TigerBlog is a little too reliant on the weather app on his phone, though if the app is to believed, then it's possible that March will be going out like a lamb, or at least April will be coming in like one.
Actually, before he gets into that, TigerBlog has been told that he spends a lot of time watching TV and obsessing about the weather.
Right now, there is no show on TV that is a must-watch for him. This could be the first time in his life that's the case.
Yes, he's into "House of Cards," which is a great Netflix show. And a few others on Netflix. He's waiting for Season 3 of "Orange Is The New Black" and "Wentworth," which is the grittier Australian version.
He's watching "Bloodline," another Netflix show, which is a pretty good. It's a family drama, and the review he read about it says that it builds to the point where the last four episodes of Season 1 are the best shows Netflix has ever produced. TB is only on Episode 5 of 13.
Other than that? Nope. There's really nothing out there. He's given up on "The Big Bang Theory" and "Modern Family." He'll forgive "Homeland" when it comes on again for the awful ending to Season 4.
He's been into the James Bond movies that have been on whatever is channel 891 on his TV. It seems like there's always a good one on, including, of late, "Goldfinger," "The Spy Who Loved Me," "Octopussy" and "Live and Let Die."
So that's your TV update.
As for the weather, this is the time of year to be focused on it. Spring sports, as they were. Outdoors and all.
The weather around here has been awful for the last few months. It's been worse than awful, actually.
It's been as bad as it can be if you're trying to get fields ready to play. It's frozen, thawed a little, frozen again. It's rained and snowed and then, just when it started to dry up, snowed again.
The men's lacrosse team has played 80% of its home schedule, with four games down and only a game against Harvard at home on April 17 left for the regular season. Of the four games Princeton has played at home, two were played in snow - including one blizzard - and the other two were played on days that started in the 20s and barely reached 40 one day and never got there the other.
At least, though, the field becomes playable once it's plowed. And teams can play in nasty weather. Everyone in Division I has done so. TB saw the Duke-Carolina game Sunday and it was 42 degrees in Chapel Hill.
How about baseball and softball?
Princeton's softball field has the double-whammy of uncooperative weather and a construction project for new dugouts that got derailed by the winter weather.
As a result, Princeton moved its doubleheader against Brown this weekend to nearby Bordentown High School. Apparently it was a logistical success - and an on-field success, as Princeton swept the Bears.
TigerBlog was struck by the picture on the softball page yesterday - which for awhile was the first picture on the front page. It showed a player who was staring directly into the camera while smiling.
It almost looked staged as much as anything else. Actually, she was stepping into the batter's box, or least that's how it looked.
Her name is Skye Jerpbak, a junior from Rescue, Calif. Her high school was named Ponderosa.
She is the team's catcher and third-leading hitter, at .269. She also has two home runs.
TigerBlog can't remember a picture that he's seen where someone looks so happy. She looks like there's nothing else she'd rather be doing than playing softball at Princeton.
And that's how it should be.
TigerBlog figures she'll check out that picture in the coming decades and always be whisked right back to where it was taken. At Bordentown High School.
Oh well. Mother nature sometimes wins out.
As for the coming forecast, according to the weather app, the worst of it is over. The high temperature for the next 10 days is no lower than 52. The low temperature is never below freezing.
It's about time.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Monday, March 30, 2015
Weekend TV
The second-best basketball game TigerBlog saw on TV this weekend was Kentucky-Notre Dame.
If you saw that game, you know that it was the best game of the NCAA tournament so far. Kentucky's quest to go 40-0 is the main storyline of the tournament, and this was the closest anyone came - by far - to derailing that quest.
The Irish played an inspired game from start to near-finish. At times, it appeared that Notre Dame had Kentucky on the verge of being put away, and each time, Kentucky answered when it needed.
The ending was dramatic, that's for sure, as ND's Jerian Grant could have won it had his running three-pointer from deep in the corner dropped in instead of just going long. The real question is whether or not Notre Dame should have fouled Kentucky on purpose early in that last possession of the Wildcats, when the game was close.
TigerBlog remembers talking to Joe Scott about that once, and the former Princeton coach was adamant one way or the other, but TB can't remember which way now.
TigerBlog does think that there is a reluctance on the part of coaches to do things that are out of the standard practice, for fear of being second-guessed. Of course, it's tough to be too hard on ND coach Mike Brey, who did a great job getting his team to stand up to Kentucky and almost win.
In TigerBlog's just-for-fun bracket, he has three Final Four teams still alive - Kentucky, Wisconsin and Duke. He had Virginia as well, but the Cavs didn't make it.
