Media Credit: Ryan Townsend Penn's Aron Cohen (left) squares off with his defender during last night's game at the Palestra. Despite the two squads' middling records, the Quakers win helped add fire to the rivalry. [Click to enlarge]

The cursory numbers are enough to tell you about the Penn-Princeton basketball rivalry over the past few decades. The two P's have had a hand in 46 of the past 49 Ivy titles. In the past 19 seasons, no other Ivy team has been to the NCAA tournament.

Three years and three Penn Ivy titles later, the rivalry had lost something. The Quakers took five of six from Princeton during that span, and the only real surprise was that they didn't win all six.

After all, how was a team that struggled to put up 30 points supposed to compete with a squad loaded with all-Ivy players?

But with last night's physically- and emotionally-loaded 70-65 Penn victory, the rivalry appears to be back for the moment.

"It's really hard to think of a rivalry that comes close not only in our conference but nation-wide," said first-year Tigers head coach Sydney Johnson, a Princeton hoops alum. "To get a game like tonight was fun."

A down-to-the-wire affair with players hitting the floor and tussling and getting T'ed up certainly writes a new chapter in the rivalry. As the Tigers closed the gap, the Palestra crowd - along with some players' tempers - heated up.

But more than anything else, the renewed competitiveness is a result of both programs having cooled down. Princeton is in the midst of one of its sorriest stretches in history. And Penn is admittedly rebuilding and regularly starts three freshmen.

For this season, at least, the two most venerated schools in Ivy League history are decidedly middle-of-the-pack. But as last night proved, they're still capable of producing a thriller.

"The intensity is there. You have two teams that are struggling - I should say battling - to stay in the race. And its just fun," Johnson said. "I think it just reflects on the Ivy League so well."

It's hard to argue with him. The parity in the Ancient Eight this year is near an all-time high.

It would take big slip-ups from Cornell or Brown for either of them to finish outside the top two this season - an unfamiliar scenario for teams that were always expected to be also-rans come tournament time.

Amid this changing landscape in the league, Penn-Princeton might be one of the only constants for the next few seasons.

Next year, the Tigers will be without three of their five top scorers from last night. But the backcourt of high-school teammates Lincoln Gunn and Marcus Schroeder, along with skilled big man Zach Finley, should keep Princeton close to Penn's young talent.

Senior captain Brian Grandieri believes the rivalry has serious staying power. And that's something his youthful teammates might be starting to understand.

"I think it's always gonna be around. It doesn't matter, if we blow them out or they blow us out or it's close," Grandieri said. "I don't think [the young] guys really knew - especially before the game - what kind of rivalry it really is. I think guys are getting the picture of it."

After a game as memorable and draining as this, the Quakers are learning quickly.

They were battered, they were bruised, but more than anything, they were out of breath. I guess that's to be expected when you're resuscitating a rivalry.

David Bernstein is a junior Economics major from Washington, D.C. His e-mail address is davidkb@dailypennsylvanian.com.

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