The DP versus The Prince: Who will come out on top?

Michael Jordan is going to need a supporting castMichael Jordan is going to need a supporting castBen Grad, Commentary What a difference a year makes. One play-in game, one upset of a defending national champion, one rout of Penn at the dreaded Palestra and one unblemished Ivy season later, the Tigers will host the Quakers in both teams' final regular-season game as overwhelming favorites to finish the year with a perfect league record. Yes, things are certainly different this time around. While last year's Tigers were as good a team as Penn -- in fact probably better -- the Quakers had the advantage of knowing they could beat Princeton, while no member of the Tigers' roster had ever topped Penn until the playoff game, which Princeton won, 63-56. This season, the Tigers are not only the clearly superior squad, they also know that beating the Quakers is as easy as saying "supporting cast." Last year's Penn team had several dangerous players, but February 11, when the Tigers handed Penn its worst home loss to Princeton in 21 years, the only Quaker not to play as though in awe of the currently 25th-ranked Tigers was No. 23. Penn guard Michael Jordan, at times, looked like the best player on the court that day, scoring a game-high 22 points in the losing effort. Only a freshman, the likely Ivy League Rookie of the Year certainly has some bright years ahead of him, no doubt full of scoring titles and athletic, highlight-reel plays. But like his professional namesake, Jordan can't win by himself. Before everyone wanted to be like Mike, he had to win a championship -- something the elder Jordan didn't do until his seventh year in the league when he finally had some talent around him. Unfortunately for the younger Jordan, he only has three years of eligibility left. If he wants to be on a championship team, Jordan will need to be surrounded by more Scottie Pippens and fewer Geoff Owenses. Yet even if Fran Dunphy recruits another Horace Grant, don't look for next year's edition of the Penn-Princeton matchup to produce different results from this year's. The Tigers will return five of their top six players, and Jordan, though he may improve, will likely not receive enough reinforcements to bridge the current talent gap between the Quakers and the Tigers. Barring a strange twist of events, it will be Princeton, not Jordan, to be the next Ivy team to three-peat. In the Ivy world of rotating dynasties between Princeton and Penn, it is clear that this is the Tigers' turn on top. Last year marked the changing of the guard; this year Princeton ruled the Ivy League with an iron fist. Don't expect the Tigers to relinquish their grip any time soon, especially if His Airness, Jr., doesn't get help from his supporting cast.