And he has Duke over Kentucky in the final. If he's right? Nothing. No money is involved.
What was the best basketball game he saw on TV this weekend? Hickory 42, South Bend Central 40.
That's right. "Hoosiers" was on. TigerBlog skipped past it as Coach Dale was driving into Hickory for the first time in the opening scene and stayed with it, well, all the way to the end.
That's what happens when "Hoosiers" is on. And when Coach Dale says "I love you guys?" Yeah, TB gets a little misty - though not quite the same was as when Harry Bailer says "to my big brother George, the richest man in town," on Christmas Eve in Bedford Falls.
You know what else was on this weekend?
How about eight Division I men's lacrosse games on stations that are normally on basic cable. On Saturday there were two on ESPNU, two on CBS Sports and another on Fox Sports 1.
Yesterday brought three more on ESPNU, including Princeton-Brown.
TigerBlog loves lacrosse as much as anyway. He never thought he'd see a time when there'd be eight games on TV channels that are widely distributed.
Hey, when Princeton won its first NCAA tournament back in 1992, that game wasn't even on live. And when it was shown a week later, it was condensed into a one-hour showing.
The game on Fox Sports 1 was Yale's win at Penn. TigerBlog thought Stephen McElduff, a former North Carolina defenseman, was excellent as the color commentator on that broadcast. It might have been the first time TB had heard him, but he made great points and he did so in a calm, informative, objective way.
Meanwhile, back at Princeton-Brown, the color commentator was Ryan Boyle, who happens to be one of the elite players in the history of Princeton lacrosse. It can't be easy for him to be on TV commenting on his alma mater.
As for the game itself, TigerBlog - like everyone else - was expecting a ton of goals, though he did hedge his prediction in his pregame story by saying that because of all of the talk about 20-18 or so that the final would be 8-6.
In the end, it was 10-8, and it was 10-8 in favor of Brown. The Bears are an impressive team in transition and they have outstanding finishers, even those with longsticks, such as Larken Kemp, who scored twice in the game - and had an assist.
Off the top of his head, TigerBlog knows that David Morrow had two goals as a longstick in the Tigers' 16-14 win over North Carolina in the 1992 semifinals. He can't remember another time he's seen that.
The day belonged, though, to the goalies. Princeton's Eric Sanschagrin made 15 saves, six of which came against Dylan Molloy, who came into the game as the Division I leader in goals per game and the possessor of 41 on the year but who did not have a goal in this one.
On the other end was Jack Kelly, who also made 15 saves. Both goalies made incredible saves at major moments in a game that did feature 96 shots.
With the loss, Princeton is now 2-1 in the league, behind Cornell (3-0 and the highest-ranked Ivy team) and Brown (2-0). Dartmouth is 1-1, and Yale and Harvard have two losses and Penn has three.
The first goal is to get to the Ivy tournament, which requires a top four finish. Then the goal is to win it.
The two teams that TigerBlog saw play yesterday both look like they could accomplish either of those goals.
If you saw that game, you know that it was the best game of the NCAA tournament so far. Kentucky's quest to go 40-0 is the main storyline of the tournament, and this was the closest anyone came - by far - to derailing that quest.
The Irish played an inspired game from start to near-finish. At times, it appeared that Notre Dame had Kentucky on the verge of being put away, and each time, Kentucky answered when it needed.
The ending was dramatic, that's for sure, as ND's Jerian Grant could have won it had his running three-pointer from deep in the corner dropped in instead of just going long. The real question is whether or not Notre Dame should have fouled Kentucky on purpose early in that last possession of the Wildcats, when the game was close.
TigerBlog remembers talking to Joe Scott about that once, and the former Princeton coach was adamant one way or the other, but TB can't remember which way now.
TigerBlog does think that there is a reluctance on the part of coaches to do things that are out of the standard practice, for fear of being second-guessed. Of course, it's tough to be too hard on ND coach Mike Brey, who did a great job getting his team to stand up to Kentucky and almost win.
In TigerBlog's just-for-fun bracket, he has three Final Four teams still alive - Kentucky, Wisconsin and Duke. He had Virginia as well, but the Cavs didn't make it.
And he has Duke over Kentucky in the final. If he's right? Nothing. No money is involved.
What was the best basketball game he saw on TV this weekend? Hickory 42, South Bend Central 40.
That's right. "Hoosiers" was on. TigerBlog skipped past it as Coach Dale was driving into Hickory for the first time in the opening scene and stayed with it, well, all the way to the end.
