 Yale Bulldogs and No. 3 Pennsylvania Quakers. The conference’s NCAA Tournament representative will be determined in the title game on Sunday afternoon.

No. 1 Princeton vs. No. 4 Cornell, 11 a.m. ET on ESPNU

Point Spread: Princeton -6
Point Total: 158

Princeton has been the class of the Ivy League this season as they bring a seven-game winning streak to the conference tournament. The Tigers run a fantastic offense that rates inside the top 30 in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency, but their defense is just inside the top 250. Cornell is nowhere close to as good of an offense, but they are slightly better on the defensive end. In the end, the trio of Princeton’s top scorers Tosan Evbuomwan, Jaelin Llewellyn and Ethan Wright will be too much for Cornell as the Tigers pull away.

The pick: Princeton -6

No. 2 Yale vs. No. 3 Pennsylvania, 2 p.m. ET on ESPNU

Point Spread: Yale -3
Point Total: 147

The combination of Yale’s style of play and the strengths of the Pennsylvania roster, there’s a lot to like about the over in this spot. The Bulldogs will try to push the pace as they rank No. 64 nationally in possessions per game, and the Quakers are just outside the top 100 in that category. Pennsylvania has an offense that rates just outside the top 100 in adjusted efficiency, and they can really struggle defensively where they rate No. 296 in KenPom. Plenty of points will be scored, and the total will surpass this number.

The pick: Over 147

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