Wide Variety Wednesday

TigerBlog is offering a wide variety for your Wednesday:

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So if you could be with any Princeton team right now, it would have to be the men's volleyball team, right? 

In case you haven't seen the schedule, Princeton is in Honolulu right now. The Tigers will play the first of two matches against the University of Hawaii tonight — well, actually tomorrow morning Eastern time, since it starts at 7 Hawaii time — with the second match Friday. 

Hawaii is ranked No. 4 nationally, while Princeton is No. 19. The Tigers were picked fourth in the EIVA preseason poll.

Speaking of the EIVA, Hawaii is 34-10 all-time against the league — 17-10 against Penn State and 17-0 against everyone else. The Rainbow Warriors are 2-0 against the EIVA this season already, after having swept Harvard, at home of course.

If you're in Honolulu, well, good for you. TigerBlog was there once, back in December 1998, when the men's basketball team won the Rainbow Classic. That was a fun trip. 

One of his most vivid memories is the first morning after he arrived, which had been after midnight. It wasn't until he went downstairs in the daylight that he realized the hotel had an open-air lobby, one that looked out over Waikiki Beach. Yes. It was very nice. 

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The men's and women's squash teams had themselves a big weekend, sweeping Yale and Trinity. All six teams involved were ranked in the top four. 

The Ivy League and national championship races are going to be extraordinary, as Princeton chases Penn (No. 1 on the men's side) and Harvard (No. 1 on the women's side). 

The real winner so far, though, is the brand-new racquet center in Princeton's Meadows Neighborhood. If you haven't seen it yet, you definitely want to make sure you get there for a match. Your next chance will be this weekend, as both teams host Cornell Friday and Columbia Saturday. 

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Do you play Wordle? TigerBlog does, religiously. 

TB was a long-time squash player, and in one way, Wordle is like squash. How so? In squash, you can start out a point looking good and then have one bad shot ruin everything. The same is true of Wordle. You can have a great start and then make one bad guess and then, well, the rest of the day is ruined.

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Mitchell Schott swam two individual races last weekend against Navy and Kenyon and set program records in both, with the 1,000 freestyle Friday and the 500 freestyle Saturday. 

A year ago, Schott was part of the runner-up in the 400 and 800 free relays while also finishing fourth in the 100 free, fifth in the 200 free and sixth in the 200 IM at the Ivy championship meet. This year's Ivy meet is more than a month away and will be held at Brown Feb. 26-March 1.

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Speaking of what's coming up, you know what's a month from today? That would be opening day for the men's and women's lacrosse seasons. 

The men will open their season at Penn State on Feb. 15 as they begin the run for a fourth-straight NCAA tournament appearance. The women, who returned to the NCAA tournament last year after a one-year absence, will be home that day to take on Virginia to start their season.

The first pitch of the softball season is the day before, as Princeton will be at North Carolina Feb. 14-16, with five games on the schedule. The three opponents will be Drexel, George Mason and the host Tar Heels. 

Princeton won the Ivy League and Ivy League tournament championships a year ago and then got a win over Ole Miss in the NCAA tournament regional. 

The baseball season starts one week later, with a four-game series at Miami.

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There was an athletic department staff retreat last week that ended with pickleball. TigerBlog has played a handful of times, and each time he comes away thinking that he should be playing more and more. 

The athletic department IT man extraordinaire, Bryan Fitzwater, had never played pickleball until last Thursday. It's quite possible that if you're looking for him and can't find him that he's devoted himself full time to the sport.

 

Net Results

TigerBlog was watching the Washington-Tampa Bay playoff game Sunday night when he remembered that the Brooklyn Nets also had a game at the same time.

Why not check out the score to see how Tosan Evbuomwan was doing? 

Actually, it turned to be an opportune time. The game between the Nets and the Utah Jazz was 1) in overtime and 2) being shown live on NBA TV. 

When TigerBlog checked out the live stats, he saw that Evbuomwan was having a huge night. As he watched the remainder of the game, it was clear that Evbuomwan's impact was everywhere. 

The Princeton alum is new to the Nets. He's also made a huge contribution quickly to a team that is struggling with injuries.

The Nets would lose to the Jazz 112-111, yes. Had they won, it would have been because of Evbuomwan, who had a career-high 22 points on 7 for 8 shooting from the field. He also hit a pair of foul shots with five seconds remaining in OT to put the Nets ahead 111-110, only to see Utah get the game-winner three seconds later. 

A career night for @Tosan_Evb!

Last night against the Utah Jazz, he finished with a career and team-high 22 points on 7-for-8 shooting and five rebounds!#MakeShots 🐯🏀 | #PrincetonPros pic.twitter.com/rQO5wE09kI

— Princeton Men’s Basketball (@PrincetonMBB) January 13, 2025

Evbuomwan had 11 points in his first two games with Brooklyn, an average of 5.5. Since then, he has had 13, 10 and 22 points, an average of 15 per game. 

Here is what Brooklyn head coach Jordi Fernandez had to say about Evbuomwan after the game in Utah: 

"Amazing. He's 7/8 from the field, 22 points. He's always under control and looks like a guy who has been there before. He's 23... I'm very happy to see him [play], keep working with him, keep developing him. He's doing his job."