That's what happens when "Hoosiers" is on. And when Coach Dale says "I love you guys?" Yeah, TB gets a little misty - though not quite the same was as when Harry Bailer says "to my big brother George, the richest man in town," on Christmas Eve in Bedford Falls.
You know what else was on this weekend?
How about eight Division I men's lacrosse games on stations that are normally on basic cable. On Saturday there were two on ESPNU, two on CBS Sports and another on Fox Sports 1.
Yesterday brought three more on ESPNU, including Princeton-Brown.
TigerBlog loves lacrosse as much as anyway. He never thought he'd see a time when there'd be eight games on TV channels that are widely distributed.
Hey, when Princeton won its first NCAA tournament back in 1992, that game wasn't even on live. And when it was shown a week later, it was condensed into a one-hour showing.
The game on Fox Sports 1 was Yale's win at Penn. TigerBlog thought Stephen McElduff, a former North Carolina defenseman, was excellent as the color commentator on that broadcast. It might have been the first time TB had heard him, but he made great points and he did so in a calm, informative, objective way.
Meanwhile, back at Princeton-Brown, the color commentator was Ryan Boyle, who happens to be one of the elite players in the history of Princeton lacrosse. It can't be easy for him to be on TV commenting on his alma mater.
As for the game itself, TigerBlog - like everyone else - was expecting a ton of goals, though he did hedge his prediction in his pregame story by saying that because of all of the talk about 20-18 or so that the final would be 8-6.
In the end, it was 10-8, and it was 10-8 in favor of Brown. The Bears are an impressive team in transition and they have outstanding finishers, even those with longsticks, such as Larken Kemp, who scored twice in the game - and had an assist.
Off the top of his head, TigerBlog knows that David Morrow had two goals as a longstick in the Tigers' 16-14 win over North Carolina in the 1992 semifinals. He can't remember another time he's seen that.
The day belonged, though, to the goalies. Princeton's Eric Sanschagrin made 15 saves, six of which came against Dylan Molloy, who came into the game as the Division I leader in goals per game and the possessor of 41 on the year but who did not have a goal in this one.
On the other end was Jack Kelly, who also made 15 saves. Both goalies made incredible saves at major moments in a game that did feature 96 shots.
With the loss, Princeton is now 2-1 in the league, behind Cornell (3-0 and the highest-ranked Ivy team) and Brown (2-0). Dartmouth is 1-1, and Yale and Harvard have two losses and Penn has three.
The first goal is to get to the Ivy tournament, which requires a top four finish. Then the goal is to win it.
The two teams that TigerBlog saw play yesterday both look like they could accomplish either of those goals.
Friday, March 27, 2015
A Random Friday
TigerBlog was sitting at his desk yesterday afternoon when he casually asked his colleague Andrew Borders what he should write about for today, and Borders unflinchingly said "Bill Carmody."
The way he responded made TB think Borders would be great at the round in "Family Feud" where they play for the big money at the end. TigerBlog can see it now:
Steve Harvey: "We'll give you 20 seconds to answer these questions. Say 'pass' if you'd like to pass."
Andrew: "Okay, Steve, but I won't need more than 10 seconds. I remember one time when I was asked what my colleague should write about one day, and I said 'Bill Carmody' in less than one second."
Steve Harvey: "Okay then."
So, in deference to Andrew, TigerBlog starts today with Bill Carmody.
Those who have been loyal readers know that Bill Carmody is one of TigerBlog's all-time heroes. Carmody was a longtime assistant to Pete Carril and then the head coach here for the four years after Carril retired, before he left to coach Northwestern.
Last week, at the age of 63, he became the head coach at Holy Cross.
TigerBlog could write for two weeks and not tell all of the great - and mostly hilarious - stories he saw first-hand from Carmody. And yet he can sum Carmody up in two words, two words that can be applied to any situation in the world, not only basketball, two words that cut through all of the nonsense in the world and get right to the practical heart of every matter, which is what Carmody was so great at.
The two words? Make shots. If you want to add a third word, it's "just make shots."
What does it mean? It means don't try to con him or BS him. Don't make things more complicated than they are. Don't pretend you're doing something so difficult that you can't succeed. Just make shots. Everything else falls into place.
Holy Cross finished sixth in the Patriot League, which is as balanced a league as there is in the country. TB is wishing Carmody all the best, and, just as when he was at Northwestern, TB will be rooting for him.
