Hoops Rooting Interests

There are certain things in sports that never come off the resume.

In the case of anyone associated with the Princeton men's basketball program a year ago, that means that the words "Sweet 16" will always be a part of them. For proof, look no further than the second paragraph of the release out of the University of California at Santa Barbara that announced the hiring of Skye Ettin as an assistant coach. 

The UC Santa Barbara Men's Basketball team is thrilled to bring on Skye Ettin as an assistant coach with the program, Head Coach Joe Pasternack announced today. "We are really excited to add a coach like Skye to our program," Pasternack said. "He comes from an incredible program in Princeton that reached the Sweet 16 last season."

There it is. Sweet 16. 

Ettin's move comes after he spent six seasons on Mitch Henderson's staff at Princeton. Ettin was a strong, steady presence with the Tigers, and TigerBlog has never heard anyone say a bad word about him. 

You don't put together teams like Princeton has had of late, and you especially don't reach the Sweet 16, without a strong, deep coaching staff. Henderson has certainly put one together, and his team has reflected that. 

UC-Santa Barbara, by the way, went 27-8 last year and won the Big West Conference tournament by beating Cal-Poly, UC-Riverside and Cal State Fullerton in three days. The Gauchos lost to Baylor in the opening round of the NCAA tournament 74-56 after leading by one at halftime.

Also, the Gauchos' roster last year featured six players from California and five international players. That makes for an interesting mix. 

Ettin is a Mercer County guy through and through, having attended Princeton High School, played at The College of New Jersey and then coached under Henderson. As he heads across the country, Princeton fans can add UC-Santa Barbara to the list of schools for which you root.

That's sort of how it works, right? You have your lifelong favorites, and then you have the teams you root for because of their connections to Princeton. 

That list will now also include whatever professional team Tosan Evbuomwan will be a part of this coming season. For now, that means the Detroit Pistons.

Playing with the team after signing after the draft, Evbuomwan did not play in the first two summer league games, which TB supposed was pre-planned. He did play in the next two and he played like he did at Princeton, which is to say he did everything well.

In his first game, he was +16 during his time on the court. He scored (six points), rebounded (two boards), passed and especially defended, guarding players from 6-2 to 7-0. Detroit won that game 94-90 against the Toronto Raptors.

In his second game, Evbuomwan had nine points, two assists, two rebounds and two steals in a 79-73 win over San Antonion (who did not dress No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama). Evbuomwan was a plus-12 in that game.

Evbuomwan is the kind of player who will make an impact in any game he plays. His skill set is just too good and too well-rounded. He also isn't someone who makes no contribution if his shots aren't falling, which adds to his value. 

Of course, speaking of rooting interests, there's always the United States of America.

Princeton alums Blake Dietrick and Carlie Littlefield played together for the U.S. team at the 3x3 Women's Series event in Pristina, Kosovo, this weekend and came away with the championship.

Between them, Dietrick and Littlefield scored 2,260 points, and that's without a senior season for Littlefield. Dietrick was the 2015 Ivy League Player of the Year after helping Princeton to the 30-0 regular season and then an NCAA tournament win, the program's first.

Littlefield would have been the 2021 Ivy Player of the Year had the pandemic not gotten in the way. The two combined for six Ivy League championships in the seven seasons that they played.

They finally got to be teammates this weekend in Kosovo, and it paid off in a big way. The U.S. team went unbeaten in pool play and then defeated Israel in the semifinals and France 14-13 in the finals. 

Want to watch the whole game? It takes 20 minutes, and it's pretty much what you'd expect from halfcourt 3x3, which is to say a lot of defense, a lot of physical play and a lot of offensive movement: