A Men's Hoops Sweep On The Road

You know what's next to impossible to do? 

Not find out the score of a game you want to watch after the fact. TigerBlog tried it twice this weekend and went 0 for 2. 

The first time was Friday night, when he didn't want to know the result of the Princeton-Harvard men's basketball game. The second time was Saturday night later, when he didn't want to know the result of the Princeton-Dartmouth men's basketball game. 

He was busy, and he figured he'd watch them later. He went 0.5 for 2.

It started to go off the rails Friday night, when he got a text message from his colleague Elliott Carr. It turned out that Xaivian Lee had 22 points in the first half against the Crimson, and Elliott wanted to know the last time a Princeton men's player had a 40-point game.

The answer, of course, is Bill Bradley. He's the only Princeton men's basketball player ever with at least 40 in a game, and he did it 11 times. On the women's side Bella Alarie did it twice. 

Knowing that Lee had 22 at the break, TB figured Princeton was doing well. When he finally was able to log on to watch the game, he picked it up at halftime, with the Tigers ahead 43-31.

The benefit of watching the game from that point is that you can fast forward through the media timeouts. That certainly speeds things up. 

It didn't take TB very long to watch the final 20 minutes. Lee finished with 27, and the Tigers won 66-53. 

The next night? 

TigerBlog was going to write the story about the Ivy League women's swimming and diving championships while he watched the Princeton-Dartmouth game. So what happened? 

Instead of doing directly to the women's swimming and diving results link, he instead went to the Ivy League website. And there staring him in the face were the results of Saturday's men's basketball games.

Oh well. If you missed it, Princeton defeated Dartmouth 68-56. Also, the Princeton women won the swimming and diving championship, and TB will have more on that tomorrow.

For the Tigers, it was a very, very successful weekend in the Ivy League race. Princeton went on the road and got two big wins, and it also got the result it needed Friday night in Ithaca, when Cornell defeated Yale.

Yale bounced back Saturday to win at Columbia. Harvard rebounded to beat Penn. The biggest news came Saturday night in Ithaca, when Brown held off Cornell for the first win this season by another team against either Princeton, Yale or Cornell.

When it all played out, Princeton, Yale and Cornell were all 9-2 in the league, and all three clinched spots in the upcoming Ivy League tournament. Harvard and Brown were both 5-6, followed by Columbia at 4-7. Those three will compete for the final spot in the ILT. Penn (2-9) and Dartmouth (1-10) have been mathematically eliminated. 

Princeton, by the way, is 21-3 overall. When was the last time Princeton was 21-3 or better after 24 games? That was 1997-98, when the Tigers went 27-2 for the year. 

There are two weekends left in the Ivy League season, with two games for each team this weekend and then one the final weekend. 

Princeton hosts doubleheaders this coming weekend, with the women at home against Harvard at 5 Friday and then the men against Columbia at 8 and then the women against Dartmouth Saturday at 4 and the men against Cornell at 7. 

The teams both finish their seasons against Penn on March 9, with the women at home at 2 and the men at the Palestra at 6. TB will have more on the women later in the week. 

Remember last year at this time? Princeton lost a game at home against Yale and then won six straight, the final two of the regular season and then two each in the Ivy tournament and NCAA tournament to reach the Sweet 16.

What do the next few weeks hold?  

For the men, the game against Cornell is the last of the regular season between the top three teams. Columbia Friday night is a game the Lions desperately need. 

Every game is big. Every possession is to be valued. It's the way it's supposed to be this time of year.