Cornell Basketball in Top 25 (Princeton Still Better Historically)
After the boys from Ithaca crushed their Crimson cousins Saturday night by a score of 86-50, Cornell moved into the top 25 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll for the top teams in college basketball.This is a big deal for Ivy League basketball. The Ancient Eight haven't had a ranked team since back when I was in the second grade, otherwise known as the 1997-1998 season.(And who was that team? The Princeton Tigers of course.)It's been a good run for Cornell basketball. They've made the NCAA tournament the last two years, and it looks like they'll be headed back to the big dance.We're actually a little intimidated. Basketball used to be our thing, our defining sport. Cornell has now officially seized that mantle. And we can't even take comfort in our new(er) sport of dominance, lacrosse, because Cornell bounced us from the NCAA tournament last year.So instead we'll do what we always do in these situations: hearken back to our glorious past, and remind the young up and comers who still stands dominant in the annals of Ivy League Basketball history (other than Penn).(This also gives us the opportunity to make fun of Harvard's impressive ZERO men's basketball Ivy League titles. And making fun of Harvard always makes us feel better.)Full feel-good historical standings after the jump!Without further ado, the list of Ivy League champions in men's basketball.(Hat tip to stormingthefloor.net for putting these numbers together and enabling this moment of bittersweet nostalgia.)Penn: 37 (1906, 1908, 1916, 1918-21, 1928-29, 1934-35, 1937, 1945, 1953, 1966, 1970-75, 1978-80, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1993-95, 1999-2000, 2002 (shared), 2003, 2005-07)Princeton: 28 (1922, 1925, 1932, 1950, 1952, 1955, 1960-61, 1963-65, 1967, 1969, 1976-77, 1981, 1983-84, 1989-92, 1996-98, 2001, 2002 (shared), 2004)Columbia: 13 (1904-05, 1911-12, 1914 (shared), 1926, 1930-31, 1936, 1947-48, 1951, 1968)Dartmouth: 12 (1927, 1938-44, 1946, 1956, 1958-59)Yale: 11 (1902-03, 1907, 1915, 1917, 1923, 1933, 1949, 1957, 1962, 2002 (shared))Cornell: 7 (1913, 1914 (shared), 1924, 1954, 1988, 2008-09)Brown: 1 (1986)Harvard: 0And there you have it. You may be enjoying your success now, Cornell, but it's going to take at least four times as many championships before you can hang with us in the record books. And, as always, better luck next year, Harvard.(image source: ivy-style.com)