Evbuomwan was the leader of the 2023 Princeton Sweet 16 team. He got his feet wet last year with the Pistons and Grizzlies, got off to a blistering start in the G League this season and now has a great opportunity in Brooklyn. In all he's averaging 11.2 points and 4.2 rebounds while shooting 57.1 percent from the field and 36 percent from three in 24 minutes per night.

Meanwhile, his alma mater won its first Ivy League game this past Saturday, defeating Harvard 68-64 in Cambridge. The win was the seventh straight for the Tigers over the Crimson.

Xaivian Lee, who will get his own chance to the one that Evbuomwan has seized, led Princeton with 22 points. What a year Lee is having, right? He's now had five games of at least 20 points, and that doesn't even count the one where he had the first recorded triple-double by a Princeton men's player (18 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists against St. Joseph's).

Another great sign was the effort that Caden Pierce had, with nine points and eight rebounds against Harvard after he had been injured two games earlier, against Akron. 

Next up for Princeton, like it usually has been all of these years, is a trip to Dartmouth (tip is Saturday at 2) after a trip to Harvard. Unlike those decades, this time those trips are separated by a week, as the Ivy League schedule has been spread out more the last few years. 

Dartmouth is one of the other three teams who won its league opener, along with Cornell and Yale. The Big Red surprised, if that's the right word, Columbia, who had a great pre-league record of 11-2, by a 94-82 score. Yale took down Brown 79-58. 

As for the Big Green, they defeated Penn 73-70, running their winning streak to three after a four-game losing streak before that. Included in the current run is a 30-point win over Vermont, and Dartmouth also has a win over Boston College on its resume. 

There will be a quick turnaround for all 16 Ivy teams between the games Saturday and then the Monday games on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. For Princeton's men, that would mean the home Ivy opener, when Columbia will be in Jadwin Gym at 2.

You can also follow the Nets between now and the weekend, since the team is now on a five-game Western trip that continues tonight in Portland.

Chea For The Win

Okay, you want to know one way to measure a great player? 

Consider this: 

Player A: 2 for 6 from the field, 1 for 4 from three-point range, seven points.
Player B: 1 for 1 from the field, two points.

Player A was Ashley Chea Saturday afternoon against Harvard for the first 39:59. Player B was Ashley Chea in the final second of the same game. 

Chea may not have had the best game of her career. She did have one of the clutchest (is that a word?) shots of her career. The result? Princeton 52, Harvard 50. 

And that's what great players do. 

To be more specific, Princeton and Harvard were tied at 50-50 in the final seconds, Crimson with the ball. Parker Hill, though, blocked a potential game-winning shot by Harvard, leading to a held ball and possession to Princeton with 3.7 seconds to play. 

Because the ball can be advanced off a timeout in women's college basketball, Princeton then took over near midcourt. Chea took the inbounds pass, took one long dribble that brought her just inside the three-point line and swished it as the clock reached zeroes. 

One little note about that: 1) It was only the second Princeton women's buzzer-beater in 22 years, after Grace Stone did so in 2022.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS @ashleyycheaa!!!!!#GetStops 🐯🏀 pic.twitter.com/grCSBWwkZw

— Princeton WBB (@PrincetonWBB) January 11, 2025

Also, think about what Chea did. 

First of all, she was not having a great shooting day. Second, the shot she took was not one that you spend a great deal of time practicing. It wasn't an open look for a three. It wasn't a step-back three. It wasn't a drive or floater. 

It was something of a frantic shot, off a dribble that took the ball a bit further away from her than she might have wanted. And yet? 

Swish. Game over. 

What was it that TigerBlog said before? That's what great players do.

Speaking of "great," the game itself was a great game. The only thing missing was the month of March.

Harvard came into the game winner of 10 straight and 12-1 overall. Princeton is the standard-bearer for Ivy League women's basketball greatness.

It was only Game 2 of the Ivy schedule for all of the league's women's teams. Princeton and Harvard won their first game (the Tigers over Cornell; Harvard over Yale) by a combined 133-82. 

While both teams put up big numbers offensively last week, this time it was a wire-to-wire defensive battle. Such games tend to favor the Tigers. 

In fact, since Carla Berube became head coach, you want to know what her team's record is in games in which neither team has made it out of the 50s? The game against Harvard was the 11th such game. 

Her record? 

How about 11-0? Is that good? 

The Ivy League has already established itself as a multiple NCAA bid league, something that has now happened twice in its history. The NCAA tournament isn't exactly around the corner, but this year could be the third time. 

As TB pointed out last week, there are three league teams highly ranked in the NET rankings. Right now, Harvard is still the highest at No. 38, followed by Princeton at No. 44 and Columbia at No. 52. 

Yes, there are four teams at 190 or above, but that only makes the head-to-head matchups of the top three even more important. Right now, those top three are a combined 34-10 overall (Columbia and Princeton, along with Dartmouth, are all 2-0 in the league).

Of course, you can't look at a basketball season only in terms of what it might mean for the Madness at the end. No, you also have to enjoy the moments along the way.

Saturday's game was one of those moments that will stand out for 2024-25. It was a great game, a tense matchup the entire 40 minutes. 

And it took all 40 minutes for there to be a winner. In the end, on this day in Jadwin Gym, that would be Princeton, because Ashley Chea drained the game-winner as time expired on a day when her shots weren't falling like they usually do. 

Hey, it's what great players do.

Tip-Off Saturday

It appears that the following two items are definitely true: 1) people love top 25 rankings and 2) a lot of people have an opinion on why the one they just read had to be written by an idiot.

