ESPN's Pat Forde discusses Cornell's (and Princeton's) chances of going undefeated in conference play.
ESPN’s Pat Forde discusses Cornell’s and Princeton’s chances of going undefeated in conference play in Forde minutes this week:
We know that an undefeated season is a pipe dream. But one of the annually underappreciated feats in college basketball is an undefeated conference season. If you want to know how difficult it is to do, check recent history.
Last year it only happened twice — Memphis in Conference USA and Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference — and it hasn’t happened more than three times in the same season since 1996. No member of a big-six conference has run the table since Kentucky did it to the SEC in 2003.
All of that serves as a warning shot for at least a few teams on this list, because there are eight out there that have yet to lose a league game. Their time is going to come. But until it does, let’s break down the unbeatens:
Cornell
League record: 6-0 in the Ivy League, with the closest game being 14 points. RPI: 48, 74 spots higher than second-place Princeton.
Remaining league schedule: at Penn (2-2 in Ivy play) Friday; at Princeton (4-0) Saturday; at Harvard (4-2) Feb. 19; at Dartmouth (0-6) Feb. 20; Princeton (4-0) Feb. 26; Penn (2-2) Feb. 27; at Brown (1-5) March 5; at Yale (3-3) March 6.
Scariest game: At Harvard, although the Big Red already has punished the Crimson once.
Chances of running it: 80 percent.
Princeton
League record: 4-0 in the Ivy League. RPI: 122, 74 spots lower than league leader Cornell.
Remaining league schedule: Columbia (2-4 in Ivy play) Friday; Cornell (6-0) Saturday; at Penn (2-2) Feb. 16; Yale (3-3) Feb. 19; Brown (1-5) Feb. 20; at Cornell (6-0) Feb. 26; at Columbia (2-4) Feb. 27; Dartmouth (0-6) March 5; Harvard (4-2) March 6; Penn (2-2) March 9.
Scariest game: Either Cornell game.
Chances of running it: 1 percent.
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Intro by Bill Bradley.