Road Hoops

Welcome to the final weekend of February.

Of course, this being a leap year, you get an extra day to enjoy the shortest month of the year. That would be Feb. 29, which is this coming Thursday. 

Teaser: This coming Thursday will also have a special edition of TigerBlog. You'll have to wait six days to find out what it is. 

Meanwhile, this pushes March 1 back to this coming Friday. Does that mean that next weekend is when madness begins? 

Technically, while it will be March in a few days, it won't be March Madness for a few more weeks. It'll be Ivy Madness before that, at Columbia March 15-17, which is three weekends from now. 

Regardless of whether it's an official "madness," it's clear that the college basketball season has entered its critical stage. For Princeton Basketball, this is the best time of the year, with big every game a big one. 

This weekend is no exception. There are three Princeton games, and all three are important in the big picture of the Ivy League race. 

They also have one other thing in common. All three are on the road.

There have been a few weekends like this, when there were Ivy League regular season basketball games and nobody was playing in Jadwin Gym. What TigerBlog cannot remember is a time where the Princeton men and women were both on the road but at different league venues.

This weekend, the men are at Harvard and Dartmouth tonight and tomorrow, and the women are at Columbia tomorrow afternoon.

TigerBlog starts with the men.

There's another huge game for the Princeton men tonight that's also on the road, though it doesn't involve the Tigers. This one takes place in Ithaca, where Cornell will host Yale.

Those two are currently tied for first in the league at 8-1, while Princeton checks in at 7-2. Right now, those three teams is 20-0 against the rest of the league. In head-to-head matchups between the three, the home team has won each time.

Down the road, and back at home, Princeton still has a game against Cornell next Saturday in Jadwin Gym. 

For Princeton, it would be best if both of those streaks continued. Should that happen, then Princeton would be back in control for at least a share of the Ivy League championship and the top seed in the Ivy tournament. 

Why? Because if the top three go 2-2 against each other and 10-0 against everyone, the seedings would then be based on who has the highest NET ranking, which Princeton has by a large margin right now. 

While Princeton fans may keep an eye on the score from Ithaca, Princeton's players can't afford to do that. There's a three-game drop from Princeton to the current fourth-place tie at 4-5 between Columbia and Harvard. As you know, the top four get into the league tournament.

Should it come down to a tie between Harvard and Columbia, the Crimson hold the tiebreaker by virtue of having swept the Lions. Brown is only a game back of them, at 3-6. 

A win tonight for Princeton, by the way, cements a spot in the Ivy tournament.

The Princeton women are already in the Ivy tournament. So, too, is Columbia. Those two meet tomorrow at 2 at a sold-out Levien Gym in New York City. 

For Princeton, it'll be good prep for what to expect at the tournament.

Princeton is 10-0 in the league. Columbia is 9-1, with an 80-65 loss at Jadwin earlier this season. Harvard is 7-3, with a record of 7-0 against the rest of the league and 0-3 against Princeton and Columbia. 

Harvard will be in Jadwin Gym next weekend as well, since after a weekend with no hoops, there will be two doubleheaders next weekend. 

What will the races look like by then? A lot can change this weekend, in all kinds of different directions. That's how it is this time of year. 

What is it they say? February goes out on the road. March comes in at home. 

At least this year, that's the way it is.