COLUMN: Tigers are nothing except overrated

Matt Wurst, Commentary Every week, an elite -- or not so elite -- group of writers votes on the nation's top basketball teams. Since mid-December, the writers have pushed the Princeton Tigers further and further past superior members of the nation's Top 25. Through the many years of the historic Penn-Princeton rivalry, we have been lulled by its soporific "system," but we are now seeing its real danger. As a result of their slow-down, back-door, three-point lofting, even the "experts" have been fooled. Why is this dangerous? Exactly this time last year, the No. 12 ranked Arizona Wildcats were gearing up for their National Championship run. This week's No. 12 ranked team, the Princeton Tigers, have risen to a level of national prominence having beaten two ranked, but overrated, teams. One of them was the Texas Longhorns, which Princeton beat in the first game of the season. The Longhorns are currently in last place in the Big 12. Sure they deserve some credit for holding North Carolina to just 50 points, their lowest offensive output in years, but is that enough to put them just one Purdue loss out of the top ten? The Tigers out-of-conference record is no longer as glowing as it once seemed. Their two wins over the dregs of the ACC -- NC State and Wake Forest -- are impressive, but hardly worthy of the their current lofty perch in the rankings. The Ivy League season is barely underway. Princeton is but one game in front of a swarm of potential spoilers, Penn included, in the race for the title. However, the debate over Princeton's NCAA tournament seed has begun because even if Penn or Harvard can unseat the reigning champions, the Tigers would be a lock for an at-large invitation. Princeton's No. 12 ranking is the highest national ranking for an Ivy League team in a long time. All the attention that Princeton is receiving is certainly good for the Ivy League. Both John Feinstein and Dick Vitale of ESPN have taken on Princeton's cause in assuring them a respectable seed in this year's NCAA tournament. Each is calling for heads to roll if Princeton is seeded lower than fourth in a regional bracket. However, it is widely known that the NCAA selection committee bases their selections and seedings on the national RPI rankings, not the AP poll or the ESPN/USA Today poll. The RPI, or Power Rating, is a calculated formula that ranks teams based on their strength of schedule, conference strength and opponents' records. Princeton is currently ranked 37th on the RPI, which would make them, at best, a ninth seed. Last year, Princeton was a 12 seed despite being 40th on the RPI scale. During Penn's four-year Ivy League basketball dynasty of the early 1990s, the Quakers cracked the Top 25 on several occasions. Featuring the all-world Ivy League backcourt of Matt Maloney and Jerome Allen, the Quakers never climbed higher than No. 21. In March of 1994, the peak of Penn's potency, the Quakers were shafted with the 11th seed in the east but embarrassed the selection committee by ousting the sixth seeded Nebraska in the first round. In Allen and Maloney's senior season, the Quakers represented the Ivy League in the tournament as the 12th seed. That team took Antonio Mcdyess and Alabama to overtime. Two years later, Princeton's first round upset of the defending champion UCLA Bruins in 1996 as the 13th seed also put the committee in its place while vaulting the Tigers into the national spotlight. Last year, in coach Bill Carmody's first season, Princeton began its assault on Penn's record 48 consecutive Ivy League wins by going 14-0. As a reward, Princeton was given the 12th seed in last year's Eastern Regional in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Cal squeaked by with a 55-52 victory. When Princeton visits the Palestra March 3, boasting their undefeated league record and wearing their national ranking around like a ribbon pinned to the farmer whose pig won first prize in the county fair, have faith. The Tigers can be beat. No one has had better success all-time against Princeton than Penn. In fact, the Quakers lead the all-time series 106-90. Between 1992 and 1996, Princeton could not beat Penn, and despite three straight losses, Penn holds the edge in the Dunphy era 9-8. For the first time in the modern era of media -- mainly ESPN games every night -- Princeton is getting more coverage than ever. Hence, it is only a matter of time before coaches study the film and devise a means of breaking down the Princeton system.