Staying Updated

Well, that was a pretty dull first two rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. 

The field is down to the Sweet 16, and there is no team still standing that isn't from the SEC, the ACC, the Big Ten or the Big 12. There weren't too many riveting games, and one of the ones that was — Colorado State vs. Maryland — ended with a "did he walk or didn't he" controversy and the losing coach who bolted for the Big Ten (Minnesota) within hours.

Oh, and there was Maryland's Derik Queen, the one who either did or didn't walk, in the postgame interview, when he was asked what he likes most about his coach Kevin Willard. His response? 

"He did pay us the money."

Oh well. 

It reminded TigerBlog of when he was first in the newspaper business, way, way, way back when. A pitcher at a private school came in with the bases loaded in a one-run game in the last inning and got three strikeouts to end it. His quote? "That's what they pay me for." 

TB is pretty sure he was speaking metaphorically. It was the early 1980s after all. 

In the meantime, here are a few updates from the weekend:

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Princeton women's swimming and diving produced two All-Americans at the NCAA championships this past weekend at Washington State University. Those two would be sophomores Eleanor Sun and Dakota Tucker, and both did so in the 400 individual medley, where they finished 12th and 16th.

This was the first time since 2010 that the program produced multiple All-Americans in one season. It was a pretty good year for the Tigers, with a third-straight Ivy League championship with a team that is still pretty young, with a very strong sophomore class.

The men will will have their turn at the national championships in the same pool. Mitchell Schott, who has had a monster year, will compete as an individual in three events: 200 butterfly, 200 IM and 400 IM, as well as in two relays: 400 free (Schott, Patrick Dinu, Noah Sech and Brett Feyerick) and 800 free (Schott, Dinu, Sech and Arthur Balva). 

Schott, by the way, scored a perfect 96 points at the Ivy League meet last month.  

Divers Aidan Wang and George Callanan will also compete. 

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TigerBlog wrote about the softball team yesterday and its perfect weekend at its new facility. Karis Ford, who hit .750 for the weekend, was named the Ivy League's Player of the Week. Ford also had the first hit at the new Paul Field, with a home run in the first inning of Game 1 of the three-game sweep of Harvard.

The baseball team also began its Ivy season with a three-game sweep, in this case against Dartmouth. It was a long weekend, with 32 innings, including a Game 2 that saw the first 12 innings played Saturday and the final two Sunday before Jake Koonin won it on a two-run single in the bottom of the 14th, after Dartmouth had taken the lead with a home run in the top of the inning. 

Princeton won the first game 8-5 Saturday, and Game 2 was tied 5-5 after seven innings. And eight. And nine. And 10, 11, 12 and 13. Koonin, in fact, had left the bases loaded in the 12th —but he wouldn't let the second chance get away.

Princeton won the third game 8-1, behind seven shutout innings from Liam Kinneen.

The Tigers are at Rutgers tomorrow before hosting Columbia for three more this weekend. 

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The men's volleyball team had itself a league Player of the Week this weekend as well. In fact, it was Nyherowo Omene, who earned the EIVA Offensive Player of the Week for the third time this season.  

The 6-7 Omene is a senior who was a first-team all-league selection a year ago. This season, the South Holland, Ill., native is in the top 10 in the EIVA in five stat categories, including kills per set (first, 4.22), aces (second, 0.42), hitting percentage (third, .356), blocks (10th, 0.75/s) and points (also first, 5.08 per set).  

This weekend, Princeton will be at Sacred Heart for matches Friday night (7) and Saturday (4). Princeton is currently tied for first in the EIVA with George Mason.