Ivy/Patriot Challenge? Good Idea or Bad Idea?

On their blog today, the Cornell Basketball Blog suggested that it would "seem to make sense" for the Ivy League and Patriot League come to a formal agreement to have a challenge series between the two conferences, a la the ACC/Big 10 challenge, SEC-Big East invitational, and the now-concluded Big XII/Pac-10 Hardwood Series. At first glance, this seems like a perfect idea. Both conferences have a similar academic profile (e.g.- it was only recently that the Patriot League allowed athletic scholarships in non-football sports) and are similar geographically. Further, one only needs to look at football schedules to see a natural affinity between the two conferences. To take Harvard as an example, the Crimson football team will play all three non-conference games against the Patriot League this upcoming season, as they have for many years past. But, is that affinity actually problematic for such a series to take place on the hardwood?

The Ivies and Patriots already meet up a bit in basketball. Last year, Ivy League teams averaged 2.5 games against the Patriot League, with a range of 1 (Harvard and Cornell) to 5 (Dartmouth). If the two conferences agreed to a challenge series, would that place a burden on teams like Dartmouth (which actually had home and homes last season with two teams in the Patriot League, pretty rare for non-conference play) in terms of filling out their non-conference schedule? Looking at last year's ACC schedule, for example, there was only one ACC/Big 10 match-up outside of the challenge- a tournament game between Boston College and Wisconsin. It seems like it would be problematic for some of the Ivies if games against Patriot League opponents was held to one game since, as noted, the Patriot League makes a lot of sense as a non-conference opponent. Likewise, the challenge loses some of its appeal if teams can schedule non-conference games outside of the series. Perhaps one solution would be to follow Dartmouth's lead and make the series a home and home- this way, the Ivy League as a whole only "loses" 4 non-conference games.

(It should be noted that the original proposal that sparked this discussion was a Horizon/MAC challenge and the author at the Chicago Basketball Blog proposed his challenge because the two teams in those conferences meet up so much and in his proposal the Horizon League would "lose" 8 non-conference games, so maybe this isn't a problem.)

More analysis after the jump:

Women's Softball to Tucson

Update- Edited the game schedule as I was missing a game.
Second Update- Edited the game schedule to reflect Friday night's results

The path to Oklahoma City will start in Arizona for Harvard's softball squad after a dominate Ivy League performance. The Crimson found out the news around the same time that they officially closed the book on a successful Ancient Eight campaign. After sweeping their North Division opponents, Harvard defeated Cornell in two shutouts in Cambridge to claim the Ivy League championship. Individually, the Crimson swept the league awards, with Ellen Macadam becoming the first Crimson player since Tiffany Whitton in 2002 to earn Player of the Year honors, Rachel Brown earning Pitcher of the Year honors, and Kasey Lange earning Rookie of the Year. Shortstop Jane Alexander and outfielder Stephanie Regan joined the trio as First Team All-Ivy selections, with Laura Ricciardone, Allie Scott, Whitney Shaw, Ashley Heritage and Mari Zumbo earning Second Team All-Ivy accolades. Now the Crimson will head west to take on #8 Arizona, Texas Tech, and New Mexico State in the double-elimination regional round hosted by Arizona.

After the jump, we'll preview Harvard's regional opponents and see how the Crimson stack up. The schedule is at the end of the post.

Harvard and BC To Meet at Fenway for Beanpot Title

Photo Courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications.

What: 22nd Annual Baseball Beanpot Championship
When: Tuesday, April 26th at 7 p.m.
Where: Fenway Park, Boston, MA
Coverage: Beginning at 6:45 p.m. on 95.3 FM WHRB and WHRB.org with Bryan Dunmire (play by play), Brendan Roche and Charlie Hobbes (color commentary)

The Teams
Harvard (9-31, 5-11 Ivy): It's been a tough year for Harvard baseball to say the least. The Crimson started with a nine-game losing streak and came out of an arduous road trip of 1 home game in the first 22 of the season well below .500. The Ivy League has gone little better with Harvard 5 games out behind Red Rolfe division leading Dartmouth thanks to a 5-11 mark that places the Crimson squarely at the bottom of the Ancient Eight. With only four games remaining in conference play, an Ivy title is already out of grasp, but Harvard can still be champions with a win at America's Most Beloved Ballpark.
Boston College (14-24, 6-14 ACC): After two wins in Caravelle Resort Tournament to open the season, the Eagles fell somewhat flat, going 4-7 in the state of Florida to round out non-conference play (4-8 if you count a 6-0 shutout at the hands of the split-squad Red Sox, though that hardly seems fair to count). BC had some success as they headed back to New England, but a loss at Dartmouth started a streak where BC has only one once in their last ten tries. That one win came in the Beanpot though and the Eagles will hope that the Beanpot magic that's been at Chestnut Hill all year will snap them out of their current four game snide. At 7.5 games back with 9 conference games remaining, ACC hopes are still technically alive, but it looks like the only way BC can earn a championship this year is for the final leg of the Beanpot Triple Crown.

How They Got Here
Harvard took a no-hitter into the sixth inning as three pitchers combined for a five-hit 1-0 shutout over Massachusetts. Despite outhitting the Minutemen by a count of 10-5, the Crimson could not get on the board until the ninth inning, when Danny Moskovits hit a one-out single to send home baserunner Jack Colton, who had gotten on with a walk and then advanced to second on a sac bunt. Andrew Hatch (2-0), of LSU and Harvard football lore, got credit for the win, going 3 innings with 3 Ks and 4 hits allowed in relief.
Earlier last Wednesday, Boston College saw nine different pitchers combine for 11 Ks and only one run allowed as the Eagles defeated Northeastern 6-1. Nate Bayuk (4-4) picked up the win with his inning in the 6th. After the Eagles (2nd inning) and Huskies (4th inning) traded a run, the Eagles exploded for 5 runs in the 6th to seal the win.

Last Wins in Beanpot
Harvard: 2005 (longest current drought of all 4 schools)
Boston College: 2010

Common Opponents
Common opponents were Bryant, Northeastern and Holy Cross. Harvard is 0-5 against common opponents and Boston College is 2-2.  Harvard has yet to play an ACC opponent this season while Boston College is 0-1 against Ivy teams.

WHRB to Cover Football Spring Game Saturday

2011 Harvard Spring Game

When: Saturday, April 23rd at 7pm

Where: Harvard Stadium

Coverage: beginning at 6:30 on 95.3FM WHRB and whrb.org with Scott Reed, Charlie Hobbs, and Anton Khodakov.

Football makes a brief return to WHRB on Saturday when the Harvard Crimson take the field at the Stadium for an intra-squad scrimmage. Although it has been a relatively tame spring, there are several storylines to watch, from the race for the backup quarterback role behind Collier Winters to the emergence of new starters along the offensive line.

WHRB's 2010 football booth of Scott Reed and Charlie Hobbs will be joined by Anton Khodakov for Saturday's scrimmage under the lights. Coverage begins at 6:30pm with the Harvard Pregame Show, featuring interviews with Harvard Head Coach Tim Murphy and the 138th Captain of Harvard football, Alex Gedeon.