Ivy League deadlock sets up playoff

PHILADELPHIA -- The Ivy League usually misses out on the first part of March Madness. Not this season.

Pennsylvania's 64-48 victory over Princeton on Tuesday night forced a three-way tie for first place in the only conference that doesn't have a postseason tournament.

That means Penn, Princeton and Yale will have a playoff to determine which team gets an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

Princeton (16-10, 11-3) plays Yale (19-9, 11-3) at The Palestra today. The winner faces Penn (24-6, 11-3) at Lafayette on Saturday for the right to go to the NCAA's. The Quakers got a bye because of their 3-1 record against Princeton and Yale.

"It's great that we have a banner to hang in our gym, but the trip to the tournament is what everyone is playing for," Penn guard Andrew Toole said.

But while Toole, his teammates and the players on Princeton and Yale still have a shot at reaching the Big Dance, Brown, Harvard, Columbia, Dartmouth and Cornell are shut out.

For most of those teams, their seasons ended as soon as they were mathematically eliminated from contention for first place. Dartmouth and Cornell finished 2-12 in the league. Columbia was 4-10.

Packer rips ESPN movie

NEW YORK -- CBS college basketball analyst Billy Packer ripped the cable sports network's plan to air the heavily promoted, profanity-filled film "A Season On The Brink" about Bob Knight immediately after Sunday's NCAA tournament selection show.

"If I were at ESPN, I'd refuse to be on a (NCAA selection) show that was going to be followed by a piece of garbage like that," Packer said of the film version of John Feinstein's 1986 best-selling book.

"It's not reflective of college basketball, and it's not even an accurate portrayal of the book. If I were the NCAA, I'd say to ESPN, 'You're persona non gratis.' ... I think it's one of the most disgusting things I've seen."

ESPN should be especially ashamed to show the film, Packer said, because its emphasis on Knight's foul language undermines "the sport that put them on the map."

UA lost faith in coach

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Arkansas told Nolan Richardson's lawyer the school replaced him because it lost confidence in the coach's ability, according to correspondence.

Chancellor John White and athletic director Frank Broyles believed Richardson's remark that "they can pay me off and I'll be on my way" would upset fans and hurt the program, lawyer Fred Harrison wrote in a letter sent by fax Tuesday to Richardson lawyer John Walker.

Walker said Wednesday the university still did not answer his questions fully.

-- From wire reports