The Week In Women's Hoops

TigerBlog starts today with congratulations to yet another wedding between two former Princeton athletes.

This time, it's former women's basketball player Blake Dietrick, the 2015 Ivy League Player of the Year, and Greg Seifert, a 2016 first-team All-Ivy League men's soccer player. Where was the wedding held? The Princeton Chapel, of course.

How many Princeton athlete-marries-Princeton athlete weddings have there been all-time? A lot. 

Dietrick is the one of only two players in Princeton women's basketball history to have at least 1,000 points and 300 assists in her career. The other? That would be Ellen Tomasiewicz, not to be confused with her sister CB Tomasiewicz, who scored more points than any other Princeton women's basketball player (1,622) without ever making a three-pointer. 

Dietrick is also in the running for the U.S. Olympic 3-on-3 team. 

On the subject of women's basketball, TigerBlog got in a discussion the other day with someone about college basketball players and name recognition. It is TB's belief that the three most well-known current college players are all women.

As an aside, as the person with whom TB talked about this is a Princeton alum, his first answer was "Xavian Lee." When TB suggested excluding Princeton players, he came up with the same three that TB did.

Which three? UConn's Paige Bueckers is third, LSU's Angel Reese is second and Iowa's Caitlin Clark is first. 

He also likened it to a few decades ago, when the women's tennis players were way more famous than the men. That this happened in women's college basketball would have been unheard of back then, as would the idea that the women's basketball tournament could be the biggest part of a separate media rights deal for NCAA championship events.

What's the reason for this? There are several. First, the women's game has vastly improved, in both its quality of play and its visibility. Second, the men's game has long been about the coaches more than the players. Lastly, the men's players turn over so quickly that who knows who is playing where? 

Seriously. Name five Power Conference men's basketball players. If you're a casual fan, you probably can't.

Of course, the same Princeton fan did name four Power Five players: Purdue's Zach Eady, along with Ryan Langborg, Jordan Dingle and Chris Ludlum.

Interesting, right? 

Closer to home — even though it was on the road — the Princeton women opened their Ivy League season with a 41-point win at Cornell (79-38). It was classic Carla Berube, as the Tigers allowed only six first-quarter points and never let up on the defensive end.

Offensively, Kaitlyn Chen and Madison St. Rose combined for 35 points on 16 for 26 shooting. A total of 12 different players scored in the game.

Ellie Mitchell had 10 more rebounds, moving her past Bella Alarie into second all-time at Princeton with 973 for her career. She needs 126 more to tie Margaret Meier's record of 1,099, which has stood since 1978. 

On the men's side, only Bill Bradley (1,008) and Whitey Fulcomer (995) have more than Mitchell.

All eight Ivy women's teams played this past Saturday, and Columbia (over Penn), Harvard (over Yale) and Brown (over Dartmouth) were the other winners. The preseason poll had Princeton, Columbia and Harvard as the top three, which was the top three a year ago. 

Brown was picked in sixth place, but the Bears are now 10-4 with their 68-39 win over the Big Green.

For reasons that TB has not bothered to look into, the women's schedules and men's schedules are not inverses, as they have always been. For instance, Princeton men opened up at home against Harvard.

While the men all play one game this coming week (Monday games on Martin Luther King Day), the women will play twice each, with one Saturday and another Monday. 

Princeton will be on the road twice, first at Harvard Saturday and then at Dartmouth Monday.

Harvard will head to Brown Monday after the Princeton game and after Brown's game at Yale Saturday. Columbia hosts Cornell and Yale. Penn make the same trip Princeton does. The league standings come Monday night will start to take at least a little bit of shape. 

After that, Princeton will have 11 league games left, seven of which will be in Jadwin. 

The first of those, by the way, will be Jan. 20 against Columbia.