Well, maybe the second one isn't exactly true. On the other hand, TigerBlog did get some feedback yesterday on his list of the 25 greatest coaches in Princeton history that suggested that perhaps others could have done better. 

And that's fine. That's how it should be. 

Also, TB didn't include any honorable mentions. He can tell you that he struggled to have to leave out people like Gail Ramsay, Bob Surace, Sean Driscoll, Luis Nicolao, Bill Carmody, Jimmy Reed, Al Nies and others. 

If those last two names aren't familiar, Reed was a longtime head coach for men's soccer and wrestling, beginning in the 1930s, around the time Nies was ending his career as the head coach of soccer and lacrosse. 

This was an easier project than the top 25 athletes, partly because there were far fewer coaches than athletes and partly because it wasn't a group project. 

And it seems like it was well-received and started a few conversations, which is also good. 

So thank you to Mark Schwartz, the men's lacrosse alum who suggested it in the first place. 

If TB were to come back in a few years and update this, then head men's basketball coach Mitch Henderson would certainly be in the conversation. Carla Berube, the head women's coach, is already on the list. 

They both have big games tomorrow, one in Jadwin Gym and the other in Cambridge, Mass. Both games tip-off at 2.

For the men, it's the Ivy League opener for all eight teams. Your schedule is Princeton at Harvard, Brown at Yale, Cornell at Columbia and Penn at Dartmouth. 

Princeton brings an 11-4 overall record into the league schedule. Only Columbia, at 11-2, has a better record. Harvard is 5-8 in its non-league schedule, with a 71-65 win over Bowdoin in its most recent game.

Dalen Davis, the sophomore guard, is the reigning Ivy League Player of the Week, after his game-winning three-pointer in the 76-75 win over Akron in a game in which he had 18 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals.

As for the women, this is the second game of the league season, though the schedule is the inverse of the men's. Princeton, Columbia, Harvard and Dartmouth are all 1-0. The first three of those teams are all in the top 52 of the Division I NET rankings.

Columbia is at No. 52. Princeton is at No. 44. Harvard is No. 37. That's a great non-league performance for the league, which twice has gotten an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament (Princeton in 2016, Columbia last season). 

Harvard is 12-1 on the season. Without looking, do you know which team beat the Crimson? Hint - that team also has a win over Princeton this season.

Harvard's best win is over Indiana. It's most amazing win came in its most recent game, when the Crimson took down Boston University 86-26. 

What was the score of that game after one quarter? It was 20-15. That means that Harvard outscored BU 66-11 for the final three quarters. 

Oh, and the Harvard loss was to Quinnipiac, though the Crimson have won 10 straight since. 

What kind of game will it be? Well, both teams have similar offensive numbers, as Harvard averages 70.3 and Princeton 68.3. Defensively, Harvard leads the league at 52.5, while Princeton is at 59.5 — though the Tigers have built their Berube-dominant teams starting on the defensive end out.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the key cog for Harvard is Harmoni Turner, whose 20.7 points per game average is 2.3 better than any other player in the league. 

It's a good-looking Saturday of Princeton basketball, with one game home and one on the road. Keep in mind that there is a long way to go until the Ivy tournament tips off on March 14.

This is only Game 2 of 14 in the league for the women and Game 1 of 14 for the men.

Still, for early January? 

It's a great taste of what's to come.

The Top 25 Princeton Coaches Of All-Time

Okay, as promised, it's TigerBlog's list of the 25 greatest coaches in Princeton Athletics history. 

First, though, a few parameters and thoughts. 

TB thought about adding a minimum number of years to have been a head coach, because longevity does have to factor into this. Then as he wondered how long this minimum would have to be, he decided against it. 

He'll call this "the Eve Kraft/Butch van Breda Kolff rule."

Second, and this is very, very important — great coaches cannot be measured simply by championships won. There is a great difference between the challenges faced by coaches in various sports and ceilings that they can reach. 

This is called "the Chris Ayres rule."

Third, only what the coach did as Princeton's head coach counts. This is "the Chris Sailer rule."

Lastly, some coaches have walked into situations that seemed to be hopeless while others walked into situations that were much more promising. While the coaches who orchestrated the biggest turnarounds stand out, it's not fair to punish anyone because of the success that was already there.

This is "the Carla Berube rule."

Feel free to disagree, but if you say "so-and-so should be on the list, you have to tell him who should be removed. Like the project with the Top 25 Princeton athletes of all time, this was no easy — and some legendary coaches did not make the cut.

And with that, here is TB's list:

No. 25 - Bill Clarke, baseball (1900-17, 1919-27, 1936-44) 
Bill Clarke won nearly two-thirds of the 892 games he coached at Princeton, bouncing back and forth between his time as a Major League Baseball player (he won a World Series in 1905 with the Giants) to have three separate head coaching appearances. His record was 564-322-10, and the field on which the Tigers now play is named in his honor.

No. 24 - Glen Nelson, women's volleyball (1982-2008)/men's volleyball (1979-2008)
Glenn Nelson won more games than anyone else who ever coached at Princeton, with a total of 1,109 between the men's and women's teams. He coached the women to 11 Ivy League championships, and he became the first coach ever to take a school's men's and women's team to the NCAA tournament when he did so in 1998. The possessor of as large a personality as anyone who ever has represented the Tigers, a newspaper headline upon his retirement read: "Wacky Princeton Volleyball Coach To Retire."

