Season kicks off with BCA Classic

With their season-opening tournament already pushed below the fold by the football team's first-place clash with Yale, the last thing members of the men's basketball team needed was a date with the human hype-magnet known as Greg Oden.

As Princeton prepares to kick off its season this weekend at the Black Coaches Association Classic in Columbus, Ohio, a potential second-round matchup with host Ohio State looms large. But Oden — the two-time reigning national high school Player of the Year and the most prized recruit in Buckeye history — will not be around to steal any headlines. The freshman center is out until early 2007 following surgery on his right wrist.

Checking in at seven feet, 280 pounds, Oden is hard to miss, and the Tigers certainly won't be missing him. While Ohio State still remains a heavy favorite to sweep the tournament — ranked No. 4 nationally in the ESPN/USA Today preseason poll — Oden's absence brings added parity to a field that is already quite strong top to bottom.

Joining the Tigers and Buckeyes at the BCA Classic will be Loyola (Chicago), the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), Kent State, South Dakota State, Alabama A&M and Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI).

All games will be played at Ohio State's Value City Arena — a true neutral site for every team but the Buckeyes. While that could mean plenty of empty seats for the Tigers' games, it's by no means something head coach Joe Scott '87 is lamenting.

"I tell the guys all the time, 'We're playing against ourselves,' " Scott said. "So when you go into these [neutral] environments and there's nobody there, well, guess what, you had better be playing against yourself. Nobody cares if there's nobody in the gym, they're keeping score, and 40 minutes are going to go by, and it's going to be who's got more points at the end of the game."

The eight teams will open play in a single-elimination championship bracket, with consolation brackets ensuring that even first-round losers will play three games over the course of the weekend.

"We're not ready to play three games in three days," Scott said. "We might be ready to play one game, but after that, there's no scouting; there's no anything."

The only known quantity of Princeton's weekend is Loyola, whom the Tigers will take on tonight at 5 p.m. The first-round matchup will be an immediate test for a Tiger squad that returns five of its six leading scorers from 2005-6. It should become clear quickly whether those players are ready to build on their second-place Ivy League finish from last year or revert to the form that cost Princeton 11 of its 13 non-conference games.

Loyola shares much in common with Penn, the final team Princeton played — and defeated — last year. Like the Quakers, the Ramblers are built around a dynamic senior guard who brings out the best in his talented teammates on both ends of the court. Penn's Ibrahim Jaaber and Loyola's Blake Schilb were both named to the Preseason Mid-Major All-American Team. Also like the Quakers, the Ramblers are the favorites in their conference, picked to win the Horizon League title.

A 6'7" perimeter player capable of pulling down big boards and dishing out assists, Schilb is among the top individual talents the Tigers will face all season. Though no one player will be assigned to keep tabs on Schilb in Princeton's matchup-zone defense, the length and quick hands of junior forward Kyle Koncz will prove a valuable asset in containing him. Koncz averaged over a steal per game last year while earning a reputation as the Tigers' most tenacious perimeter defender.

"We just have to know where he is on the court at all times," Koncz said. "When he's up top and he cuts through, we've got to know where he's going. We can't lose sight of him or give him open shots. Our communication on defense is going to be key."

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Should Koncz lead Princeton to a win over Loyola, the Tigers would face the winner of the first-round contest between Ohio State and VMI. A Princeton loss would mean the Tigers would play the loser of that game.

Even without Oden, the Buckeyes boast one of the nation's best freshman classes, while VMI brings "uptempo" to a whole new level. In their final exhibition game, the Keydets poured in 152 points against an overmatched Emory & Henry squad.

Kent State and IUPUI loom in the bottom half of the bracket, both serious contenders for NCAA Tournament bids this spring. The prospect of being thrown into the ring with any one of a number of talented opponents is another reason Scott finds a tournament like the BCA Classic so alluring.

"For one game you can get prepared, and there's a scouting report, but you come back Saturday and Sunday, and you have to rely on yourself and your wherewithal and your experiences," Scott said.

Depending on how those things hold up, the Tigers might not have to rely on Oden to fill the seats for them.