Whiskey Tango Foxtrot wrote:
... Ivys don't produce world beaters in distance running, this is no longer the 1960s.
More accurately, the NCAA doesn't produce world beaters in distance running any more, and, truthfully, it never really did.
I scanned the lists of Olympic medalists to find when the last time a former NCAA athlete won gold in men's distances:
Year Distance Athlete School
1988 800m Paul Ereng Virginia
1988 1500m Peter Rono Mount St. Mary's
1964 5000m Bob Schul Miami (Ohio)
1964 10000m Billy Mills Kansas
1956 Steeple Horace Ashenfelter Penn State
1972 Marathon Frank Shorter Yale
If I count any medal, not just gold, these athletes won more recently than those in the above table:
Year Distance Athlete School
1992 800m Johnny Gray (bronze) Santa Monica
2008 1500m Nick Willis (silver) Michigan
1984 Steeple Brian Diemer (bronze) Michigan
2004 Marathon Meb Keflezighi (silver) UCLA
Bernard Lagat (Washington State) is the only former NCAA athlete to win a men's World Championship at 800m or longer, when he doubled in the 5000 and 1500 in 2007. Lagat medaled in both again in 2009, but I think the only other NCAA alumni to medal at the World Championships were bronze medalists Rich Kenah of Georgetown in 1993 (800m), and Steve Spence of Shippensburg (D-II) in 1991 (marathon).
It's possible I missed some non-Americans who did compete in the NCAAs, but the bottom line is that most Olympic/WC distance medalists never competed in NCAAs at all.
Verzbicas is unlikely to be a Olympic/WC medalist, no matter where he goes to college. I doubt going Ivy (presuming he can afford it) or not would make all that much difference.