No. 23 - Rob Orr, men's swimming and diving (1979-2019)
Rob Orr led Princeton to 330 dual meet victories, the third-most in Division I history when he retired. His teams won 23 Ivy titles with 38 individual All-Americans and 24 All-American relays. He led Princeton to five Top 20 finishes at the NCAA Championships, and his swimmers won two NCAA relay titles. His team never failed to finish first or second in the league in every season in which he coached at the Ivy event. 

No. 22 - Eve Kraft, women's tennis (1971-73)
Eve Kraft was the first coach ever of any Princeton women's team, and she put together a perfect 26-0 record in her three seasons with the Tigers. Princeton also won the Eastern Championship each of her seasons. Because there was no budget to pay women's coaches at the time, Kraft was a volunteer during her time as head coach.

No. 21 - Peter Farrell, women's track and field and cross country (1977-2016)
Peter Farrell was the only head coach the women's track and field and cross country programs knew for the first 39 years of the program. He led Princeton to 27 Ivy League Heptagonal championships and two "triple crowns," winning all three Heps titles in the same academic year in 1980-81 and 2010-11.

No. 20 - Jim Barlow, men's soccer (1996-present)
Jim Barlow has won more games than any other soccer coach in Princeton history, with a career record of 222-182-70. He has led Princeton to six Ivy League championships and eight NCAA tournaments, and he is the only coach to led the Tigers to a perfect 7-0-0 record in Ivy games. His most recent team won the first Ivy League tournament in program history.

No. 19 - Cindy Cohen, softball (1983-2000)
Cindy Cohen became the head coach of softball in the program's second season. She then went 559-278-3 in her 18 seasons, winning 12 Ivy League championships, including each of her first six. She also took her team to the NCAA tournament for the first three times in program history, including back-to-back trips to the Women's College World Series in 1995 and 1996.

No. 18 - Bob Callahan, men's squash (1981-2013)
Bob Callahan won better than 80 percent of his matches as Tiger head coach, going 316-68 with 11 Ivy League championships and three national championships, including an epic win in the 2012 national final to end Trinity's 13-year title run. Callahan, a member of the College Squash and U.S. Squash Halls of Fame, is perhaps the greatest gentleman and sportsman who ever represented Princeton.

No. 17 - Charles Caldwell, football (1945-56)
Charles Caldwell went 70-30-3 as the head coach of the Tigers in the post-war era. He also coached the team to its longest winning streak ever (24 games, between 1949-52), a record that still stands, as well as the team's most recent national championship (1950) and its only Heisman Trophy winner. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

No. 16 - Susan Teeter, women's swimming and diving (1994-2017)
Susan Teeter spent 33 seasons as head coach of the women's swimming and diving team, and she won the Ivy League championship more than half of those times — 17, including 12 in her final 18 seasons. Princeton's all-time leader in wins, she won 229 dual meet victories with only 62 losses (.788), and she led Princeton to two different winning streaks of at least 40 straight. She also coached 22 All-Americans.

No. 15 - Curtis Jordan, women's rowing (1984-90/men's heavyweight rowing 1991-2009)
Curtis Jordan is the only Princeton head coach who ever won a national championship with a women's team and a men's team (excluding co-ed fencing). Jordan's women's team won the 1990 IRA national championship with the women, after also leading the team to two Eastern Sprints titles, and he then won the 1996 and 1998 IRA national titles with the men's heavyweights, with whom he won the program's first five Eastern Sprints championships.

No. 14 - Julie Shackford, women's soccer (1995-2014)
Julie Shackford went 203-115-29 in her 20 seasons with the Tigers. She also coached the team to six Ivy League championships and eight NCAA tournament appearances, and she is the only Ivy women's soccer coach — and any Ivy coach in a 64-team field — to bring her team to the NCAA Final Four.

No. 13 - Betty Constable, women's squash (1971-91)
Betty Constable was the first head coach of the women's squash program, and she quickly built it into the standard of the college women's game. Her teams went 117-16 in dual matches, and she won 12 national championships (the Howe Cup is named for her family) and the first two Ivy titles. She is a member of the U.S. Squash Hall of Fame.

No. 12 - Kristen Holmes, field hockey (2003-15)
Kristen Holmes went 164-80 as Princeton's head coach, with 12 Ivy League championships in 13 seasons, including her final 11. The biggest item on her resume, though, is the 2012 NCAA championship, the only one any Ivy League field hockey team has ever won.

No. 11 - Butch van Breda Kolff, men's basketball (1962-67)
Burch van Breda Kolff, one of the founders of the Princeton men's basketball coaching tradition, had a short, but wildly successful tenure with the Tigers. His record in his five seasons was 103-31, with four Ivy titles and four NCAA appearances, including a run to the Final Four in 1965.

No. 10 - Bill Roper, football (1906-08, 10-11, 19-30)
Bill Roper, Princeton's first full-time football coach, still holds the record for most wins at Princeton with 89, along with 28 losses and 16 ties. He coached Princeton to four national championships, the last of which was the 1922 "Team of Destiny." The top senior male athlete award at Princeton is named for him.

No. 9 - Carla Berube, women's basketball (2019-present)
Carla Berube has won four Ivy League titles in four seasons, with three Ivy League tournament championships in three appearances in the event. Her overall record is 110-21, with an Ivy record of 54-3 before Saturday's game against Harvard, and she has coached her team to a pair of NCAA tournament wins, over Kentucky in 2022 and North Carolina State in 2023.

No. 8 - Zoltan Dudas, men's and women's fencing (2006-present)
Zoltan Dudas has taken Princeton to a top 10 national finish in every one of his seasons with the Tigers, with the ultimate accomplishment of an NCAA championship in 2013, with runner-up finishes in 2012 and 2014. He has also coached seven fencers to an NCAA individual championship while also winning 15 Ivy League titles between the two programs, with whom he has a combined record of 722-191.

No. 7 - Chris Ayres, wrestling (2006-23)
Chris Ayres had perhaps the most thankless task of any Princeton coach ever, taking over a program that had won only one Ivy League match in the previous five years. By the time he left in 2023, Ayres had turned Princeton into a perennial entry into the national Top 20, won the program's first Ivy League title in 34 years in 2022 and produced 14 All-American selections — as well as Princeton's second NCAA individual champion.

No. 6 - Lori Dauphiny, women's rowing (1997-present)
Lori Dauphiny is the only women's rowing coach to lead her program to every NCAA regatta since the event began in 1997. She's also won 13 Ivy League championships and three NCAA championships, with the first varsity 8 in 2006 and 2011 and the varsity 4 in 2022. She's won 257 dual races, the most by any Princeton rowing coach, and has been a two-time national Coach of the Year, as well as an inductee into the CRCA Hall of Fame.

No. 5 - Courtney Banghart, women's basketball (2007-19)
Courtney Banghart took over a program that had never been to an NCAA tournament before her arrival and then went to eight of them in her last 10 seasons, including a win over Wisconsin-Green Bay in 2015 for the first NCAA win in program history (as part of a 31-1 season). Banghart began her career going 23-37 in her first two years and then 231-66 in her final 10.

No. 4 - Chris Sailer, women's lacrosse (1987-2022)
Chris Sailer went 433-168 in 36 seasons as Princeton's head coach, giving her the second-highest win total in Division I history and the most by any Division I coach ever at one school. She also led Princeton to three NCAA championships in 27 NCAA appearances, with 16 Ivy League championships as well. She is a member of the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

No. 3 - Pete Carril, men's basketball (1967-96)
Pete Carril will forever be a part of the fabric of the entire University for his legendary career as a basketball coach, sociologist and educator. His Princeton resume included 13 Ivy League titles and 11 NCAA appearances, as well as the 1975 NIT championship. His 29-year record at Princeton was 514-261, with his final win the huge NCAA tournament victory of UCLA. Carril was elected to the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1998.

No. 2 - Fred Samara, men's track and field (1977-2023)
Fred Samara has won more Ivy League championships than any other coach in any sport at any school, a staggering total of 51 Heptagonal titles, including 10 "triple crowns." He also coached 502 individual Heps champions, had 10 of his athletes to NCAA championships and saw 101 of his athletes earn All-American honors. He was a 13-time Ivy League Coach of the Year and 18-time US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Regional Coach of the Year, as well as a 2017 inductee into the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame.

No. 1 - Bill Tierney, men's lacrosse (1988-2009)
Bill Tierney came to Princeton to take over a program that had not won an Ivy League championship in more than 20 years and had never been to the NCAA tournament. A newspaper story announcing his hiring questioned why he would even want the job in the first place. In his 22 seasons, he put together a record of 238-86 while winning six NCAA championships and advancing to 10 NCAA Final Fours. He also won 14 Ivy League championships. His 1996-98 teams remain the most recent to win three straight NCAA championships, and his 1997 team was a perfect 15-0. He is a member of the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. 

Love Me Tender

Happy 90th birthday Elvis Presley. 

He's actually been gone for longer than he was alive, having been born on this day in 1935 and then having passed away on Aug. 16, 1977, at the age of 42. 

There have been very few cultural phenomenons in this country who have been more impactful than Elvis. Back in 1956, his first movie — "Love Me Tender" — debuted, including in Princeton. On that day, the Daily Princetonian took a poll to see what Princetonians thought of the King of Rock and Roll.

There were four different groups who were asked for their thoughts: Princeton students, Princeton professors, Princeton residents and Princeton High School girls. According to the Prince, the percentage of those who said they liked Elvis broke down this way: 

Princeton students: 40 percent
Princeton townspeople: 40 percent
Princeton professors: five percent (hah, that's hilarious)
Princeton High School girls: 72 percent (that's lower than TigerBlog would have thought)

Princeton Athletics will honor Elvis by having no games today. It will also honor whoever might have a birthday tomorrow — Joan Baez? Dave Matthews? Jimmy Page? Crystal Gale? — without any games as well.

If your birthday is Jan. 10, though, you are going to be awarded no such respect. Princeton will be having a big weekend beginning Friday and running through Sunday, by which time there will have been 22 events having been contested. 

It's not exactly as busy as it was back on that weekend in November, but it's an avalanche of competition when you consider that there were only 19 Princeton events between Dec. 9 and Jan. 9. That's 32 days. 

So where to start? 

There are two big basketball games, one at Princeton (women) and one in Cambridge (men), as the Tigers take on Harvard. TB will have more on those games later this week. 

Besides, there's so much else on the schedule (which you can see HERE).

