W. hoops will fight to avoid cellar-dwelling

Underdog status has its ups and downs. It means the win/loss column isn't always going to be pretty, but it also means a team gets a chance to upset some unsuspecting competition.

A preseason media poll referred to on ivyleaguesports.com ranks the Tigers last in the Ivy League, so Princeton can only move up from that projected position.

The Tigers tackle an ambitious non-league schedule, facing strong national competitors from the start — Princeton opens with Nebraska this Sunday, Nov. 23.

Two tournaments, the Vanderbilt Tournament in late November and the Montana Tournament in late December, present the Tigers with more challenges. Some of the teams they take on in these events include schools nearly five times the size of Princeton, such as Louisville and Memphis.

Sandwiched between the two tournaments are contests with Lehigh, Sacred Heart, Hofstra and Wagner, teams maybe not on the level of Louisville but still not offering clean wins.

After those games, huge competition from Villanova, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech — each NCAA Tournament-quality teams — will test the young Tiger team. These games make it all the more necessary for the team to beat the Lehighs and Hofstras on its schedule, still no easy feat.

"All those non-league games against top teams are good tests," Barron said. "That makes the other games outside the conference must-win situations."

Such tough competition will allow some of the younger Princeton players more experience. After those early challenges, the New Year (after a Jan. 3 contest against Lafayette) brings in the heart of the Tigers' season. That's right: Ivy time.

Princeton opens its Ivy season Jan. 9 against Penn. Senior Jewel Clark, second in the league in points per game with 19.2, leads the Quakers' quest for the title this year. Penn, as it has in the past few years, should be one of the top three teams in the league this year, along with Harvard and Brown.

A game against a beatable Colgate team separates the Penn contest from the rest of the Ivy season. From then on, however, it's all about league play.

The Bears on Jan. 30 and Yale the following day are the next two on the Tigers' schedule. Brown starts senior Nyema Mitchell and sophomore Sarah Hayes, both of whom averaged double-digit points per game.

The Bulldogs return most of last year's squad, which went 3-11 in the league. Though older and more experienced, Yale will be beatable for Princeton only if the Tigers can find their rhythm.

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Princeton next squares off against Dartmouth, another young team with a strong recruiting class. The Big Green will miss the 27.4 combined ppg their two seniors put up last year, but a talented group of underclassmen is eager to step up. This should be a tough contest for the Tigers against a comparable team in terms of youth.

Harvard remains the team to beat, riding a 26-game winning streak in Ivy play. Princeton's most difficult league test will come in the form of the Crimson — they return junior Reka Cserny, who had 14.7 ppg, and Hana Peljto, who racked up 21.3 ppg on her way to earning Ivy League Player of the Year honors.

The Cornell games promise to be a good matchup for the Tigers, pitting the Big Red's strong guards against Princeton's inside game.

Columbia also has a solid squad. Though it will most likely not make a big run for the league title, the team returns its leading scorer and poses a big threat to Princeton.

Both in league and non-league play, the Tigers have a long road ahead of them.

"We better respect everybody and anticipate a battle every night," Barron said.

With lofty goals for a few years down the road, the team still remains focused on this year.

"Ultimately, our goal is to compete beyond the Ivy League on the national level," Barron said. "But we've got a lot of momentum now, and we can't only focus on our longterm goals."

This season, the Tigers hope to build up their game so they soon command that same respect from everyone else.