Enough Is Enough

Largely to the conference's benefit, Ivy League basketball has made some tremendous strides over the past few seasons.  In 2010, a gritty Cornell team upset Temple and Wisconsin to reach the Sweet 16.  The following season, Princeton edged Harvard on a nationally-televised buzzer beater to win the league's one-game playoff and capture an automatic berth to the NCAAs.  Last season, Harvard spent much of the year ranked in the Top 25 and won the Battle 4 Atlantis, a pre-season tournament that also featured UConn and Florida State.  This week, the conference took another step towards mirroring major conference schools when it was reported that Harvard's senior co-captains might withdraw from the university amidst a cheating scandal that could get the players suspended.

While, as a Princeton hoops fan, the thought of playing against a Harvard team missing its two best players admittedly has me a little excited, more than anything I'm disappointed.  I spend a lot of time on Caught Looking - probably more than most of you want to read - talking about the merits of Ivy League basketball.  What I don't think I've properly articulated before, however, is the way I appreciate that the Ivy's basketball players are, more than anything, real students.  Sure, they might be a foot taller than the average Dartmouth or Columbia undergrad, but the kids suiting up for Ivy League basketball teams are enrolled in school for the education first, and for the chance to play basketball at a high level second.

At least, that's how it used to be.  While the Harvard cheating scandal doesn't change anything by itself, it is a very clear and obvious reminder that Ivy League basketball - as well as basketball in other similar conferences like the Patriot League - has changed over the past decade.  Yes, the ability to lure big name coaches like Tommy Amaker and out-manuever larger universities for coveted recruits will undoubtedly help the league's eight schools compete on a national level, which might translate to more recruiting power, more national media exposure and more dollars.  At the same time, however, it increases the likelihood that the players will arrive unprepared for life as a serious college student, potentially forcing them to make mistakes like the ones we see at other, more sports-centric colleges.  Though these mistakes might fly under the radar at a larger, less academically-focused school, at a place like Harvard they threaten to undo much of what the school is known and respected for.  While the two Harvard co-captains might not be guilty, even their implication in a cheating scandal should be viewed as too much.

Before you say that this is an elitist rant meant to distinguish the eight Ivy League schools from the rules and expectations that apply to the rest of the nation - it's not.  Part of what makes college basketball and the NCAA tournament so great is the existence of the sport's haves and have nots.  Whereas parity makes NFL football exciting, part of what makes the NCAA Tournament one of the best sporting events of the year is that a school like Cornell - with no athletic scholarships or NBA-bound players - can upset two major college basketball programs over one March weekend.  If Harvard and the rest of the Ivy League start to adopt a win-at-all-costs mentality that has plagued a number of Division I's athletic programs, that absolutely would take away from the specialness of such a moment.  I can't see how it's in Harvard's best interest to sacrifice it's normally stellar academic reputation for the chance at a few more victories - and I'd say the same exact thing if the school in question was Lehigh, Rice or Boston University.

If Harvard is forced to play the 2012-13 season without its two senior co-captains and, as a result, Princeton earns a trip to the NCAAs, I won't lie and say I'll be overly upset.  But I'd like to think that, in the back of my mind, I'll always view this Ivy League season as slightly tainted.  Without a doubt, I can honestly say that I'd rather see Princeton lose with a team full of honest, hard-working student athletes than win with a roster full of morally-questionable ones.