Princeton’s 0-2 start in Ivy play has inspired a new round of wailing and gnashing of Tiger teeth on Internet fan communities, complete with some calls for Joe Scott’s dismissal. While there’s no denying the program has fallen off under Scott, dropping from Top 100 to Top 200 since his arrival, it’s important to see this past weekend for what it was: a pair of road losses to teams with similar — possibly even superior — talent.

Now the simple fact that Ivy teams not named Penn might be expected to beat Princeton speaks to a larger issue of discontent for the Tiger faithful. Fans of the storied program aren’t used to hoping for wins over non-Ps. They expect them. However, it’s important to recognize that this is one of the stronger seasons for the Ivy League, from top to bottom. Columbia and Cornell are decent teams, and there’s certainly no shame in losing in either team’s home gym.

Now what was disconcerting was the way the Tigers failed to compete with the Big Red on Saturday in Ithaca. However, it’s important to keep in mind that leading scorer Kyle Koncz was limited to five minutes on the court because of what has been reported as a stress fracture in his left foot. With Koncz hampered by injury, Princeton shot just 3 of 23 (13.0 percent) from three-point range. Anyone who has seen the Tigers play this year knows this is a much better outside shooting team than that, and correctly can identify that shooting performance as anomalous.

For many, the weekend losses have overshadowed the 9-4 start to the season. Yes, the non-league schedule was incredibly weak, but the Tigers did beat the teams they were supposed to beat, which is more you could say about the 2004-05 Ivy campaign and last year’s non-league performance. Despite starting an all-freshman backcourt, the improvement from last year — especially on defense — was readily apparent. League games certainly are more important, but should two Ivy games cancel out 13 non-league contests? Not if you understand the concept of sample size.

The reaction to the weekend setbacks probably depends on one’s expectations for Princeton this season. A lot of folks looked at last year’s 10-4 Ivy record and assumed a similar mark would follow this season. But getting to 10 wins last year in the league required all the breaks that went against the Tigers the previous season suddenly going in their favor. After the 2004-05 squad repeatedly squandered late leads and gave away games on the way to a disastrous 6-8 record, last year’s team saw its fortunes reverse. From Dalen Cuff pulling a Chris Webber to Harvard’s final-minute meltdown in Boston to Scott Greenman’s two miraculous shots at Cornell to the late comeback over Dartmouth to the last-second win over Penn in the finale, Lady Luck smiled on the Tigers last year. As a matter of fact, if you switch the Ivy records of the past two Princeton teams, things make a lot more sense. The Tigers probably were a six- or seven-win team last year that found a way to go 10-4.

With Greenman gone, more realistic expectations for this season would have been a winning record in a tough league and showing progress to the point where the program is set up to contend seriously for the Ivy title next season. And based on the first 13 games, that’s still entirely possible. This past weekend easily was Princeton’s toughest Ivy road trip of the season, and the team now has over two weeks to heal up, figure out what went wrong, and fix it. Don’t be surprised if the Tigers come out and give Seton Hall a good fight when they return to action after finals on January 29.

But let’s get one thing straight. Outside of unforeseen circumstances, there’s no chance Gary Walters pulls the plug on his coach this offseason. Next year will be Scott’s fourth at Princeton, and only the Class of 2008 (Koncz, Matt Sargeant, Noah Savage, Kevin Steuerer, and Zach Woolridge) will remain from the John Thompson III era. There might be some heat on Scott to get to the NCAA Tournament next season — especially with Penn expected to return to the pack somewhat and the league looking as wide open as it has in years — but odds are he’ll get at least five years to win a title. Princeton fans would do well to show similar patience.