If you haven't been to the new squash center, you have a big-time chance this weekend, as the Princeton men and women host Yale Saturday and Trinity Sunday. All four matches begin at noon. 

On the men's side, the current rankings go like this: 1) Penn, 2) Yale, 3) Princeton, 4) Trinity. Princeton is 3-0 as the schedule starts to heat up, and the Tigers are 26-1 in individual matches in those three team events, 9-0 wins over Drexel and Navy and an 8-1 win over Williams.

For the women, those rankings go 1) Harvard, 2) Trinity, 3) Penn, 4) Princeton. Yale is currently seventh.

There's home men's and women's swimming and diving too, as Navy and Kenyon come to DeNunzio Pool Friday (5) and Saturday (11). 

Then there's the weekend in hockey. There are four games between the Princeton men and women, three of which are on the road. 

The women's team is at Quinnipiac Friday and then Yale Saturday. If you look at the ECAC standings, you'll see the Tigers in seventh place, 1.5 points behind Yale, while Quinnipiac is six points ahead, in fourth. 

The men's team has a home-and-home with Quinnipiac. Princeton is tied for sixth with Cornell, while Quinnipiac is seven points ahead of both, in first place. 

In other words, both league races have a long way to go. 

By the way, if you're a current Princeton student or Princeton High School girl, it's quite likely that your top Spotify list of 2024 does not include anything from Elvis. It's also possible that you can't name any of his songs. 

Sigh. 

It's not your fault that your generation's music is awful.  

Anyway, this weekend begins a long run of busy weekends, a run that will take Princeton all the way through the rest of the winter and through the spring. The last 32 days, which featured 22 days with no events at all, will vanish into the rearview mirror. 

Before all that, though, TB will be diving into his list of the top 25 Princeton coaches of all time. The amount of feedback he got on that subject yesterday was quite surprising. 

The list will be his alone, so let him know if you have any problems with what he comes up with. He started the project yesterday, and, hint — the first five to him are obvious.

Pro Tigers

Of all the feedback TigerBlog has gotten about the Princeton Alumni Weekly Top 25 Princeton athletes of all-time project of which he was a part, the best came from Mark Schwartz, Class of 2006 and one of TB's favorite men's lacrosse alums.

Here is what Mark emailed TB yesterday:

"The top 25 was really interesting! A fascinating follow-up would be the top 5, 10 or 25 coaches in Princeton history..."

And here was TB's response:

"100 percent doing this."

And he will. Soon. Just not today. He needs to put some thought into it. 

Still, that will be a great project. Like TB said, he'll have it soon.

For today, the subject is professional athletes, one in the NFL and another (back) in the NBA. Both of them are recent Princeton grads, Class of 2023.

Andrei Iosivas finished his second season with the Cincinnati Bengals Saturday night with a 19-17 win over Pittsburgh. His season totals: 36 catches, 479 yards, six touchdowns.

There were 470 players who caught at least one pass this NFL season. Iosivas ranked 129th in receptions. That's pretty impressive.

In two seasons now, Iosivas has 51 catches, for 595 yards and 10 touchdowns. That's one TD for every 5.1 receptions, if TB is doing the math correctly.

Unfortunately for Iosivas, his season did, in fact, end with Saturday's win. The Bengals almost were able to overcome their 0-3 and 1-4 start to get into the playoffs, winning their last five to go from 4-8 to 9-8. The win over Pittsburgh meant that Cincinnati would be in the playoffs with losses by Miami and Broncos Sunday. 

Miami lost its game. The other? Denver beat Kansas City 38-0 after the Chiefs rested their best players, partly because the game meant nothing and partly because nobody wanted to see the Bengals in the playoffs. 

Hopefully the team can keep its nucleus together. If so, don't be shocked to see the team in the Super Bowl in a year.

As for the NBA, Tosan Evbuomwan has now made it to the league with a third different team. This time, it's the Brooklyn Nets. 

Evbuomwan, the 2022 Ivy League Player of the Year who led Princeton to the NCAA tournament Sweet 16 a year later, played last season for the Pistons and Grizzlies. He made his 2024-25 debut against the 76ers Sunday night, scoring three points with one rebound, assist and block. 

His second game with the team was last night against Indiana. Evbuomwan had eight points and six rebounds in that one, a 113-99 Indiana win. 

hit up @Tosan_Evb with all your finance questions 💰

get to know the newest member of #NetsWorld pic.twitter.com/ybL6h4Xcez

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) January 6, 2025

As he works to establish himself in the NBA, Evbuomwan has already had great success in the G-League, with a career average of nearly 20 points per game in his two seasons. His most recent appearance in the G-League came after he signed a two-way contract with the Nets.

He then went out and put up 39 points in his first outing with the Long Island Nets (by the way, if you recall the great days of the American Basketball Association, then you know that the Nets were the New York Nets and originally played at the Commack Arena). His 39 points included 13 for 20 shooting from the field and 3 for 4 from three. 

That game — a 129-108 win over over the Grand Rapids Gold — was played in Michigan. The next night, he was on the court for 20 minutes for the Nets. With the team currently dealing with a big series of injuries, the opportunity for playing time is there. 

Here was his quote after the game against the Sixers: 

“Really pleased to have gotten the opportunity,” Evbuomwan said. “Obviously, wanted to win the game, but we weren’t able to do so. But, blessed to be here and meet the guys for the first time.” 

