The Brown men’s basketball team has been picked to finish seventh in the Ivy League this winter in the league’s pre-season poll.

League officials held a conference call Wednesday to discuss the season and reported that defending champion Cornell is a strong choice to win again. The Big Red received all 16 first-place votes for 128 points.

Princeton is picked second with 96 points, followed by Glen Miller’s Penn team with 92, Harvard 86, Yale 59, Columbia 55, Brown 41 and Dartmouth 19.

Cornell (21-10, 11-3) returns all five starters, including three all-Ivy choices. ``It’s a great group to coach,” said Big Red coach Steve Donahue. ``There’s very little maintenance.”

Brown (9-19, 3-11) will rely on forward Matt Mullery, who was fourth in the conference in both scoring (16.1) and rebounding (6.5) last season.

``Anything that goes with Brown basketball right now starts and ends with Matt Mullery,” said second-year Brown coach Jesse Agel. ``He’s our focal point. We look to get him the ball.” –– Paul Kenyon

pkenyon@projo.com