Game 19 - Princeton: The good, the bad and the ugly

The good: For the fourth time this season, the Quakers overcame a double-digit second-half deficit, displaying incredible resiliency and clutch play in the process. But the comebacks are becoming the norm, so I'll say the best thing to come out of this game was that the rivalry is back. This one turned into a heated, intense battle both on the court and in the stands. It had the emotional twists and turns that a great rivalry game should have, and it ended with a crushed Penn team walking off the floor and a joyous Princeton team that stuck around to high-five fans courtside.

The bad: The Quakers needed another great comeback because they again fell behind early. Neither the players or coach Jerome Allen have any explanations for why the team struggles to come out of the gate, but this is a problem that even dates back to last season. I still remember when an extremely frustrated Zack Rosen said outside the Palestra locker room after last year's Brown game, “I think we need to come out with defibrillators on our chests and shock ourselves into thinking it’s the second half when it’s the first half." It looks like Rosen might have to try it again this season.

The ugly: The overtime collapse. At least during Saturday's gut-wrenching defeat, the Crimson won the game themselves. Tuesday at Jadwin, the Quakers gave this one away, as Tyler Bernardini said after the game. Somehow, a team that had possession of the ball, up 1 with just 16 seconds left in overtime, lost by 3 points. First, Jack Eggleston made an uncharacteristically boneheaded play when he called timeout even though Penn had no timeouts left (shades of Chris Webber). The Quakers got a break when Douglas Davis made only one of the two technical free throws, but then came the rookie mistakes. Miles Cartwright threw the ensuing inbounds pass directly into the hands of Princeton's Ian Hummer, and then fouled Hummer even though the game was still tied. Even after Hummer sank both foul shots, Penn could have tied the game when Rosen fed Fran Dougherty with a beautiful pass that set the forward up for a gimme layup - only Dougherty's shot was too strong and bounced off the front rim and out. If the Quakers' first five Ivy games have been this much of a roller-coaster, what's in store for the rest of the season? The ugliest of the ugly may be Penn fans' mental and physical health in rooting for a team like this one.