Okay Penn fans, you're probably expecting the usual list of cheap shots and insults that so often grace our pre-game columns whenever your basketball team is involved. I, however, am going to try something different this year. I'm going to present an olive branch by listing all the things about Penn hoops that are worthy of respect.
1. A great basketball tradition.
2. A classy coaching staff.
3. The Palestra.
4. Forty-something alums who flip the bird to opposing schools' student sections while "celebrating" victories.
Whoops. I guess that effort didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped.
Seriously, though, we really don't hate or disrespect you all that much. At least not any more than can be expected when talking about people that drown out the national anthem with obscene chants at road games and come up with shirt slogans like that oh-so-clever "PUCK FRINCETON." (Don't even get me started on those "Earl is a Girl" signs.)
You all can keep your preconceived notions about Princetonians if you want - you've got to have some reason to sustain your comical hatred of all things Orange and Black. But before you start sending me the same hate mail our writers always receive at this time of year, try to remember what this column is all about: Some good-natured trash-talk before the big game - nothing more. And if you must send irate e-mail, please try to keep it short and clever, if that's at all possible.
Oh, and if you hear that silly "safety school" chant tonight, you don't have to bombard our newspaper with letters to the editor. Guess what. I hate that chant as well. Princeton fans only use it because they know how much it drives Penn fans crazy - we don't actually think you're a safety school.
If I've just revealed some amazing state secret and alienated some of my own classmates in the process, fine. Even that would be better than having to deal with more of your whining.
No delusions here. Penn has a nice team. During the past few days, however, Princeton has shown a newfound sense of urgency on defense - and the Tigers have also welcomed back forward Mason Rocca, who had been out with an injured ankle.
You may remember Rocca as the guy that single-handedly demolished Penn's entire front line last season in Princeton's 50-49 win at the Palestra. I'm going to be nice and not mention any further details from THAT game, but I should warn Quaker supporters that the Tigers are a different team with Rocca back in the lineup.
Princeton-Penn games are won in the trenches, and with Rocca, the Tigers are suddenly strong offensively down low. The Quakers have plenty of big bodies, to be sure, but they have become increasingly reliant on freshman Ugonna Onyekwe for frontcourt scoring.
Experience means everything when the Tigers and Quakers get together. Don't argue with me on this one, Penn fans, because I know you all were thinking the same thing when the Tigers' Young missed his first 10 shots last year in his inaugural battle with the Quakers. A year ago, Onyekwe was playing high-school ball in the not-so-heralded Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference. Now, he's supposed to be ready for Princeton-Penn?
If Onyekwe doesn't have a big game, the Quakers will instead have to look to point guard Michael Jordan to lead them to victory. But we've seen what happens when Jordan feels he has to beat Princeton all by himself. In the famous "Firecracker Game" of 1998 at the Palestra, he hoisted an airball at the end of regulation when a bucket would have won the game for the Quakers. Last season in Philadelphia? I'm a man of my word. I won't go there.
The Quakers don't want to rely on their outside shooting tonight, but if the Tigers can contain Onyekwe, that's exactly what they'll have to do. Princeton, on the other hand, can pound it inside to Rocca for high-percentage shots and let the rest of the offense fall into place.
Smug Penn fans no doubt had a field day at the start of the season, when predictions of a third-place Tiger finish - behind Dartmouth - began surfacing. Rocca is back, however, and the Tigers are coming together just in the nick of time. They are ready to send a message that this season's NCAA berth will not be handed to the Quakers on a silver platter.
There will be a race to the finish in the Ivy League this year. It starts tonight.
Princeton 54, Penn 50.
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