A Night Of History, And Glory

It's been a week since Jadwin Gym hosted the Ivy League basketball tournaments.

A week. It seems like that was another lifetime ago. 

Remember the storylines? Would Princeton be able to beat Penn for a third time on the season and a second time in six days? No, many thought. That's asking too much, not after Penn lost that 19-point lead in the regular season finale with a share of the Ivy title on the line. Beating Penn again? That was too much to ask.

Even after that task was completed, there was the matter of beating Yale. This was going to be too much to ask too. Yale had eased past Cornell in its semifinal, didn't have to exert itself and had a few hours more rest than Princeton. The matchup wasn't great. The intangibles all favored Yale.

How long ago that seems, right? 

That same Princeton men's basketball team, the one that may have been written off a bit by some, or many, before the Ivy tournament, has in a matter of days done something completely extraordinary, something that is historic in every way. 

Princeton is going to the Sweet 16. 

Who saw this coming when the Ivy tournament tipped off? In contrast to its first round win over Arizona, which was a nailbiter in every sense of the word, Princeton raced past Missouri 78-63, taking the game between two dens of Tigers to reach the Sweet 16. The margin of victory was the most ever by a 15 seed in the NCAA tournament. 

And so now it's on to the Sweet 16. It's one of those things that you keep writing for two reasons: 1) because it sounds so great and 2) because the more you write it, the more real it becomes.

Yes. It's real. Princeton will play the winner of Sunday's game between Creighton and Baylor this coming Friday in Louisville. Princeton joins Cornell's 2010 team as the only Ivy League teams to reach the Sweet 16 since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

And were that the only big story of the night for Princeton, it would have been plenty. But no, you can't only talk about men's basketball, not on a night when Princeton Wrestling produced an NCAA champion.

Patrick Glory became Princeton's second NCAA champ and first in 72 years when he won the 125-pound title with a 4-1 decision over Purdue's Matt Ramos.

And yes, this was about Patrick Glory, but it was also about Princeton coaches Chris Ayres, Sean Gray and Joe Dubuque. They have worked tirelessly to get their program off the mat in the first place and then bring it to national relevance. They never stopped believing, and Glory's reward was theirs as well. 

As the final buzzer sounded, Glory fell to his back and took it all in. It was a bit surreal, much like it was to watch the men's basketball team.

It was a huge Princeton party in Sacramento for this one. And now the party gets to keep on going.

Princeton is going to the Sweet 16.

TigerBlog watched the game on his computer during the men's lacrosse team's game against Penn Saturday at the same time. It's hard to say he watched it, actually. He kept switching the screen, checking in on the game, seeing Princeton was still ahead, and then turning it off. It was almost hard to watch. It was so close. It was so historic. He was afraid to see it slip away.

By the under-eight timeout of the second half, TB finally believed that it was done. It was surreal. Princeton pulled away and never let up, completely imposing its will on Missouri. The numbers were staggering — Princeton 44, Missouri 30 in rebounds, Princeton 12-6 in made threes, and the most insane one of all, Princeton 19-2 in second-chance points. 

As TB said after the win over Arizona, this wasn't a game won because Princeton outsmarted anyone. It's insulting to say that. Princeton won these two games by being more physical, more relentless, more determined.

By the way, if you think Missouri is just another team, this is a team that beat, among others, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Iowa State during the season (and Penn). 

The individual performances were also amazing. Ryan Langborg with 22. Blake Peters with 17 points in just 14 minutes; he's now 8 for 13 from three in the NCAA tournament. Tosan Evbuowman had nine points, nine rebounds and five assists. Matt Allocco had 10 points and seven assists. Keeshawn Kellman had eight points, six rebounds and a whole lot of assertive physicality that certainly got Missouri's attention.

And then there was Caden Pierce. All the Ivy League Rookie of the Year did was score nine points and add 16 rebounds. Is 16 a lot of rebounds? The Princeton NCAA tournament record is held by Al Kaemmerlen, who had 18 against St. Bonaventure in 1961. Bill Bradley had 17 against Wichita State in the 1965 consolation game and 16 against St. Joe's in 1963. Craig Robinson also had 16, against Oklahoma State in 1983. 

And that's the entire list of Princeton players who reached 16 rebounds in an NCAA game.

This was already a legendary weekend for Princeton Basketball after the men and women both won their opening round games, using 9-0 runs to come from behind to win. The women will play Sunday night at 7 against Utah on the Utes' home court.

Never before had an Ivy League school had its men's and women's teams both win NCAA games in the same year. That alone would have been enough, right? 

But now the men play on. And the women have their chance to match the men. It's another big-time challenge, as Utah won the Pac-12 tournament last week. 

Ah, but last week. That's so long ago, who can even remember it?

This is this week, this weekend, a weekend of history, and of Glory, a weekend that will never be forgotten at Princeton.