Not all coaches would face the prospect of playing two games in four days against a conference rival with the league championship at stake with the same ease as Princeton's Brett Cloutier.
Friday's game at Cambridge-Isanti is the first of two games sandwiching the weekend. The teams will meet again on Monday at Princeton.
"It makes it easier to game plan," Cloutier said. "And if it blows up on us Friday, we can just mix it up and take the opposite plan on Monday."
Both teams play a fast-paced and high-scoring style, and the Bluejackets' Henry Abraham (33.2 ppg) is among the state's leading scorers. Senior Micah Ladd (15.1 ppg) is also a scoring threat.
Cambridge-Isanti (17-2, 7-0) has won 16 consecutive games and has not lost since Dec. 7, when it stumbled 99-82 to St. Cloud Apollo.
Giving Abraham a difficult time will be important to Princeton (17-3, 8-0) Senior guard Tate Laabs (13.2 points, 8.8 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 4.5 steals per game) likely will shoulder a lot of that responsibility.
Cody Miller (16.5 ppg, 7.7 rpg), Haydn Stay (14.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg) and Laabs have helped Princeton to a season that has exceeded Cloutier's expectations.