Ivy League Tournament Championship Betting: Yale Defense Needs Better Effort vs. Harvard

The Ivy League Championship comes down to exactly who we expected:  Harvard vs. Yale.

The No. 1 seed Crimson are a 4.5 point underdog to the No. 2 Bulldogs in a game that will be played on Yale's home court in New Haven, Conn.

In the two years of the Ivy League Tournament, neither team has earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament — each losing once in the final.

Let's take a look at which team will go dancing after they shared the regular season title.

Betting Odds: Yale Bulldogs vs. Harvard Crimson

• Spread: Yale -4.5
• Over/Under: 144
• Time: 12 p.m. ET
• TV: ESPN2

Yale (21-7) finished the season tied for first place in the Ivy League despite getting swept by Harvard. The Bulldogs stumbled down the stretch, losing three of their last five regular season games. Yale was only 12-10 against the spread and 6-7 on the road.

Harvard (18-10) won four of its last five regular season games, including a difficult semifinal game against Penn on Saturday. The Crimson grabbed a 66-58 win over a Quakers team that was the hottest in the league. Harvard was a solid 8-6-1 ATS on the road this season.

Yale surprisingly struggled against a short-handed Princeton team it just beat by 22 points last Saturday. The Bulldogs allowed 43 second-half points to a Tigers team playing without its leading scorer.

This will be a problem against a Harvard team that scored 88 points in its road win at Yale on Feb. 23. Guard Bryce Aiken (21.8 ppg) scored 28 points, went 3 of 6 from 3P, and shot 13 of 15 from the foul line. The Crimson won that game without defensive stopper Justin Bassey, who missed the game due to injury but has since returned.

In addition, Harvard played most of the game without starting forward Chris Lewis (10.7 ppg, 1.8 bpg) in a bold lineup shakeup by head coach Tommy Amaker.

Harvard is completely healthy and is a much better offensive team than the Princeton group that torched Yale's defense yesterday.

While we will see Yale's best effort, giving Harvard 4.5 points is too many. Take the Crimson, who have a very good chance to win this game outright and nab that Ivy League automatic bid.

The Pick: Harvard +4.5