Ivy League

Nasir Harker, an 11-year-old student at the KIPP Charter School in North Philadelphia, knows everything about wealthy Ivy League colleges like Penn, Princeton, and Harvard: They're the places where people in the movies get to go to college. On Wednesday, Nasir's chances of attending one of those schools increased when the University of Pennsylvania announced it will become the 10th school — and the first in the Ivy League — to join forces with the nonprofit group to help more low-income students complete college.

ZACK ROSEN and Maalik Wayns shared a position and Big 5 first-team honors. Monday morning, the point guards from Penn and Villanova, respectively, shared the court at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine as the Sixers began their predraft workouts. Along with Iona's Scott Machado and Maryland's Terrell Stoglin, Wayns and Rosen went through ballhandling drills, light shooting, one-on-one situations, the usual workout fare. Trying to predict what the Sixers or any team (other than the team that wins the lottery and announces its intention to take Kentucky's Anthony Davis before taking another breath)

The Yale Alley Cats, an a cappella group from Yale University, performs at Hatboro-Horsham High School. This is the second year in a row it has made Hatboro-Horsham a stop on its tour. The proceeds of Tuesday's show went to benefit Hatboro-Horsham's concert choir.

CHAMPIONSHIP 1 p.m. Sunday at Franklin Field   No. 3 seed Harvard vs. No. 4 seed Princeton TV: CBS College Sports Outlook: After two upsets on Friday, the tournament's last two seeds will face off for the Ivy League title and an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.    In a game that featured seven ties, Princeton edged out top seed and tournament host Penn, 10-8, in overtime. Sophomore attack Jaci Gassaway netted four goals for the Tigers, including two in overtime.

Every few years, a proposal to start a postseason tournament for Ivy League basketball is pushed forward. The coaches recently proposed a four-team tournament, but the key word is "proposed. " If adopted, and there are three layers that the proposal would have to pass, it would be modeled on the lacrosse tournament that was proposed about 2006 and began in 2010. In other words, don't get in line for tickets. The Ivy League athletic directors will meet May 8 to 10. They may talk about the proposal.

Two-time defending champion Penn has been selected the preseason favorite to win the Ivy League football title. The Quakers received 12 of 17 votes from media members. It was the first time Penn, which has won 15 consecutive Ivy games, was voted No. 1 since 2005. About the difficulty of being two-time defending champions, Quakers coach Al Bagnoli said: "You have to be careful in how you put that. You don't want to make it seem like a burden on your back every play. It's a different cast, and we approach it differently.

For Penn to clinch the Ivy League title this weekend, it needed a few pieces to fall in place to complete the puzzle. The Quakers needed to sweep Cornell and Columbia, while Princeton had to beat Columbia last night and lose to Cornell tonight. Penn was able to add one piece last night by defeating Cornell, 75-59, at Alberding Field House. Piece No. 2 was provided by Princeton, as the Tigers lost to Columbia, 65-57. Penn's victory was its ninth straight, as the Quakers improved their record to 10-0 in the Ivy League, 18-4 overall.

In this Eminem-saturated climate, the white emcee is hardly the scorned figure he once was. As hip-hop becomes an increasingly portable culture, racial baggage has never been less of an issue; where you are is becoming more important than how you got there. That only makes more quizzical the shamelessly geeky, Ivy League-educated stylings of MC Paul Barman. Discovered by visionary producer Prince Paul in 1999, the Brown graduate has let his background shape his music, rather than let an affinity for hip-hop dictate his identity.

Princeton (25-2, 13-0) clinched the Ivy League title and a first-ever spot in the NCAA women's basketball tournament last night with a 78-66 victory over Harvard (19-8, 10-3) in Cambridge, Mass. "Winning the Ivy League is a very difficult thing to do," Tigers coach Courtney Banghart said. "To do it by sweeping Dartmouth and Harvard on their courts is a testament to how far this team has come. " Freshman Niveen Rasheed had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers, who can finish with a perfect league record when they host Penn in Jadwin Gym at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Things may be a little different at Princeton this season, now that coach Steve Tosches doesn't have a single Garrett to carry the offense. The Tigers were co-champions of the Ivy League last season, thanks in large part to Judd Garrett, their all-time leading rusher and scorer. Garrett, the league's Player of the Year, rushed for a school record 1,347 yards and caught 34 passes before becoming an Eagles draft choice. Joel Sharp, the guy who replaced Jason Garrett (Judd's brother)

