The Ivy League held its pre-season media day on October 28, 2009 in Princeton, New Jersey. The league's media unanimously voted Cornell the preseason #1 for the second straight season. Cornell returned all five starters, three all-conference performers, and the Ivy League rookie and defensive players of the year from the 2009 Ivy League championship team. Two Ivy League seniors were named preseason candidates for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. Columbia's Patrick Foley and Brown's Matthew Mullery were named to the 30-man preseason list.
Ivy League Media Poll
Regular season
Non-conference
Preseason #1 Cornell lived up to its billing by scoring the first Ivy League win over one of the six major conferences as the Big Red beat the SEC'sAlabama Crimson Tide 71–67 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, behind Ryan Wittman's 23 points. It was Cornell's first win over a current SEC member school since the Big Red defeated Arkansas during the 1972–73 season. Harvard also got off to a fast start. After winning their opener against Holy Cross, the Crimson won a triple-overtime contest over the College of William & Mary, 87–85 on a half-court shot by senior guard Jeremy Lin. Lin also made headlines in early December as he scored 30 points in a close loss at #14 Connecticut, then came back to score 25 in the Crimson's very next game – a 74–67 upset of Boston College. Lin started the New Year by being named to the Mid-season Wooden Award 30-man watch list and the Bob Cousy Award. The Ivy made news for some not-so positive reasons as the conference saw two coaches fired during the pre-conference slate. Penn fired coach Glen Miller after an 0–7 start, while Dartmouth's Terry Dunn resigned after a 3–10 start. But the biggest press of the non-conference season for the Ivy League came on January 6, as league favorite Cornell led #1 and undefeated Kansas with under a minute remaining at Allen Fieldhouse. Ultimately, the Big Red lost to KU 71–66, but the Ivy stalwarts proved that they could compete with the top teams
Conference season
Cornell and Harvard were expected to compete for the league title, but the Big Red swept the Crimson. However, Penn stopped Cornell's bid for a perfect Ivy League season by beating the then 22nd ranked Big Red 79–64 at the Palestra in Philadelphia. The win snapped an eight-game win streak by Cornell.
Conference awards & honors
All-Conference teams
At the conclusion of the season, the Ivy League all-conference teams were selected. Cornell placed a trio of seniors – Ryan Wittman, Jeff Foote and Louis Dale – on the All-Ivy first team. The Big Red threesome were joined on the first team by Harvard's Jeremy Lin and Penn's Zack Rosen. Wittman and Foote were the Ivy League player and defensive players of the year, respectively.
