M. Hoops is bound for Broadway

For the final time this season, Penn hits the road to take on two lesser Ivy foes in Cornell and Columbia. What a tangled web we weave, when we go to New Haven and underachieve. Six weeks ago today, the Penn men's basketball team began its quest to unseed Princeton as Ivy League champions. With a 75-58 victory at Brown Friday, January 9, the Quakers showed they had the talent to manslaughter all Ivy opponents outside the Garden State. But one night later at Yale, Penn junior Paul Romanczuk fouled out after just 25 minutes on the floor as Quakers co-captain Garett Kreitz shot a meager 2-of-11 from the field. On the other side of the scorecard, Yale senior Matt Ricketts lit it up from the outside as Penn (16-10, 9-2 Ivy League) fell to the unheralded Elis 71-70 -- a loss that the Quakers have been unable to overcome. On Tuesday, February 17, Penn, as expected, fell to the Tigers on the Jadwin Gymnasium hardwood, 71-52, for their second loss of the season. But rather than this defeat pushing the Red and Blue one game out, the loss coupled with falling to the Elis earlier in the year, moving Penn two from striking distance of Princeton (23-1, 11-0), with only one head-to-head meeting to go. By losing to Yale, Penn has woven themselves into a tangled web of events, requiring a weekend sweep -- coupled with a Princeton loss -- to keep post-season hopes alive. And remember, the only team to date with a "W" against Princeton is nationally ranked No. 3 North Carolina. This weekend the Quakers close out their Ivy League road schedule with games against Cornell (8-16, 5-7) and Columbia (11-13, 6-6), the same two teams that will try "spoiling" Princeton's perfect Ivy record on the alternate nights. "Playing spoiler, that's always a second incentive," Cornell forward Brent Fischer said. "But at the same time we look at them as two really big games. If we can play spoiler for one of the teams that'd be great. But right now we are focusing more on Penn, because it's Friday." Tonight the Quakers will be in Ithaca, N.Y., to face the Big Red for a second time around. On January 31, at the Palestra, Penn beat Cornell 79-68 as Big Red junior center Jeffrion Aubry was in foul trouble from just seconds after the opening tip. The game that is gaining more attention, however, tips off 7:30 p.m. in Harlem as the "en fuego" Lions, winners of four straight, meet Princeton. In their earlier meeting on January 31, the Tigers beat Columbia by just 13 points, 58-45. It was the closest an Ivy team has come to the Tigers in the Jadwin all season. "In terms of keeping an eye on the scoreboard, we have a job to do and that's playing Cornell," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "But I'd like to see Columbia do it. I think they're playing very well. They know Princeton's style so they have a chance." Third year Columbia coach Armond Hill, a former player and then assistant coach for Princeton, has brought the Tigers' offense with him to Columbia. Even though the Lions don't have the raw talent as the players running backdoor cuts in Black and Orange, facing this offense every day in practice makes for an interesting show as the Tigers and Lions meet in a safari of a game. "I don't know if any of our players can start for either Princeton or Penn," Hill said. "But any coach likes to believe he can win. Princeton is seventh or eighth in the country, which means we'll have to get lucky. They'll have to miss a few shots." Irrespective of the outcomes tonight, after the game the Penn and Princeton buses will depart on opposite paths, with the Quakers meeting the Princeton-esque Lions in the Big Apple Saturday night and the Tigers making the trip north to Cornell. Saturday's Penn-Columbia contest pits the run-and-gun, three-point shooting Quakers against the slower-paced Lions. In their first meeting, the Red and Blue came out on top by a narrow 70-63 margin as the Lions defense shut down Penn's long-range threat. The Quakers shot just one-for-eight behind the arc -- a season low for Penn in both three-point field goals made and shooting percentage from that range. "I was very impressed with Columbia when we played them at the Palestra," Dunphy said. "Armond [Hill] is a good man and he's getting them to win a few games." The struggling Big Red, conversely, will defend their home court from the Tigers. If both Penn and Princeton win their Friday games, Saturday's contest stands as the last chance to make the March 3 Tigers-Quakers contest meaningful. But if one considers the Lions beating Princeton dubious, Cornell accomplishing this feat far less likely. Defensively, Big Red coach Scott Thompson has not discussed with his team how to contain Goodrich, but Aubry indicated that as far as he knows he'll match the Tigers' big man one-on-one. "Princeton doesn't get the ball downcourt the same way as Penn," Aubry said. "To contain Goodrich and Princeton, we have to put pressure on the ball and break their pin-point passes." For Penn, there is nothing to do but come out and beat both their opponents. But that alone isn't enough to avoid mathematical elimination. Losing to Yale the first weekend of the season at the time may have seemed harmless. But it has taken the Quakers' quest for an Ivy title and put it into the hands of Columbia and Cornell. And if there is one thing tougher for Penn than beating Princeton -- it is counting on another Ivy foe to do it for them.

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