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PRINCETON MEN'S BASKETBALL SEASON TICKETS 2023-24 NOW ON SALE

TigerBlog went to the women's basketball team's social media accounts yesterday to see what was new on the trip to Spain and Greece.

The first picture he saw was of the team in front of a large arch in Barcelona. TB knew it well; he was on that exact same spot in October with the men's lacrosse team. 

In fact, the post mentioned three things that the women's basketball team had done since it arrived: walking tour of La Sagrada Familia, bike tour of downtown and Las Ramblas and Barcelona Beach. The men's lacrosse team did all of those as well.

The trips aren't exactly the same. The women are off to Greece after Barcelona, while the lacrosse trip started out in Andorra, about three hours north of Barcelona. 

TB was in Greece once. It was back in 1974, when he went with his family. If you know much about what wsa going on with the Greeks at that time, you know that they were in a war with Turkey over the island of Cyprus. 

At the time that this all started, TB and his family were in Istanbul, hoping to get to Athens. It was not the easiest itinerary to work out, as TB recalls, but in the end, they did get there. Among his memories are all of the Turks wondering why anyone would want to go to Greece and all the Greeks glad that people had left Turkey.

He hasn't been back to either country since, but hey, maybe one day. As for the women's basketball team, it'll be in Greece later this week.

These international trips are amazing experiences for everyone involved. TB has been fortunate enough to be included on four of them to date.

In addition to the chance to be together as a team while experiencing foreign cultures and locations, it's also a chance to practice and compete in advance of the upcoming season. There will be three games for the women to play on the journey before returning to Princeton Tuesday.

Both the Princeton men and women enter the 2023-24 season off of extraordinary postseason moments. The women defeated North Carolina State in the first round of the NCAA tournament on a Grace Stone three-pointer in the final seconds, marking the second straight year and third time in the last seven seasons that the team has won its opening round NCAA game.

Prior to that, the Ivy League as a whole had exactly one NCAA win all-time.

As for the men, they won a pair of NCAA games, taking down Arizona and Missouri to reach the Sweet 16 as a 15th seed. 

What's easy to forget is that neither team was a lock to get to the postseason. Both had to win the league's automatic NCAA bid at the Ivy League tournament, and both teams were pushed hard to do so, both in the regular season and in the Ivy Madness.

As with any dream season, turning the page is not easy. You want to get back to that level of intensity, excitement and high stakes, obviously. You also never want to forget the run you just had.

At the same time, you're back at the beginning. There are informal workouts. Official practice is a few weeks away. There are missing faces, new faces and a new team dynamic.  

The Princeton men announced their schedule last week, and tickets are now on sale, as of yesterday. The link for more information is above.

Princeton's schedule includes three games in Mercer County before the first week of December ends. It starts with the game against Rutgers at the CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton, and then there will be three Jadwin games to follow.

The first is on Nov. 25 against Northeastern (when you come to that game, wish happy birthday to ticket queen Stephanie Sutton), whom Princeton beat 56-54 in the final of the tournament in London last November. The third game is Dec. 5 against Drexel, whom Princeton defeated in Philadelphia a year ago.

In between is Dec. 2 against Furman, a team Princeton has never before played. You know who has played Furman? Virginia, whom Furman defeated last year in the opening round of the NCAA tournament for its 28th win of the season.

The Ivy opener for Princeton is Jan. 6 against Harvard in Jadwin. The complete schedule is HERE.