This happens every year. Every sore loser around comes out of the woodwork to say we should have it. I got an email from another do-gooder yesterday imploring me to investigate this glaring oversight.

So, new rule: No more talking about a postseason tournament for the Ivy League. It’s not going to happen. Nor should it. Look at the Cornell squad that went 14-0 and might have a good chance of beating a four-seed and tell me you wouldn’t want that team in the Dance 100 percent of the time.

I was disappointed to read the Harvard Crimson whining about this dead issue again a few days ago. I won’t rehash the arguments except to say enough already. The Ivies don’t have a tournament and the league is the better for it. No one sneaks into the postseason through the back door. If you want to get to the Tournament, try building a program, and no, cheating doesn’t count.

More bad press for Harvard today.

So I was thinking: According to the Times story that set this all off, there is still a question of whether or not the Tommy Amaker recruits in question will get into Harvard. And if one or more of them are below the league’s AI floor, as the story also reported, the compliance offices of the other seven Ivy schools must permit them to be admitted.

Should they? With everyone up in arms over Harvard bending and possibly breaking the rules, will they? Leave a comment.

For you scorekeepers, it’s now been two days since Harvard and the entire Ivy League suffered a huge black eye. That makes the Boston Globe and Boston Herald a combined 0-for-4 on even mentioning this story. Get on the ball, fellas, or at least don’t drop it too badly.

Meanwhile, the Crimson chimes in today.

At 4:30 this morning, six hours into the train ride home and 10 minutes outside of Philadelphia, an Amtrak conductor asked our cabin for electrical tape so he could fix whatever was wrong with our suddenly-immobile vehicle. The look on the face of Andrew Townley, our photographer for this weekend’s road trip, was priceless. Almost as good as the night before, when he nearly got thrown out of the fraternity house I had us shacked up in. Sigh. Not all of the Quakers’ media entourage — *cough*brianseltzer*cough* — get to tag along with the team.

Apparently some tape, somewhere, was located. We’re back home now, an hour later than we should have been but safe and sound, the last Ivy road trip of the season mercifully in the books. Time to check the wires before catching some shut-eye.

Congratulations to Cornell, which did what everyone knew it was going to do last night, beating Harvard to win the Ivy League title and become the first team in the nation with a ticket to the Dance. Dartmouth won at Columbia and Yale topped Princeton, too, although in terms of newsworthiness, today’s report of possible improprieties in recruiting at Harvard is easily tops.

Does this change how Tommy Amaker should be looked at? How much trouble is he in? Post an answer to these questions or any other reactions you might have.

Brown coach Craig Robinson, who was quoted in the story, told me last night that the Times had let him know that the article would run today. I would expect to hear more reactions from the sources who initially declined comment (like Glen Miller) now that the story is out there.

In local action, La Salle’s A-10 win streak ended last night, while Temple-St. Joe’s, Round Two will have big implications in the conference race tonight. The tip is at 7.

With a few minutes left in the Penn-Brown game, it looked like the winner would have a great shot of challenging Cornell for the title.

The Big Red were surprisingly down, as Harvard used a 19-5 run to build a nine-point second-half lead. The Crimson were still on top by that margin with seven minutes left, and maintained a five-point advantage with under 30 seconds to go after a Jeremy Lin three.

But everything that could have gone wrong for the home side did.

Cornell’s Alex Tyler connected on a shot that cut the deficit to 71-68 with 25 seconds left. Then on a long inbounds pass, Lin fell out of bounds (without a foul call) to give it right back. The Big Red gave the ball right back to their big man, as Tyler scored again, getting a goaltend from Evan Harris.

The Harris tried to inbound the ball, but was whistled for a five-second call. Cornell, with under 10 seconds to go, used a screen and misdirection to find Tyler open under the basket to finally re-take the lead, 72-71. Drew Housman’s bid to win the game for Harvard missed, and Cornell’s undefeated record (7-0) remains intact. Box score

Meanwhile, the Quakers were left at 3-3 after the loss, and a long way away from a fourth-straight title. It’s still possible, though, but if the Red and Blue lose tonight to Yale, they are finished.

Wondering why tonight’s game is at 6 p.m.? It’s on ESPN Classic. I kept seeing advertisemnets for tonght’s doubleheader (Villanova plays St. Johns, and yes it is also a national broadcast) in between watching Cheap Seats and old Duke-Maryland games. You won’t find Classic in the Quad, but Comcast cable off-campus gets it, and it’s in my appartment on Hotwire cable. Yes, that’s actually the name of my cable company, and yes it’s real ghetto.

I reported today on fears of an arms race of financial aid within the Ivy League and on Athletic Director Steve Bilsky’s proposed solution — athletic scholarships.

What’s your reaction? Is a ‘great divide’ of haves and have-nots inevitable? How much would this hurt recruiting at schools like Penn? And what of Bilsky’s near-endorsement of a limited scholarship system for the Ivy League?

Please also leave any questions you have about this issue. In the coming days I hope to speak with more Ivy League coaches about it, so stay tuned. I will be publishing more reaction to the aid initiatives and answering reader comments.

I’m too lazy to write my own preview of this game, so here’s the story that ran in today’s DP, and here’s who has the edge on the court, straight from the pages:

Offense: It’s not exactly going to be a battle for the ages — both squads have vanilla offenses at this point. But Glen Miller’s dynamic sets might shine in Ivy play. Advantage: Penn

Rebounding: Another wash. It’ll come down to Pat Magnarelli, a guy Miller couldn’t land at Brown vs. defensive-minded Cameron Lewis and big Andreas Schreiber. Two against one. Advantage: Penn

Defense: The Quakers have struggled mightily on defense this season. Was it becasue they were playing solid nonconference teams, or because they just can’t D up? We’ll see tonight, but at this point the nod goes to Harvard. Advantage: Harvard

Coaching: The newest Ivy League coaches: one an Ancient Eight veteran and the other a Big Ten expat. Advantage: Harvard

Overall: Penn may have three freshmen logging heavy minutes, but Harvard’s roster is weak. Amaker just might find himself under .500 in the League after tonight. Advantage: Penn

See you at the game.

In-game updates from the Harvard game can be found after the jump.

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If you haven’t noticed, and if you’re reading this post you have, the blog has changed its look a bit. Most of the items in the right rail are still there, just in a slightly different order. We’ve added archives by month, as well as tags that will show what’s popping up most frequently on The Buzz.

Send any comments along to scurria@sas.upenn.edu.

In today’s football news, the Boston Globe does a fine profile of Harvard linebacker Peter Ajayi, which is almost enough for me to excuse them for snubbing Saturday’s Penn-Princeton game from their Friday preview rundown. The Brown Daily Herald briefly previews Yale’s tester against the Bears.

Today’s DP carries previews of the Princeton game and the weekend in the Ivy League along with our regular opp spot.