Casey led the Crimson to their first Ivy League championship in team history. Picture from gocrimson.com.

With its victory over Princeton tonight, 79-67, Harvard clinched at least a share of the Ivy League.  Harvard finishes their season at 23-5 and a 12-2 Ivy League record.  They remained undefeated at home, going 14-0 in Lavietes Pavilion.  Princeton now has an Ivy League record of 11-2, with one game remaining at Penn on Tuesday.  If Penn wins, Harvard will win the Ivy League outright and secure a berth in the NCAA Tournament, March Madness.  If Princeton pulls off the road win, the Crimson and the Tigers will be named Ivy League co-champions and would play a game (believed to be next Friday at Yale) for the spot in March Madness.

Kyle Casey led the team tonight with 24 points including one nasty dunk with about 16 minutes to play to put Harvard up 47-42.  The rowdy student section chanted his name when he fouled out, minutes before they stormed the court in celebration.

Update: If necessary, the Princeton-Harvard playoff game will be Saturday, March 12 at 4 p.m. at Yale.  That game would be broadcast on ESPN3.  Likewise, the upcoming Princeton-Penn game which will determine if a playoff game is necessary will be available on ESPN3.  If Princeton wins, the Ivy League will announce ticket information for the playoff game on Wednesday morning.  Presumably, once the Ivy League allots tickets to Harvard and Princeton, Harvard Athletics will provide information regarding student tickets.

Laurent Rivard led the Crimson with 23 points. Photo from GoCrimson.com

The Harvard basketball team started 2011 off the right way with a 78-69 upset victory over Boston College.  This marked the third year in a row that Harvard has defeated the Boston area rivals.  With these three straight upsets and a 9-0 record against Massachusetts teams over the last two seasons, one could certainly make a case that Harvard has been playing the best college basketball in the state.

Unlike the last two years, Harvard pulled off this victory without previous seasons’ superstar, Jeremy Lin.  The hero of this upset was Laurent Rivard, a highly touted freshman recruit from Quebec.  He led both teams in scoring with 23 points. Various Crimson players have stepped up this season, making this team a strong candidate for best in the Ivy League.

Unlike every other Division I league (of course, we had to be different), the Ivy League has no playoffs, so the league champion is the team with the best regular season conference record.  That league champion, of course, secures a spot in the NCAA Tournament, “March Madness.”  Cornell has won the Ivy League three seasons in a row, including last year, when they had a remarkable run to the Sweet 16, but after losing their coach (to Boston College, as coincidence will have it) and  four of their five starters, they look hard-pressed to repeat.  Instead, Harvard and Princeton look like the two favorites to end up on top of the league for 2011.

The Crimson have looked strong through non-conference play, posting a 10-3 record including a 7-0 record at home.  Harvard has its first Ivy League game this Saturday at Dartmouth.  They then have a final non-conference game at George Washington before returning to Cambridge to kick conference play into full force with a 2:00 p.m. home game on January 22, against Dartmouth again, in Lavietes Pavilion, when much of the student body will be arriving back on campus.

While we were in the first floor reading room finishing an Expos paper due at midnight, we witnessed some shocking, random, and hilarious displays of intense exhibitionism.  Perhaps our Gmail outbox best represents the events in the hour leading up to Primal Scream:

10:52 PM:

There currently is a girl across from me in Lamont who has been taking off article of clothing by article of clothing while studying.  This has taken place over more than a half hour.  She is now down to literally just her underwear.

Nobody has reacted.  I actually don’t think many people have noticed.

Oh, wait…there are multiple girls doing it.

I think, at least five.  This girl across from me is the least afraid and got down to bra and panties first.  But another one just took her shirt off and three more are definitely on their way.

Anybody know what is happening?

Shit, paper due in an hour.  Focus, focus, focus…

Reply:

I think what’s happening is that you’re getting mentally tired and hallucinating what you want to see.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today, Nels Cline and John Stirratt, two members of Wilco, came to the Advocate for some open discussion and free Boloco burritos.  The two were very honest in answering students’ questions about songwriting, tour life, favorite venues, recording, and their own personal lives.  Cline spoke of the difficulty of playing music as your field of work, citing the challenges of having a personal life with time for experience, romance, and introspection.   Stirratt, the only remaining original member of the band apart from Jeff Tweedy, echoed Cline’s thoughts, saying there is a point where you realize “a hobby has taken over your life.”

They also talked about music in a broad sense, from songwriting to recording.  On the issue of recorded music and the fall of the record in today’s age of digital music and single song downloads, Cline remarked that “recording is a blip on the time line of centuries and centuries of music.”  Live music has been around far longer than the first recording devices and the importance of music lies in the spontaneity of live music.  As a tip to songwriters yearning to create something new and original, he advised students not to worry too much.  He said that you will give music its own unique twist, even if it shares a chord progression with hundreds of other songs.  The two were happy to answer all questions thrown their way.  Wilco plays tomorrow night at the Orpheum in Boston.

What a beautiful day for a pillow fight!  Today, in cities across the world, people met to indulge in the great childhood tradition of the pillow fight.    Boston’s pillow fight, organized by Banditos Misteriosos, took place right across Mass Ave in the Cambridge Commons.  Last year’s fight was estimated at 1200 participants.  No word yet on numbers for this year, but we think it was quite the success:

Yep.

Today, at Boloco, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., they’re giving away Mini and Small Burritos, Bowls, Wraps and Salads.  The large burritos are only a dollar.  Take advantage of the deals.  We college students love our free food, as evidenced by the lines yesterday at Ben and Jerry’s and Chipotle (oh, but you know it was worth the wait).

Harvard Square Homeless Center will be at Boloco asking for donations.  Contribute whatever you can.  It is a great organization and you are getting free food for the second day in a row after all.

You’re welcome for all the updates on free food.  We wouldn’t want you to miss out.

The famed author of Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics, Steven Levitt, visits Harvard today from the University of Chicago.  His visit is a part of the Dean’s Lecture Series at the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study.  His lecture, entitled “Freakonomics and Beyond,”  will discuss his most recent research.  Levitt is best known for presenting intriguing and controversial evidence-based microeconomic ideas such as his study that connected the legalization of abortion with decreases in crime.

The lecture is free and open to all.  It will be held at 4 p.m. in the Radcliffe Gymnasium in Radcliffe Yard located at 10 Garden St.