Junior guard Simone Sawyer, junior guard Saniah Caldwell, and sophomore guard Mataya Gayle pose at Williams Hall on Sep. 23.
Credit: Weining DingAnother year, another Ivy League preseason ranking for women’s basketball.
Familiar faces stood on top of the Ivy League once again last year, with Princeton and Columbia sharing the regular season title heading into Ivy Madness. History continued to repeat itself as Princeton battled it out against Columbia and Penn in the playoffs to earn a bid to March Madness — but with a small twist. Columbia also earned a bid after being voted in by committee. Since then stars have left, new players have joined, and star rookies have progressed: Let’s see where the Ivy League stands now.
1. Princeton (25-5, 13-1 Ivy)
Five-straight Ivy Madness titles, and six-straight regular season titles. The resume really speaks for itself. Every year, no matter their struggles, the Tigers have reigned supreme — and this year looks to be no different.
Despite the high ranking, this year’s squad lost a lot to graduation this past year. Princeton saw both guard Kaitlyn Chen, the Ivy League Player of the Year in 2023 and 2024 first team All-Ivy selection, and forward Ellie Mitchell, a three-time Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, forced to leave the team due to the Ivy League’s rule barring graduate student-athletes. These losses are as substantial as any, but the team has been able to keep standouts in junior Madison St. Rose — 2023’s Ivy League Rookie of the Year — along with sophomore guards Skye Belker and Ashley Chea.
With huge spots to fill and plenty of young talent, only time will tell if the team can come out on top once again. But if history tells us anything, Princeton will find its footing in no time.
2. Columbia (23-7, 13-1)
The perennial No. 2 has its best shot to climb to the top spot this season.
Falling in Ivy Madness, but still being selected for March Madness, makes last season only the second time two Ivy women’s squads made the NCAA tournament in the past seven years. A huge achievement that happened on the back of then-senior guard Abbey Hsu, a 2024 AP All-America Honorable mention and the 2024 Ivy League Player of the Year who graduated this past spring. Looking to fill her role are two seniors: last year’s second team All-Ivy honorees’ Cecelia Collins and Kitty Henderson.
After losing the best player in the league and a leader in the locker room, the pressure is on the returning players and reigning Ivy League Coach of the Year Megan Griffith to pull the squad together. With some good luck and execution, Columbia may be able to turn from the bridesmaid to the bride in this upcoming campaign.
3. Harvard (16-12, 9-5)
Dark horses run faster when no one is watching.
A team that only received one first-place vote in the Ivy League Preseason Poll may have the strongest returning player in the Ivy League. Falling to Columbia in the first round of Ivy Madness, Harvard was one game away from competing for an Ivy title. Its best player? Guard Harmoni Turner, who is one of only two returning members of last season’s first team All-Ivy selections and the conference’s second-leading scorer.
Though the team is losing its second-leading scorer in guard Lola Mullaney, the rest of the roster is primed to fill in the gaps as junior Katie Krupa looks to build off a season where she shot over 50% from the field while notching over 10 points per game.
With a filled-out roster, a returning star, and no expectations: Harvard may just shock the league this season.
4. Penn (15-13, 7-7)
The Red and Blue has never looked better.
Filling out a stacked top-four teams, the Quakers have a similar story to Princeton and Columbia: losing a star player but having good, young players to fill in. First team All-Ivy selection and recent graduate Jordan Obi left the program this summer after leading Penn to a close loss in Ivy Madness to Princeton, but in her wake remains plenty of talent. Senior guard Stina Almqvist and sophomore guard Mataya Gayle, a second team All-Ivy selection and Ivy League Rookie of the Year respectively, look to power a potent Penn offense, with another bright spot being sophomore guard Ese Ogbevire, who will hopefully find an increased role this season.
Losing program-great Kayla Padilla last year led to Obi finding greater success on the court, and the Quakers faithfuls can hope to see the same jump from Almqvist this year as coach Mike McLaughlin helms the ship. The biggest concern for the team may be the lack of size with Obi and forward Floor Toonders leaving, but sky’s the limit as the top stars progress.
5. Brown (16-11, 7-7)
Moving on to the teams that fell outside of Ivy Madness, things looked pretty average for the 7-7 Bears. Largely carried by now-departed guard Kyla Jones, the Bears will have to look internally to find new names to carry the offensive load.
Defensive standout Ada Anamekwe and second-leading scorer Grace Arnolie are both returning for their junior seasons, but will they be enough to help the team stay afloat?
Anamekwe was top five in blocks while Arnolie ranked top five in steals, with many of the people above them on the leaderboard leaving the Ivy League.
Look for Brown to depend on some seriously intense defense in the upcoming season, as it’ll have to rely on that to make up for the lack of cohesion on offense.
6. Yale (8-19, 5-9)
Look, another team with a senior leading scorer leaving! Then-senior guard Jenna Clark finds herself out the door while the Bulldogs are left grasping at straws. Falling from its 7-7 record in the 2022-23 season, Yale seems to be on a real downward spiral.
One bright spot to look out for is guard Kiley Capstraw, who ranked No. 15 in the Ivy League in scoring last season and will most likely be tasked with replacing the production of Clark.
Yale ranked as the worst defense in the league last season, surprisingly lower than both 1-13 conference teams, Cornell and Dartmouth. With their top scorer gone, expect the Bulldogs to slide down in the rankings if they can’t pick it up on both ends of the floor.
7. Cornell (7-19, 1-13)
Only one Ivy League win in an entire campaign is a step down for Cornell, who ranked bottom two in virtually every major category while being the worst three-point shooting team in the league.
There is not much in the way of hope, as those like forward Emily Pape, who were provided bigger roles this past season, crumbled under the weight of higher expectations. It’s difficult to imagine a world in which the Big Red have a better season unless its new wave of freshmen hit the ground running under coach Emily Garner. With the teams above them also looking vulnerable, the final rankings will depend on which team can build chemistry the quickest to see who ends up on top.
8. Dartmouth (7-19, 1-13)
Would it surprise you if I said its 1-13 conference record was actually an improvement on the previous season’s record?
As a perennial bottom-of-the-bracket team, Dartmouth will need to come out of the gates swinging if it wants to rise in the rankings this year. Its best player, center Clare Meyer, only averaged eight points per game last season while leading the team in field goal attempts and percentage. Coach Linda Cimino, heading into her second year, needs to attack this season with ingenuity as it seems this program needs a top-down evaluation before it can be taken seriously.
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