You can read about his introduction at Holy Cross HERE. These quotes are exactly who he is and how he is.
Okay Andrew, what else is there today?
There's the change to the softball schedule.
Princeton was to play Brown and Yale home this weekend, but the incessantly awful weather the last few weeks have scoffed at that plan. It's actually been the worst it could possibly be, with snow and below freezing temps, followed by warming, followed by more snow and freezing. And now rain the last two days.
The Tigers will sort of be at home against Brown, at least in terms of being in New Jersey and batting last. The games tomorrow have been moved to Bordentown High School, which is in Burlington County, the next county from Mercer, which is the county where Princeton is located.
Bordentown is about 30 minutes from Princeton. It was also, for what it's worth, the site of the second game TigerBlog ever covered in his newspaper days. The first was a football game on a Friday between Pennington and Academy of the New Church. The next day was Maple Shade at Bordentown. TB thinks it was 33-0 Maple Shade.
As for the Yale games, they're being moved to April 22, which TB believes is a Wednesday.
The baseball team is still going to try to play at home this weekend, or at least Sunday against Brown and Monday against Yale. The weather should actually be decent by then.
It'll be sunny and near 50 Sunday when Princeton faces off against Brown in men's lacrosse.
This is a big one, as both teams are unbeaten in the Ivy League. It also has the potential to be a total track meet, in the mold of Albany's 21-17 win over Harvard Wednesday night.
That win moved Albany past Brown into the top spot in scoring offense in Division I men's lacrosse. Brown, at 16.88 goals per game, is second.
Princeton scores them in bunches too. This could be really high scoring.
Brown is led by Dylan Molloy, who has 41 goals in eight games. He had eight Tuesday night against Marist, when the Bears blew and 11-2 lead and then won in overtime anyway, 16-15.
Who else has blown a big lead this year and won 16-15 in overtime? Princeton, who led Johns Hopkins 7-0 and then ultimately needed Gavin McBride's OT goal to get the W.
Speaking of Ws, no team with three of them in the Ivy League has ever failed to make the league tournament since it began in 2010. Princeton currently has two Ivy wins - over Penn and Yale.
Princeton is 2-0, as is Cornell. Brown and Dartmouth are 1-0. Yale, Penn and Harvard are all 0-2.
After missing the Ivy tournament last year, Princeton's first goal is to get into it this year. And then the NCAA tournament.
Forgetting that, though, this game offers the potential for a lot of goals. Princeton and Brown average nearly 30 per game between them. If you factor our each team's one off day this year - both teams have one loss, Princeton to Maryland, Brown to Bucknell - then they average 32 per game.
The Class of 1952 Stadium record for goals in one game is 31. That was in Princeton's 17-14 win over Hofstra in the first game of the 2010 season, which was Chris Bates' first game as Tiger head coach.
Anything else?
Oh yeah, Courtney Banghart found herself in some incredible company in Fortune magazine.
The way he responded made TB think Borders would be great at the round in "Family Feud" where they play for the big money at the end. TigerBlog can see it now:
Steve Harvey: "We'll give you 20 seconds to answer these questions. Say 'pass' if you'd like to pass."
Andrew: "Okay, Steve, but I won't need more than 10 seconds. I remember one time when I was asked what my colleague should write about one day, and I said 'Bill Carmody' in less than one second."
Steve Harvey: "Okay then."
So, in deference to Andrew, TigerBlog starts today with Bill Carmody.
Those who have been loyal readers know that Bill Carmody is one of TigerBlog's all-time heroes. Carmody was a longtime assistant to Pete Carril and then the head coach here for the four years after Carril retired, before he left to coach Northwestern.
Last week, at the age of 63, he became the head coach at Holy Cross.
TigerBlog could write for two weeks and not tell all of the great - and mostly hilarious - stories he saw first-hand from Carmody. And yet he can sum Carmody up in two words, two words that can be applied to any situation in the world, not only basketball, two words that cut through all of the nonsense in the world and get right to the practical heart of every matter, which is what Carmody was so great at.
The two words? Make shots. If you want to add a third word, it's "just make shots."
What does it mean? It means don't try to con him or BS him. Don't make things more complicated than they are. Don't pretend you're doing something so difficult that you can't succeed. Just make shots. Everything else falls into place.
Holy Cross finished sixth in the Patriot League, which is as balanced a league as there is in the country. TB is wishing Carmody all the best, and, just as when he was at Northwestern, TB will be rooting for him.
You can read about his introduction at Holy Cross HERE. These quotes are exactly who he is and how he is.