The "meet the guys for the first time" part suggests that as he gets more familiar, his numbers will go up. He's an all-around player, the kind who, as you saw at Princeton, makes everyone better and gets everyone involved. 

He's also improved his three-point shooting, something that's imperative in the three-happy world of the NBA. Evbuomwan is a career 36.1 percent three-point shooter in the NBA, which is more than 10 points higher than his Princeton career average of 25.8 and better than his best season, when he shot 32.4 percent for the Sweet 16 team.

The Top 25

PRINCETON ALUMNI WEEKLY TOP 25 PRINCETON ATHLETES

For the first time in about two weeks, TigerBlog is positive of what day of the week it is. 

It's Monday. Right? 

Yes, it's Monday. Today brings with it the end of that wonderful stretch of the year where one holiday blends into another, throwing off work weeks and school schedules and rendering it impossible to remember what day it actually is.

Ah, but now it's Monday. For sure. 

It's also January. If you've seen this month's edition of the Princeton Alumni Weekly or looked at it online, then you know that the magazine's big story is a countdown of the 25 greatest athletes in Princeton history. 

Way back in September, TigerBlog was asked to be part of a panel to put the list together. There were five people involved — TB, former Directors of Athletics Gary Walters and Mollie Marcoux Samaan, current Ford Family Director of Athletics John Mack and ESPN investigative reporter Tisha Thompson ’99. 

The original meeting was in the Nassau Inn, when the preliminary list was formed. After that there were many follow up emails that went back and forth as the final top 25 took shape. 

Also, making the process even more challenging was the mandate to list the 25 athletes in order.

TB would have to say that had he been asked to do this list himself, it would have looked a bit different — though he'll keep the changes he would have made to himself. That's what group projects are all about. 

The most obvious challenge is that Princeton has 38 varsity teams, so including all of them in a list of 25 was impossible. Any time one sport had multiple selections, that was to be one more team that wasn't represented. 

In other words, TB and his fellow selectors were entering into something knowing full well that the end product would make some of the audience unhappy. It was part of the assignment. 

The biggest question was whether to consider only what athletes did during the time as Princetonians or to include what they did beyond their time as Tigers, on the international or professional level. The answer was to include their full body of athletic work, Princeton and beyond. 

Also, there were no current athletes who were included.

Princeton Athletics dates back to 1864. There have been thousands and thousands of athletes who have competed here. Additionally, the number of athletes who fit this description — "great athlete. All-American. Ivy Player of the Year. Record holder. Olympian." — is way, way, way more than 25. Or even 100.

How in the world do you compare eras? How do you compare success from sport to sport? How about the fact that men had a more than 100 year head start over women? What about recency bias?

The good news, of course, is that there was no one right answer. And that brings TB to the list.

The first five athletes were pretty easy to choose, if not to order. Bill Bradley. Hobey Baker. Dick Kazmaier. Ashleigh Johnson. Caroline Lind. 

After some discussion, that order went Bradley, Baker, Johnson, Kazmaier, Lind. 

From there, it was a matter of taking about 200 names on a dry erase board and getting rid of 90 percent of them, followed by putting them in order from 6-25. There was legitimate disagreement about who belonged and who would come oh-so-close to inclusion. 

You can see the list (TB linked to it above). You can also read all of the comments underneath those on the list.

Most of those comments are of the "how could you leave off ..." variety. What those comments don't say is whom the poster would take off the list to include someone else, but that's human nature.

TB invites anyone who would like to put together a top 25 to do so and send it to him. The only issue is that you have to start with the same criteria as the committee did, which is to say that you have to include Princeton and beyond Princeton successes.

TB will keep you updated on what, if anything, he gets back.

In the meantime, it was not an easy project to take on, though TB is very glad he did so and was a part of it. He's looking forward to your thoughts.

Picture It

It was about an hour after Dalen Davis had drained a three-pointer with 1.6 seconds to play against Akron Monday afternoon when TigerBlog first saw the photo.

If you watched the game live or on ESPN+ with the great Derek Jones and Noah Savage, you know that Davis' three wasn't exactly a sure thing. In fact, it was reviewed and re-reviewed as much as any call TB can ever remember for a game on Carril Court.

In the end, the officials agreed that the shot was a three-pointer, turning the game into a 76-75 lead for the Tigers, instead of 75-75 and a likely overtime. When Akron's last chance came up empty, Princeton had itself a win.

Ah, but was it a three? That's where the photo came into play:

Clearly it was. That photo was taken by Shelley Szwast, by the way. 

If your interest is "getting it right," then you can't get it more right than that. 

The photo got TB to think about what the best pictures of 2024 were in Princeton Athletics. Maybe he'll go back and see what he comes up with, though he can tell you what the best one was:

That was a Brian McWalters picture from the Princeton-North Carolina men's lacrosse game. That's Cooper Mueller of Princeton, by the way. 

In the meantime, the first events of the 2025 calendar year take place tonight, when the men's hockey team hosts the first of two against New Hampshire (7) and the women's hockey team plays the first of its weekend ECAC series at RPI (6). 

Those two then play again tomorrow, with the men at 4 against the Wildcats and the women at 3 at Union. 

The other first weekend events are all in Jadwin Gym, which will be hosting a tripleheader. It begins with the men's basketball team at 11:30 am against Kean, followed by the women's Ivy opener at 2:30 against Cornell and then a wrestling match against West Virginia at 7.

