A Random Friday

TigerBlog was sitting at his desk yesterday afternoon when he casually asked his colleague Andrew Borders what he should write about for today, and Borders unflinchingly said "Bill Carmody."

The way he responded made TB think Borders would be great at the round in "Family Feud" where they play for the big money at the end. TigerBlog can see it now:

Steve Harvey: "We'll give you 20 seconds to answer these questions. Say 'pass' if you'd like to pass."
Andrew: "Okay, Steve, but I won't need more than 10 seconds. I remember one time when I was asked what my colleague should write about one day, and I said 'Bill Carmody' in less than one second."
Steve Harvey: "Okay then."

So, in deference to Andrew, TigerBlog starts today with Bill Carmody.

Those who have been loyal readers know that Bill Carmody is one of TigerBlog's all-time heroes. Carmody was a longtime assistant to Pete Carril and then the head coach here for the four years after Carril retired, before he left to coach Northwestern.

Last week, at the age of 63, he became the head coach at Holy Cross.

TigerBlog could write for two weeks and not tell all of the great - and mostly hilarious - stories he saw first-hand from Carmody. And yet he can sum Carmody up in two words, two words that can be applied to any situation in the world, not only basketball, two words that cut through all of the nonsense in the world and get right to the practical heart of every matter, which is what Carmody was so great at.

The two words? Make shots. If you want to add a third word, it's "just make shots."

What does it mean? It means don't try to con him or BS him. Don't make things more complicated than they are. Don't pretend you're doing something so difficult that you can't succeed. Just make shots. Everything else falls into place.

Holy Cross finished sixth in the Patriot League, which is as balanced a league as there is in the country. TB is wishing Carmody all the best, and, just as when he was at Northwestern, TB will be rooting for him.

You can read about his introduction at Holy Cross HERE. These quotes are exactly who he is and how he is. 

Okay Andrew, what else is there today?

There's the change to the softball schedule.

Princeton was to play Brown and Yale home this weekend, but the incessantly awful weather the last few weeks have scoffed at that plan. It's actually been the worst it could possibly be, with snow and below freezing temps, followed by warming, followed by more snow and freezing. And now rain the last two days.

The Tigers will sort of be at home against Brown, at least in terms of being in New Jersey and batting last. The games tomorrow have been moved to Bordentown High School, which is in Burlington County, the next county from Mercer, which is the county where Princeton is located.

Bordentown is about 30 minutes from Princeton. It was also, for what it's worth, the site of the second game TigerBlog ever covered in his newspaper days. The first was a football game on a Friday between Pennington and Academy of the New Church. The next day was Maple Shade at Bordentown. TB thinks it was 33-0 Maple Shade.

As for the Yale games, they're being moved to April 22, which TB believes is a Wednesday.

The baseball team is still going to try to play at home this weekend, or at least Sunday against Brown and Monday against Yale. The weather should actually be decent by then.

It'll be sunny and near 50 Sunday when Princeton faces off against Brown in men's lacrosse.

This is a big one, as both teams are unbeaten in the Ivy League. It also has the potential to be a total track meet, in the mold of Albany's 21-17 win over Harvard Wednesday night.

That win moved Albany past Brown into the top spot in scoring offense in Division I men's lacrosse. Brown, at 16.88 goals per game, is second.

Princeton scores them in bunches too. This could be really high scoring.

Brown is led by Dylan Molloy, who has 41 goals in eight games. He had eight Tuesday night against Marist, when the Bears blew and 11-2 lead and then won in overtime anyway, 16-15.

Who else has blown a big lead this year and won 16-15 in overtime? Princeton, who led Johns Hopkins 7-0 and then ultimately needed Gavin McBride's OT goal to get the W.

Speaking of Ws, no team with three of them in the Ivy League has ever failed to make the league tournament since it began in 2010. Princeton currently has two Ivy wins - over Penn and Yale.

Princeton is 2-0, as is Cornell. Brown and Dartmouth are 1-0. Yale, Penn and Harvard are all 0-2.

After missing the Ivy tournament last year, Princeton's first goal is to get into it this year. And then the NCAA tournament.

Forgetting that, though, this game offers the potential for a lot of goals. Princeton and Brown average nearly 30 per game between them. If you factor our each team's one off day this year - both teams have one loss, Princeton to Maryland, Brown to Bucknell - then they average 32 per game.

The Class of 1952 Stadium record for goals in one game is 31. That was in Princeton's 17-14 win over Hofstra in the first game of the 2010 season, which was Chris Bates' first game as Tiger head coach.

Anything else?

Oh yeah, Courtney Banghart found herself in some incredible company in Fortune magazine.