Okay Andrew, what else is there today?
There's the change to the softball schedule.
Princeton was to play Brown and Yale home this weekend, but the incessantly awful weather the last few weeks have scoffed at that plan. It's actually been the worst it could possibly be, with snow and below freezing temps, followed by warming, followed by more snow and freezing. And now rain the last two days.
The Tigers will sort of be at home against Brown, at least in terms of being in New Jersey and batting last. The games tomorrow have been moved to Bordentown High School, which is in Burlington County, the next county from Mercer, which is the county where Princeton is located.
Bordentown is about 30 minutes from Princeton. It was also, for what it's worth, the site of the second game TigerBlog ever covered in his newspaper days. The first was a football game on a Friday between Pennington and Academy of the New Church. The next day was Maple Shade at Bordentown. TB thinks it was 33-0 Maple Shade.
As for the Yale games, they're being moved to April 22, which TB believes is a Wednesday.
The baseball team is still going to try to play at home this weekend, or at least Sunday against Brown and Monday against Yale. The weather should actually be decent by then.
It'll be sunny and near 50 Sunday when Princeton faces off against Brown in men's lacrosse.
This is a big one, as both teams are unbeaten in the Ivy League. It also has the potential to be a total track meet, in the mold of Albany's 21-17 win over Harvard Wednesday night.
That win moved Albany past Brown into the top spot in scoring offense in Division I men's lacrosse. Brown, at 16.88 goals per game, is second.
Princeton scores them in bunches too. This could be really high scoring.
Brown is led by Dylan Molloy, who has 41 goals in eight games. He had eight Tuesday night against Marist, when the Bears blew and 11-2 lead and then won in overtime anyway, 16-15.
Who else has blown a big lead this year and won 16-15 in overtime? Princeton, who led Johns Hopkins 7-0 and then ultimately needed Gavin McBride's OT goal to get the W.
Speaking of Ws, no team with three of them in the Ivy League has ever failed to make the league tournament since it began in 2010. Princeton currently has two Ivy wins - over Penn and Yale.
Princeton is 2-0, as is Cornell. Brown and Dartmouth are 1-0. Yale, Penn and Harvard are all 0-2.
After missing the Ivy tournament last year, Princeton's first goal is to get into it this year. And then the NCAA tournament.
Forgetting that, though, this game offers the potential for a lot of goals. Princeton and Brown average nearly 30 per game between them. If you factor our each team's one off day this year - both teams have one loss, Princeton to Maryland, Brown to Bucknell - then they average 32 per game.
The Class of 1952 Stadium record for goals in one game is 31. That was in Princeton's 17-14 win over Hofstra in the first game of the 2010 season, which was Chris Bates' first game as Tiger head coach.
Anything else?
Oh yeah, Courtney Banghart found herself in some incredible company in Fortune magazine.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Mo'Ne Davis Is Right
Well, TigerBlog supposes there's nothing left to say about the women's basketball team. For now at least.
It's supposed to rain today. And tomorrow. Because of all the snow, including some from last week, most fields in this area are completely unplayable, forcing a major scramble by colleges, high schools, Little Leagues - everyone who's trying to play baseball or softball.
Hey, even lacrosse isn't immune. Miss TigerBlog is 0-2 in her first high school lacrosse season - as in two games scheduled, two unable to be played because of field conditions.
The end of the women's basketball season left only the six men's swimmers at the NCAA championships for winter sports at Princeton. Of course, "spring" for TB began on Feb. 14, when Princeton opened its men's lacrosse season.
So what to talk about right now?
Well, TigerBlog was struck by the story about the Bloomsburg baseball player who was kicked off the team after his really, really stupid tweet about Mo'Ne Davis.
If you missed it, a player from Bloomsburg said something very unfortunate about Davis, the girl who stole the show at the Little League World Series last year. TigerBlog isn't going to repeat what he said.
Let's start out by saying that in no way is TigerBlog defending what the baseball player did. It's just that, well, is this really what college is supposed to be about, purging someone for making a mistake?
TB doesn't know the kid at all. He has no idea if he was on double secret probation or had a perfectly clean record.
He does know that Bloomsburg took his name off the roster, from the this year and last. And he knows that the kid is simply gone from the baseball team.
So how did Davis - who is 13, keep in mind - react? She wrote a really nice email to the Bloomsburg president asking him to give the player another chance.
As far as TB can see, Bloomsburg did not.
So that's it? He's done?
