Five reasons to rest easy

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Some of you might still be awake when you read this. Others will be checking this out in the morning.

But I'm here to assuage any fears you might have of Princeton shocking Penn Tuesday night.

Yes, weird stuff happens in this rivalry, but here are five reasons why nothing catastrophic will happen to the Quakers:

1. Jan. 13 vs. Columbia
Somehow Princeton sent a game to overtime without hitting a field goal in the final 10:52 of regulation. The Lions committed fouls twice in the last 15 seconds to let the Tigers tie the game both times.

Then in overtime, Dalen Cuff pulled a Chris Webber, called a timeout he didn't have while trailing by two, and sent Princeton to the line to ice the game.

2. Feb. 10 at Harvard
Princeton trailed by six with 1:17 to play. After a Princeton bucket, the Tigers got two steals without any fouls, despite some accounts of the game that made it look like a mauling, and hit a three and a jumper with 0.2 seconds left to win the game.

3. Feb. 11 at Dartmouth
OK, there was no miracle here, but Princeton only beat the Big Green by three. Dartmouth is not very good. It also lost by three to Stony Brook.

It is worth noting that despite these three escape jobs by Princeton, Penn has won its six Ivy League games by margins of 40, 32, 17, 22, 19, and 13. That's an average of 23.8. Princeton's margin of victory in its five wins is 8.0. Add in the loss to Cornell at home a day after Penn beat the Big Red by 40, and the Tigers' average scoring margin in league play is 5.3. That's a difference of 18.5 points per game for those of you scoring at home.

4. Princeton's center is 6-foot-4
Pete Carrill used to say that he could take any five guys off the street and plug them into the Princeton offense and still win. It seems his former player Joe Scott has taken this literally. I wrote about Justin Conway in Tuesday's DP, and he certainly brings a bunch of intangibles to the table. "I think that all the stuff that I read about Conway and all the comments that I hear from his fellow players and coaches all reflect what you see on film ... that he just does what he needs to do to make his team better," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "Whether it's getting key rebounds, making the offense run through him, being in the right place at the right time, he just looks like a guy with a lot of intangibles in his game and he just finds a way to get it done." But Conway is outsized against Mark Zoller (6-7) and Steve Danley (6-8), and if the duo can play so well against people who are bigger than them, they should dominate him in the post. "I have a little bit of a height advantage," Zoller said. "It doesn't really happen too often. I guess if I do have that height advantage I'll try to work inside a little bit more. It'll probably affect Steve's game a little bit more. I think playing against a little bit of a smaller guy will be beneficial to him."

5. Penn's transition game will dull the Tigers' slow game
Princeton wins by slowing the game down and limiting the number of shots its opponents takes. A big part of Penn's offense is points off turnovers and fast breaks. Princeton turns the ball over 13 times a game. The Quakers force an average of 18. Turn those into at least 20 Penn points, and the Tigers' offense will be hard-pressed to keep up. Also, the quick possessions in transition will make for more possessions for Penn, giving them a better chance to score more.

So there you have it, Penn should have little trouble Tuesday night. But as we have found out in this rivalry, anything can happen.