PHILADELPHIA – The Ivy League could not have asked for a better regular-season scenario ahead of the inaugural Ivy League Tournament this weekend. All eight teams were still eligible entering the final weekend, seven were eligible entering Saturday's final day, and the fourth and final seed was not determined until the final play of the final game.

That fourth seed is Penn. The Quakers will play top-seeded Princeton in the tournament's first semifinal on Saturday, and given the history of these programs and this rivalry it seems only appropriate that they be the ones to usher in this new era of Ivy League basketball. Harvard and Yale will meet in the other men's semifinal, at 4 p.m., and Saturday's winners will meet in the championship game to determine the league's NCAA Tournament bid Sunday at noon.

• These teams are meeting for the 236th time with Penn leading the series, 124-111; the Quakers have not played any other opponent more than the Tigers.

• Princeton has held the upper hand the last several years over the Quakers, winning seven in a row, ten of the last 11, and 15 of the last 17 matchups.

• By calendar date, the Penn-Princeton game on January 7 was the earliest meeting between these archrivals since the 1995-96 season (the teams played on Jan. 6, 1996 that season).

• Princeton won that first meeting this season, 61-52, behind 16 points from Devin Cannady and 12 from Amir Bell. Darnell Foreman had 17 points for the Quakers, while Ryan Betley and Jackson Donahue had 11 apiece. For Betley, who had missed Penn's first nine games due to injury, it was his first double-figure scoring game as a collegian. Recap can be found on page 22 of these notes.

• The rematch also went to the Tigers, who rolled to a 64-49 win here at The Palestra. In that game, Spencer Weisz went for 22 points to lead Princeton while Myles Stephens had 16. For Penn, Foreman had 11 while AJ Brodeur and Sam Jones had 10 each. Recap can be found on page 25 of these notes.

• This will mark the fourth time in the Ivy era that Penn and Princeton have met three times in a season. The Quakers and Tigers were forced into one-game playoffs in 1980 (won 50-49 by Penn), 1981 (won 54-40 by Princeton) and 1996 (won 63-56 in OT by Princeton after Penn swept the regular-season series).

The Penn-Princeton Rivalry

It seems only appropriate that Penn and Princeton would usher the Ivy League into the postseason era. Excluding the last few years, these two programs have been the flagships for the Ivy League for literally decades. Consider these notes...

• Penn and/or Princeton won every Ivy League title from 1989-2007 (Penn 9 outright, Princeton 8 outright, 2 shared).

• From 1959-2007, Penn and/or Princeton won at least a share of the Ivy League title all but three years (Cornell won the title in 1988, Brown did it in 1986, and Yale did it in 1962).

• In 2008, ESPN.com rated the most prestigious college basketball programs of all time; Penn came in 34th, while Princeton was 40th.

• In 2005, The Sporting News rated the greatest college basketball programs of all time; Penn came in 16th, while Princeton was 19th.

Penn Basketball by the Numbers

0 • Wins by Penn in its first six Ivy League games this season; it marked the worst Ivy start in program history.

1 • Freshman in Penn men's basketball history to record a double-double in his debut: AJ Brodeur. He had 23 points and 11 rebounds at Robert Morris on November 11; the last time a Penn player had a double-double in his first varsity game was December 1, 1976 when sophomore Tony Price went for 18 points and 12 rebounds in a 108-69 win over The Citadel at The Palestra.

1 • Shots taken last Saturday by Jackson Donahue (no relation to head coach Steve Donahue); it was the last one, a three-pointer, and it beat Harvard 75-72.

2 • Penn players who earned All-Ivy this season. Freshman AJ Brodeur was a second-team All-Ivy pick by the Ancient Eight coaches, while senior Matt Howard received honorable mention recognition. 

2 • Games lost by Penn when leading

at the half under Donahue; the Quakers are 17-2 (11-2 this season), with the losses coming February 3 at Harvard and February 25 at Columbia; in both cases, Penn's halftime lead was 2 points.

5 • Penn is 6-2 over its last eight games, with the losses coming by a combined five points (3 at Columbia, 2 vs. Dartmouth); in both losses the Quakers had a shot to tie at the buzzer.

7 • Players who have led Penn in scoring in a game so far this season: Ryan Betley, AJ Brodeur, Darnell Foreman, Matt Howard, Jackson Donahue, Caleb Wood, and Sam Jones.

9 • Assists without a turnover last week by Foreman. He finished the season second among Ivy players in assist/turnover ratio in league play (2.07).

17.7 • Points-per-game average for Betley over the last seven games; he has hit double figures in all of them—the longest current streak of such games on the team—including 28 points at Brown, 22 vs. Cornell, and 21 at Cornell.

23 • Points scored by Brodeur in Penn's season-opening win at Robert Morris, the most ever scored by a freshman in his debut; it was the most by any player in their debut since December 4, 1963 when sophomore Stan Pawlak had 28 in his debut in a 91-62 win over Rutgers.

35 • Brodeur set a Penn program record on January 25 at La Salle, scoring 35 points which was the most in a game by a Quakers freshman player. In fact, only three other Ivy League schools have a higher freshman scoring record than Brodeur: Brown, Columbia and Yale. Here are the top freshman single-game point marks from across the league...

BROWN: Earl Hunt, 39 (2000)

COLUMBIA: Buck Jenkins, 47 (1991)

CORNELL: Matt Morgan, 33 (2016)

DARTMOUTH: Jim Barton, 32 (1986)

HARVARD: Ralph James, 34 (1988)

PENN: AJ Brodeur, 35 (2017)

PRINCETON: Spencer Gloger, 34 (1999)

YALE: Tony Lavelli, 39 (1946)

52.1 • Percentage of Penn's points over the last five games scored by the freshmen Betley, Brodeur and Devon Goodman (278 of 534).

65 • Blocked shots this season for Brodeur, a Penn single-season record and tops in the Ivy League; the previous Penn mark of 58 was set by Geoff Owens in 1998-99.

73 • Points scored by Goodman over the last eight games; he totaled 27 in Penn's first 19 contests.

76 • Three-point baskets hit by Penn over the last eight games (9.5 average).

100 • The lone senior to see any game time this season, Howard finished the regular season having played exactly 100 games in his Penn career. He apparently saved his best for that century game, going for career highs in points (24) and blocked shots (3) and tying a career best in rebounds (12) to help the Quakers knock off Harvard.