2017 Ivy League Tournament Betting Preview: Odds, Analysis and Matchups

The Princeton Tigers went a perfect 14-0 during the regular season to earn the top seed in the Ivy League's first-ever conference tournament, which starts Saturday at The Palestra in Philadelphia.

According to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark, the Tigers (21-6) are understandably strong -135 betting favorites (wager $135 to win $100) to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, which would be their first since 2011.

Princeton's top competition for the invite to the Big Dance is the second-seeded Harvard Crimson (18-9, 10-4), who have gone four of the previous five years and are listed as the +350 second choice (bet $100 to win $350).

Last season, the third-seeded Yale Bulldogs (17-10, 9-5) represented the league in the NCAA tournament for the fourth time overall and actually upset the Baylor Bears in their first game before falling to the Duke Blue Devils in the second round. Yale is +475 to go again this year.

The fourth-seeded Penn Quakers (13-14, 6-8) are fortunate to have the chance to play themselves into the NCAAs after finishing the regular season with losing marks both overall and in league play.

The Quakers will have a bit of a home-court advantage playing in Philly, which is one reason they are tied with the Bulldogs at +475 to win the conference tournament and make it to the Big Dance for the first time since 2007.

While the Tigers seemed to cruise to an unbeaten record this season, they failed to cover the spread in both meetings with the Crimson. Their two games were decided by a combined five points, giving Harvard a solid shot to come through with an upset if they square off for a third time.

However, the Crimson head into the tournament on a two-game skid after losing to Penn 75-72 as a 1.5-point road underdog. Harvard did go 2-0 straight up and against the spread versus Yale in two meetings.

Princeton did not struggle against the Quakers or Bulldogs this year, going 4-0 ATS in four games, according to the OddsShark college basketball database. The Tigers are also riding a 5-1 ATS run into the tournament, last losing to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion Monmouth Hawks 96-90 last December 20 as four-point road underdogs to fall to 4-6 early on.

The Ivy League tournament championship game is slated for Sunday.