Tiger Eyes

Most, but not all eyes of Princeton fans, will be on Providence this weekend.

And why not? Brown University is the host of this weekend's Ivy League basketball tournaments, with the women to start tomorrow and the the men Friday. 

The schedule is this:

Tomorrow
Women's semifinal 1 - No. 1 Columbia vs. No. 4 Penn 4:30 (ESPN+)
Women's semifinal 2 - No. 2 Princeton vs. No. 3 Harvard 7:30 (ESPN+)

Saturday
Men's semifinal 1 - No. 1 Yale vs. No. 4 Princeton 11:00 am (ESPNU)
Men's semifinal 2 - No. 2 Cornell vs. No. 3 Dartmouth 2 (ESPNEWS)
Women's final - 5:30 (ESPNU)

Saturday
Men's final - noon (ESPN2)

The winners this weekend get the automatic bids to the NCAA tournament. On the women's side, it's almost a lock that more than one — and possibly three — will be in the NCAA field. 

Football is the driver of all things realignment and money in college sports, and yet for the month of March it all becomes about basketball. This week has already had some great storylines, a few brutal losses, some unseen runs deep into conference tournaments and championship celebrations of pure joy. 

And this is just the warm up for the NCAA tournament. So yes, Ivy Madness is a huge event.

It's not the only thing to keep an eye on this weekend, though.

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The men's lacrosse team will be at Cornell Saturday at noon in a huge Ivy League opener for both. 

Princeton is the No. 2 team ranked team in the country in all three major polls. Cornell is sixth after its first loss of the year, at home last week against Penn State. To give you an idea of how even Princeton and Cornell probably are, Princeton and Cornell both went to OT against Penn State, though the Tigers won their game. 

Princeton, in fact, has wins over No. 4 Penn State, No. 5 North Carolina and No. 8 Duke (as well as unranked Rutgers). The team's only loss is to No. 1 Maryland. 

What word best describes the recent history for Princeton against Cornell? Excruciating. 

Cornell defeated Princeton 15-14 a year ago on Sherrerd Field. Two years ago at Cornell? 14-13 Big Red in overtime. Three years ago? 18-15 Cornell. The year before that? 14-13 Cornell. 

Cornell's C.J. Kirst (188) and Princeton's Coulter Mackesy (141) rank 1-2 among active Division I players in goals scored. The most important player on the field could be Princeton defenseman Colin Mulshine, who has had as much success as anyone while guarding Kirst. 

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The NCAA indoor track and field championships will be held in Virginia Beach tomorrow and Saturday. 

Princeton, the Ivy League champion for the women and the men, will be represented by three individuals and one relay.

For the women, Mena Scratchard will compete in the first track event of the championships when she runs in one of the mile semifinals at 3:30. 

For the men, Greg Foster will compete in the long jump finals tomorrow at 7. Foster's qualifying jump for this event is 7.83 meters, which ties Arkansas' Henry Kiner as the top marks heading into the NCAAs.

 Harrison Witt will run the mile as well, with the semifinals at 7 tomorrow. Think this race is wide open? There are 16 runners in the field, and their qualifying times from 1-16 are separated by four seconds. 

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The women's water polo team is in California for spring break, with a busy last few days there planned. Princeton began its trip with a 9-8 win over No. 12 Loyola Marymount and played No. 23 Pomona-Pitzer last night. 

Up next is a game today (4 Eastern) against No. 4 UCLA. That one will be followed by four more games at the San Diego State Invite: vs. No. 2 USC and No. 20 San Diego State Friday and then Cal State-Northridge and No. 15 Indiana Saturday. 

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The other teams on the road will all finish up their Spring Break schedules this weekend. For the softball team, that means four games at the University of Missouri, beginning today with games against South Dakota State and the host team. Tomorrow, Princeton will take on Quinnipiac and Michigan. 

The baseball team is still in Virginia, where today is an off day before four games in three days at Liberty. 

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The complete schedule is HERE.