NEW HAVEN — The mood inside the John J. Lee Amphitheater on Friday evening felt mostly like impatience. Fans filled rickety wooden bleachers that have ached for success. Basketball dominance in the Ivy League has been cyclical for the past 40 years or so. The cycles always seemed to miss Columbia and Yale.
The sight of both teams sharing firm command of the Ivy League this season seemed cause for celebration, even in early February. Without a postseason tournament, there was also a sense that the game between them could provide the slim buffer needed for either one to earn what has eluded them for decades: an automatic N.