See You At Sherrerd And Jadwin Tomorrow

If you work in college athletics as long as TigerBlog has, you get to meet all kinds of people all over the country along the way. 

Most of them are of the "nice guy" or "she does a good job" type, even if neither is actually true. There are a few, though, who really stand out. One such person is Art Chase.

Art is one of those people who always seems to be happy to see you. He makes you feel like a really good friend, even if it's been years since you last were in the same room. There aren't too many people TB has met through the years who have made that kind of impact on him. 

TigerBlog has known Art from his work through the years at Duke, where he went from sports information director to Senior Associate AD for External Relations. Now, after being in Durham for the last 25 years, Art has himself a new job: Director of Athletics at the Citadel.

Congrats Art. TB is really happy for his friend. Go Bulldogs (the Citadel ones)!!

It's not easy to go from athletic communications to athletic director. TigerBlog has known of a handful of people who have made that jump; those who have are all wildly impressive. 

Is the same true of someone who has a communications background who becomes the chair of the NCAA men's lacrosse rules committee? That's probably not as impressive, though it is rarer. 

The current chair of the committee (TigerBlog) and his predecessor as chair of the committee (Maryland head coach John Tillman) will both be at Sherrerd Field tomorrow for a huge early season men's lacrosse matchup. Princeton is 1-0 on the season after a very impressive 11-10 win over Penn State on the road last weekend, and Maryland is 3-0 with wins over Richmond, Loyola and Syracuse. 

Face-off is at noon.

Rankings? Maryland is No. 2 in two of the three major polls and No. 3 in the other. Princeton is No. 2 in the poll were Maryland is No. 3 and No. 5 in the other two. Clearly these are two of the best teams in the country. 

Now, here are a few things to know about this matchup: 

* Maryland is 5-0 against Princeton since the start of the 2022 season (three regular season games, the 2022 NCAA semifinals and 2024 NCAA opening round). In those 300 minutes, Maryland has never trailed and had the lead for 282 minutes. Maryland has made a living against Princeton jumping out to an early lead, dominating face-offs and milking possession times. Twice in the NCAA game last spring Maryland scored goals with one second left on the shot clock. That's crushing stuff.

* Princeton goalie Ryan Croddick made 22 saves last week against Penn State, the most ever by a Princeton goalie in his first career start. He also had an assist on a long outlet pass after a save. Croddick was the USA Lacrosse Magazine Division I Player of the Week and the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week. His opposite number tomorrow will be Logan McNaney. Even after last week, Croddick has played 92:09 career minutes, with 26 career saves. McNaney has made 55 career starts and played 3,319:49 career minutes, with 621 career saves.

* Maryland has held all three of its opponents to exactly seven goals. In its last 48 games, Princeton has played Maryland five times and the rest of the country 43 times. Of those five Maryland games, Princeton has reached double figures only once, and that was a 10-goal performance in the 2022 regular season. In the other 43 games, Princeton has reached double figures 40 times. 

Do with that information what you will. 

The lacrosse game will end around 2, which gives you plenty of time to go have a nosh and then head to Jadwin Gym, where there will be a basketball doubleheader tomorrow. It starts at 5:30 with a showdown for first place between Princeton and Columbia, both of whom are 9-1 in the league, one game ahead of 8-2 Harvard.

In the NET rankings, all three are in the top 50 in Division I. There are several prognostications that have all three in the upcoming NCAA tournament, which would be incredible. 

Columbia is the top scoring team in the league, at 73.8 points per game. Princeton is second in the league and 28th in Division I in scoring defense at 56.1 points per game. 

This has become a very special rivalry, with an unmissable intensity to each matchup. These games are not to be missed. 

The Princeton men's basketball team is home tonight (7) against Harvard and then again tomorrow (8) against surging Dartmouth. Princeton is tied for third in the league, a game back of the Big Green. 

Each Ivy men's team has five games to play before the start of the Ivy League tournament. This week will do a lot to start to straighten out who the four teams in Providence will be. 

So put that on your schedule for tomorrow. You can see the men's lacrosse game against Maryland, the women's basketball game against Columbia and the men's basketball game against Dartmouth and not miss a second of any of them. 

What more can you ask for on a February Saturday?