ZACK ROSEN and Maalik Wayns shared a position and Big 5 first-team honors. Monday morning, the point guards from Penn and Villanova, respectively, shared the court at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine as the Sixers began their predraft workouts. Along with Iona's Scott Machado and Maryland's Terrell Stoglin, Wayns and Rosen went through ballhandling drills, light shooting, one-on-one situations, the usual workout fare. Trying to predict what the Sixers or any team (other than the team that wins the lottery and announces its intention to take Kentucky's Anthony Davis before taking another breath)

Nasir Harker, an 11-year-old student at the KIPP Charter School in North Philadelphia, knows everything about wealthy Ivy League colleges like Penn, Princeton, and Harvard: They're the places where people in the movies get to go to college. On Wednesday, Nasir's chances of attending one of those schools increased when the University of Pennsylvania announced it will become the 10th school — and the first in the Ivy League — to join forces with the nonprofit group to help more low-income students complete college.

THE IVY LEAGUE athletic directors have decided not to move forward with proposals for conference tournaments in men's and women's basketball, the league announced Thursday. The coaches had proposed a four-team tournament, but it would need to have cleared three stages to be adopted. The first stage was the athletics directors, who discussed the issue at their annual meetings in Red Bank, N.J. "After careful consideration of these proposals, the athletics directors decided that our current method of determining the Ivy League champion and our automatic bid recipient to the NCAA Championship is the best model moving forward," Ivy League executive director Robin Smith said in a statement.

The Ivy League athletic directors have decided not to move forward with proposals for conference tournaments in men's and women's basketball, the league announced Thursday. The coaches had proposed a four-team tournament, but it would need to have cleared three stages to be adopted. The first stage was the atheltics directors, who discussed the issue at their annual meetings in Red Bank, N.J. "After careful consideration of these proposals, the athletics directors decided that our current method of determining the Ivy League champion and our automatic bid recipient to the NCAA Championship is the best model moving forward," Ivy League executive director Robin Smith said in a statement.

JEROME ALLEN got an intriguing call from Larry Brown early in the week. Brown was closing on a deal to coach SMU and he wanted a younger head coach with recent college experience to join him as an assistant and perhaps as a head coach in waiting. Allen, just finishing his second full season as Penn head coach, listened to Brown, who once coached him with the Indiana Pacers. He took the possibility under consideration while also, according to several close friends, realizing he was given a unique opportunity at his alma mater and had already brought the Quakers quite a long way in a very short time.

Every few years, a proposal to start a postseason tournament for Ivy League basketball is pushed forward. The coaches recently proposed a four-team tournament, but the key word is "proposed. " If adopted, and there are three layers that the proposal would have to pass, it would be modeled on the lacrosse tournament that was proposed about 2006 and began in 2010. In other words, don't get in line for tickets. The Ivy League athletic directors will meet May 8 to 10. They may talk about the proposal.

EVERY FEW years, a proposal to start a postseason tournament for Ivy League basketball gets pushed forward. The coaches have recently proposed a four-team tournament, but the key word is "proposed. " If adopted, and there are three layers that the proposal would have to pass, it would be modeled on the lacrosse tournament that was proposed around 2006 and began in 2010. In other words, don't get in line for tickets. The Ivy athletic directors will meet May 8 to 10. They may talk about the proposal.

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Has Zack Rosen lost his mind? Apparently, that's a question being asked of the point guard, fresh from his final season at Penn and chasing an NBA dream. "Everybody keeps telling me no, so I can keep being motivated," said Rosen, who will graduate May 13 with a bachelor's degree in economics from Wharton. "Everybody," Rosen said, tells him that he won't make it. "They say I'm too small . . . I'm too short, and I'm too light. " The 6-foot, 170-pounder is out to prove that he can play in the NBA, which is why he is at this week's Portsmouth Invitational Tournament - a showcase for players unlikely to be drafted.

The Penn football team started spring practice last week looking to rebound from a 5-5 season that was a step backward from the previous two years, when the Quakers won the Ivy League title. "I don't think anyone enjoyed were we ended up," said coach Al Bagnoli, whose 2011 team went 3-4 in league games. "I think we're all a little bit hungrier and more focused on getting back on top. " For Bagnoli, bouncing back means simplifying the game for a roster that is younger than the championship squads that went 7-0 in league games.