Jesse Spector: Cheer on the Elis

The Princeton men's basketball team will play Yale tonight at the Palestra for a chance to play Penn on Saturday for the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Quakers have no preference for an opponent, but Penn fans should be rooting for a quintuple-overtime game that leaves both sides wishing they had never been born.

Also, if the Elis and Tigers decide to engage in a suspension-causing, bench-clearing brawl, Penn fans should also be satisfied.

Columbia could also come clean with academic integrity problems for the second time this school year and void its earlier victory over the Quakers, just as the Lions were nearly forced to do during football season when one of their defensive linemen was declared ineligible.

Chances are quite slim that any of these things will happen.

So, Penn fans are stuck wondering which team to root for.

The Tigers lost to Penn two nights ago. They fell to the Quakers on their own home floor on Feb. 12. Princeton will be a likely candidate to lose again if it advances to meet the Red and Blue on Saturday night.

One thing would play into Princeton's hands, however, for another clash with the Quakers. It is very difficult to beat a team -- especially an arch-rival -- three times in the same season, let alone three times within a one-month span.

Princeton also has a higher RPI than Yale, thanks to earlier games against Kansas and Maryland. Players like Ahmed El-Nokali and Mike Bechtold are battle-tested and have been part of a championship team.

Having attended Tuesday's game as a fan, I think that last sentence made me throw up in my mouth. Players like El-Nokali and Bechtold spent most of Tuesday's game complaining to the referees and have been constant irritants for four years.

For Penn fans, few sights could be more satisfying than the end of these Princeton seniors' careers in a flurry of whining on the Palestra floor, knowing that they never even got the chance to face the Quakers one last time.

The only thing better than beating an arch-rival is watching that rival choke after being in position to win. The Tigers had their chance to win the league title on Tuesday night, and they blew it. Princeton played miserably in both of its games against the Quakers this season and hardly seems worthy of another shot at the crown.

Yale, however, is an honorable adversary. The Elis swept Penn and Princeton in New Haven, but fell to each of the perennial league powers on the road. Tonight, and maybe Saturday, Elihu's boys will have a chance to stake their claim to Ivy glory. At 19-9, they have earned that chance, even if they do strike more fear into the hearts of some Penn fans than the Tigers.

The Quakers would have some definite advantages over Yale on Saturday. The Elis have no seniors, and their players have never been this close to the NCAA Tournament before.

Even though Yale did beat Penn earlier this season, the Elis also seem somehow less threatening than Princeton. Despite a notable lack of talent this season, Princeton has gone 11-3 in the Ivy League, seemingly with mirrors at times. Yale has had its best season in decades to finish with the same 11-3 record.

The Quakers are good enough to beat both Princeton and Yale, just as they are good enough to beat any team in the country when they are playing well. For tonight, cheer for the Elis. It still just feels impossible to walk into the Palestra and root for Princeton.

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