The women's hockey team last played 23 days ago and will now play nine games in the month of January alone. The men defeated Army 1-0 last weekend, getting 24 saves from Arthur Smith and a goal from Jake Manfre to push their winning streak to five games. 

The Tigers have outscored those five opponents by a combined 15-5. Smith certainly helped the cause; he was the goalie for all five wins, and he was also named ECAC Goalie of the Month.

New Hampshire is ranked 20th nationally and is 8-4-3 overall. In its last five games UNH has gone 4-0-1 and outscored its opponents 26-12.

Kean is 5-7 in men's basketball, with its most recent games at a holiday tournament at the top-ranked team in Division III. Can you name that team? 

TB wouldn't have guessed it. The answer is: Emory. 

Cornell's women's basketball team has a new head coach, Emily Garner, who is trying to match Princeton head coach Carla Berube's career trajectory. Garner was a very successful head coach in the NESCAC at Trinity, and now she's trying to have that translate to the Ivy League. 

Her first Big Red team is currently 4-9 as it comes to Princeton. The Tigers swept Middle Tennessee and LeMoyne this past week in their final pre-Ivy games, improving their overall record to 9-4. 

The West Virginia wrestling team was in Florida before the New Year, while Princeton was at the Midlands event at Northwestern. This will be WVU's second trip to Mercer County this year, after the Mountaineers thumped Rider 31-9 in Lawrenceville back in November.

So that's four events tomorrow on campus, all with staggered start times. You know what that means, of course. 

You can see four Princeton teams play on one day, if you go to the two basketball games and then walk over to Hobey Baker Rink for the men's hockey game before heading back to the wrestling. 

You'll probably have enough time to grab a nosh between hockey and wrestling, by the way.

A Tiger, Gone Way Too Soon

TigerBlog ended his final post of 2024 with this: "In the meantime, have a safe and happy New Year's Eve — and a great 2025."

His plan was to start his first post of 2025 with this: "Happy New Year. Hopefully everyone had a safe and happy New Year's Eve." That's how he starts off at the beginning of every January.

From there, he was all set to go into the men's basketball team's 76-75 win over Akron, in what was another game of great drama. He was going to share with you the picture taken by Tiger photographer Shelley Szwast, which confirmed that the game-winning three-pointer from Dalen Davis was, in fact, called correctly. 

All of that went out the window, blown away by a bad wind that sent a chill down TB's back and a shiver straight to his heart. It was the same reaction that you had, and every other Princeton fan had, when you first saw the news that, no, not everyone had a safe and happy New Year's Eve.

TigerBlog woke up to the news of the terror attack on Bourbon Street, with the reports of at least 10 people who had been killed. It wasn't until several hours later that he saw the news that hit really close to home for Princeton — football alum Tiger Bech was among those who had been murdered.

Bech was only 27 years old. He graduated in 2021. 

How is it possible that someone so young, someone who was simply out to celebrate New Year's Eve at one of the most iconic fun spots in the country. Bech had been working in New York City, but he was a Louisiana native. For him, New Orleans was a homecoming.

His given name was "Martin," something that nobody ever called him. Maybe ever. He was nicknamed "Tiger" even before he was born, mostly because of the deep family ties to Louisiana State University. 

At Princeton he was a two-time All-Ivy League punt returner, as well as a wide receiver. For his career he caught 53 passes for 823 yards and three touchdowns, and his average of 15.6 yards per catch ranks 10th all-time in program history. 

Those are the numbers. How about the person? Here's what his head coach, Bob Surace, had to say about him:

"There was no more appropriate nickname of a Princeton player I coached. He was a 'Tiger' in every way - a ferocious competitor with endless energy, a beloved teammate and a caring friend. Our last conversation was about how proud I was of the growth he showed during his time at Princeton and the success he was having after graduation. My love goes to the entire Bech family."

Tiger's brother Jack is an All-American wide receiver at Texas Christian and an NFL prospect. Here was his post on X yesterday:

Love you always brother ! You inspired me everyday now you get to be with me in every moment. I got this family T, don’t worry. This is for us ❤️ https://t.co/8sSFf564Mb

— Jack Bech (@jackbech7) January 1, 2025

TB never met Tiger Bech. He did announce his name plenty of the times over the Powers Field at Princeton Stadium public address (it's pronounced "BESH," by the way). 

He certainly remembered his name. How could anyone at Princeton not, right? 

And he saw the picture of him on the bio page:

He sees a young man with long hair and a tie that isn't exactly tied perfectly. It's a picture like so many others TB has seen. 

He was, though, more than just a name on a roster, even if his name was the most distinctive any Princeton athlete has had. He went from Princeton to New York City, working as a trader. He grew up in Lafayette, about two hours from New Orleans. 

It was there that he was killed, on Bourbon Street, on New Year's Eve — struck down just as his life was beginning.

Princeton has been here before. There have been athletes who have been killed, though mercifully that number has been a low one. 

But each of them is its own horrific tragedy. This is again the case.

Can anyone wrap his or her arms around this? Can anyone make sense of it? 

How can you? 

As he said, TB never met Tiger Bech. He wishes he had, so he could tell you more about who the young man was, some interaction that the two of them had that would have stuck with him, but he had none of that.

Still, when he saw the news, he felt like he lost someone close to him, a member of the same extended family. 

Here was a Tiger, gone way too soon.