Editors' note: Each year, the sports editors of The Daily Princetonian and The Daily Pennsylvanian exchange columns on the morning of the first Princeton-Penn men's basketball rivarly game. To read the competing piece, go to this link.
We get it, Princeton. You beat us last year, you beat Harvard in the playoff for the Ivy Championship, you played well against Kentucky before collapsing in the final minutes (Penn did it too, alright?).
Congrats, want a cookie?
It’s a new year, but this time, Princeton’s the team in flux. If you recall, last year The Daily Princetonian sports editors suggested Penn was following a similar fate as the Tigers: “By now, the trend should be clear — Penn is following Princeton’s exact pattern, two years later,” they wrote.
We think you’re a bit off in that assessment, guys. Now Princeton is the team with the new coach — former headman Sydney Johnson left town for the Fairfield Stags in April, a move that, according to ESPN, doubled his salary. Does this mean Jerome Allen will be leaving the City of Brotherly Love anytime soon? Hell, no.
It means, rather, that this year, the Tigers are going down. Penn is poised to widen the 122-102 all-time lead, and it starts tonight at the Palestra.
Let’s acknowledge the Cathedral’s lack of student support recently (except last weekend, when the Palestra was nearly sold out) and tally Penn’s home record against Princeton before the students stopped showing up after the 2007 season: 66-38. Even with four straight home losses (we’ll blame it on the pesky fans), the Quake Show is 66-42. Not bad.
And while Princeton was busy changing the entire Ivy League schedule at the last minute and seriously cramping everyone’s — even the women’s teams’ — styles, did you forget to add your annual post-finals D-III tune-up game?
We know you think we’re bad, but this year the Tigers are the team to lose to lowly Cornell. Tables. Turned.
But really, it’s nice that one of your “easiest wins of the season” came against D-III TCNJ. It’s also nice that the Tigers gave up 35 points in the first half of that game. Talk about bad defense.
Anyway, Penn’s also got some offensive tricks up its sleeve, not that people haven’t noticed a guy named Zack Rosen recently. Or that guy Tyler Bernardini, or Rob Belcore, or Henry Brooks, for that matter. Okay, okay, should we stop?
In all of the statistical categories that matter — scoring offense, field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage, assists, steals, turnover margin (the list goes on, but we’re getting bored) — Penn tops Princeton.
What matters more than statistics, though, is momentum. One more time for dramatic effect: Momentum.
The Quakers have it. Three-game winning streak, a Big 5 victory, 2-0 in the Ivy League.
And like we said, the Palestra crowd at its best plays a bit of a factor in Penn’s success. We’ll have our rollouts, our punny Puck Frinceton t-shirts, and #BeatPrinceton stickers (yo, Prince editors: You kind of misunderstood the promotion. Try again!).
Tonight, the Quake Show’s gettin’ down and dirty. There’s no way Zack Rosen lets the Tigers get away with four straight wins in the Palestra.
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