Tigers tip off against Drexel

Eight months after its disappointing 2004-05 season came to end, the men's basketball team begins a new season tonight with a clean slate — and plenty of unanswered questions — hosting Drexel in the first round of the 2005 NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament.

With Will Venable, Judson Wallace and the rest of the Class of 2005 graduated, the Tigers' biggest challenge will be lighting up the scoreboard. Three of Princeton's starters — senior point guard Scott Greenman, junior forward Luke Owings and sophomore forward Noah Savage — have shown the ability to do so.

But the Tigers' other two starters are less-known quantities, however. Sophomore Harrison Schaen gets the start at center, returning to Jadwin Gym after a year away from Princeton for personal reasons. Schaen showed flashes of brilliance as a freshman, but his ability to play consistently within the Tigers' offensive system is still uncertain.

Meanwhile, freshman Geoff Kestler will start at shooting guard and will be asked to provide immediate production from beyond the arc. Another freshman, swingman Alex Okafor, will also see extended time off the bench.

But for all of Princeton's internal questions, there is no uncertainty in the Tigers' history of dominance against Drexel. The Orange and Black hold an 8-0 all-time record against the Dragons, dating back to the squads' first meeting in the Tigers' inaugural season of intercollegiate basketball in 1900-01. The last time the two teams met was nine years ago at Madison Square Garden, when Princeton just edged by Drexel, 58-56.

The Dragons had a successful season last year, finishing with a 17-12 overall record and reaching the postseason NIT for the third straight year. They did so, however, with a squad led by four members of the Class of 2005, leaving them with a significant lack of experience this year. Head coach James "Bruiser" Flint's roster this year lists only one senior. The graduating class included last year's top three scorers, putting the question of who will provide this year's offensive production in some doubt.

Drexel's leading returning scorer is Dominick Meija, a junior transfer from N.C. State who averaged 10.2 points per game last season. Mejia, a six-foot, four-inch guard, brings a wicked jump shot with a .472 three-point field goal percentage and will be the Tigers' number one worry as they seek to slay the Dragons.

On the defensive side of the court, head coach Joe Scott's Princeton offense will have its work cut out for it against a team that finished third in scoring defense in its conference last season. Chaz Crawford led his league — and was seventh in the nation — in blocked shots, averaging almost three per game. Bashir Mason, a speedy junior guard, won the CAA Defensive Player of the Year award as a freshman and is already among the top 20 all-time at Drexel in assists and steals.

The NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament, which the Tigers have participated in three times before, is being played this year with three new experimental rules: the three-point line has been pushed back an extra foot, the lane has been widened by a foot on each side and a restricted-area arc has been added three feet from the basket where defenders cannot draw a charge.

The new rules were tried in some games last season as well, and this year the NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee will continue to study the impact on game play. So far, there appears to be little effect on three-point shots, three-second violations or charges, but further study was commissioned nonetheless.

The winner of the Princeton-Drexel match will take on the winner of Missouri-Sam Houston State game. If Missouri wins, the Tigers will travel to Columbia, Mo., to play in a game televised nationally on ESPN2 on Thursday night.