this is the weather that birthed basketball. our so far bitter northeast winter evokes warm memories of overheated, sweat stinking gymnasiums and young athletes running the hardwood. no more appropriate opponent, then, for the lions to finish 2017 against than the maine black bears from frigid orono. doubly appropriate since the lions started the year up at the mainers arena. on both occasions, columbia whipped the lads from downeast. saturday afternoon past, columbia won by twelve, 83 – 71, in a game that was never that close. the lions were all over the bears before the mainers could loosen up from their, likely, eight hour bus trip to morningside heights. mike smith and quinton adlesh, back court classmates, led the assault. smith tallied 16 points while dishing 8 assists. adlesh also scored 16 but only managed 7 dishes. the lion big men who were the beneficiaries of this largess were patrick tape (the most improved lion to allgame’s eyes) who registered 12 points and snatched 6 boards working along side lukas meisner who scored 10 and grabbed 9 rebounds despite playing with a mask protecting his broken nose. the lions worked a tandem at the small forward slot with nate hickman and kyle castlin (back on the floor after a six week absence) contributing 14 points and 6 rebounds between them. the offensive efficiency and defensive liveliness of these six had the light blue up by 31 points with nine minutes left to play. that spread more properly reflects the difference between the two squads.
now that the non-league schedule has concluded (we will ignore this saturday’s game versus div iii sarah lawrence), coach engle’s 2 – 10 charges will have to regularly display the effort shown against maine if they hope to have a chance of reaching the ivy league tournament in march. that journey begins a week from friday. for the first time in five years, the lions will not open against the cornells. instead, the boys journey to the cornfields of greater trenton to battle the tigers on the twelfth before heading further down the pike to take on steve donahue’s quakers in philadelphia. princeton dominated the league last season, going 14 – 0 before winning the first ever league tourney. mitch henderson has lost some significant pieces from that unit. sharpshooters spencer weisz and steve cook have graduated along with the quiet but huge center, pete miller. one of the keys to princeton’s basketball excellence is continuity and, after a rocky start in november, the team is starting to gel and stands at 7 -7 on the 68th toughest schedule in the country. three guards lead the way for the princetons as league play revs up. devin cannady (18.4 ppg and grabs 5 boards nightly), myles stephen (14.7 ppg and 6 rebounds) and amir bell (10.5 ppg and 5.5 boards) top the tigers in two key categories. as far the lions go, stephen particularly presents match up nightmares. at 6′ 5″ he towers over smith and adlesh. stephen dropped 15 on the lions last year at jadwin in which the light blue played from behind all game before rallying furiously for a two point loss. at levien, in the rematch, stephen scored 16 as the tigers routed columbia. this year, with his elder scoring associates out of the picture, stephen has started looking more aggressively for his shot – vide his 30 points against the trojans of usc a couple of weeks ago. the lions will have to work like heck fire to deny him the ball and i expect coach engle to throw some zone at the junior out of lawrenceville, nj.
from that frying pan, the lions leap into a pennsylvania fire as they take on steve donahue’s 9 – 5 quakers. coach donahue is in the third year of his rebuild of the vaunted philly program. last year, his crew raced back from an 0 – 6 start in league play to finish 6 – 8 and grab the fourth spot in the ivy tourney. in the first round they gave princeton all they could handle before succumbing in overtime. penn’s climb back to relevance last season began against columbia at the palestra where the quakers whipped the lions by eight points and notched their first league win. last february 25, columbia dropped the quakers 70 – 67 in a barn burner at levien. we expect similar intensity on saturday the thirteenth when these two outfits saddle up again. penn is led by sophomore classmates ryan betley, a 6′ 5″ guard, who is averaging 15 points nightly while grabbing 5 rebounds and a. j. brodeur, a 6’8″ forward who corrals 6 boards per game while tallying 10.5 points. they are abetted by a senior guard out of camden, darnell foreman who is averaging 10 ppg and junior forward max rothschild, a 6’8″ chicagoan who contributes 9 points and 6.5 rebounds nightly. though he has not started a single game so far, jackson donahue will definitely be on the lions’ radar. the guard, no relation to his coach, dropped 14 points in sixteen minutes of play against the light blue in that loss at levien last season. he was unconscious from beyond the arc, going 4 – 4, in that exuberant first half display. this season’s quaker crew put a 66 -45 whipping on the navy squad that defeated the lions 73 – 68 on december 10. on a very small sample of common opponents, the philadelphians seem a favorite. if they have a particular weakness, it appears, like columbia, to be free throw shooting. they average just over 64% from the charity stripe, inferior to the lions’ undistinguished 68%. let’s hope the game comes down to a couple of free throws and that mike smith is on the line.
which of these two killer p’s is strongest at the beginning of league play will be indicated tonight when penn tips off against the tigers at the palestra. and one week hence, the lions will begin their journey through the ivies with the toughest road test of the season with the dreaded southern swing. we will know very early how much of a chance this team has to reach philadelphia in march for the ancient eight’s tournament. pull your comforters snugly around your shoulders and enjoy the atmosphere. allgame is headed to chilly jadwin next friday.
peace out and d up,
paulie b