College kids live in a tough world these days. They're old enough to be out on their own, often late at night. They have access at all times to phones, tablets, laptops - whatever is necessary to constantly stay connected.
That's great on a lot of levels. On a few it's not great.
And the way it's the worst is that there is no filter between an 18- to 22-year-old and the ability to say something life-changingly dumb. Athletes. Non-athletes.
When TigerBlog was their age, the message coming from society was to work hard, go to a good college and get ahead, because that's the way to success. What do these young people see? The short cut to fame and fortune, which is to be as outrageous and shameless as possible in as public a forum as possible.
Geez, TB sounds old.
Of course, it makes TB cringe that someone can lose everything with what they say. Why? Because who decides when the line is crossed? Who decides when someone is edgy and cutting edge and then in the next instant toxic.
TigerBlog doesn't think for a minute that the baseball player at Bloomsburg is an awful person who honestly believes what he said about a 13-year-old. He assumes, for that matter, that the two young men who tweeted the atrocious comments about Curt Schilling's daughter are not terrible people.
No, they're people who did something that was really dumb. They did it thinking "what's the big deal, everyone today says stuff like this."
Or, more likely, they said something a little tamer last time, and even tamer the time before that. Each time, they pushed it a little more.
It's one thing to say something at a party. It's another thing to tweet it. That's the problem these days.
As TigerBlog has told a lot of Princeton athletes, to get in trouble you used to have to say something stupid and have someone who can repeat it. Now? Anyone can get in trouble any time they want.
So what is the responsibility for a college and its athletic department in these cases?
That's the big question. TB's advice to all the Princeton athletes he talks to is to make sure they understand that whatever they put out there will be seen by, oh, their coaches, teammates, parents, friends, professors, people on the admissions board at their dream grad school, potential employers. All of that.
Again, though, what is the college to do?
The instinct is to distance itself from the person who is bringing all the heat to the institution. TigerBlog gets that. It's the easy thing to do. The hard thing to do is say "hey, he made a mistake, but he's ours and we're not giving up on him."
But isn't Mo'Ne Davis right? Doesn't he deserve a second chance?
Shouldn't college be about learning and maturing? Think that baseball player at Bloomsburg would ever do something like that again? Think he'd ever take it for granted that he gets to play college baseball?
Instead, he's tarnished forever now.
TigerBlog gets it. He just doesn't like it.
Would Princeton do anything differently? TB doesn't know.
And he hopes to never find out.
It's supposed to rain today. And tomorrow. Because of all the snow, including some from last week, most fields in this area are completely unplayable, forcing a major scramble by colleges, high schools, Little Leagues - everyone who's trying to play baseball or softball.
Hey, even lacrosse isn't immune. Miss TigerBlog is 0-2 in her first high school lacrosse season - as in two games scheduled, two unable to be played because of field conditions.
The end of the women's basketball season left only the six men's swimmers at the NCAA championships for winter sports at Princeton. Of course, "spring" for TB began on Feb. 14, when Princeton opened its men's lacrosse season.
So what to talk about right now?
Well, TigerBlog was struck by the story about the Bloomsburg baseball player who was kicked off the team after his really, really stupid tweet about Mo'Ne Davis.
If you missed it, a player from Bloomsburg said something very unfortunate about Davis, the girl who stole the show at the Little League World Series last year. TigerBlog isn't going to repeat what he said.
Let's start out by saying that in no way is TigerBlog defending what the baseball player did. It's just that, well, is this really what college is supposed to be about, purging someone for making a mistake?
TB doesn't know the kid at all. He has no idea if he was on double secret probation or had a perfectly clean record.
He does know that Bloomsburg took his name off the roster, from the this year and last. And he knows that the kid is simply gone from the baseball team.
So how did Davis - who is 13, keep in mind - react? She wrote a really nice email to the Bloomsburg president asking him to give the player another chance.
As far as TB can see, Bloomsburg did not.
So that's it? He's done?
College kids live in a tough world these days. They're old enough to be out on their own, often late at night. They have access at all times to phones, tablets, laptops - whatever is necessary to constantly stay connected.
That's great on a lot of levels. On a few it's not great.
And the way it's the worst is that there is no filter between an 18- to 22-year-old and the ability to say something life-changingly dumb. Athletes. Non-athletes.
When TigerBlog was their age, the message coming from society was to work hard, go to a good college and get ahead, because that's the way to success. What do these young people see? The short cut to fame and fortune, which is to be as outrageous and shameless as possible in as public a forum as possible.
Geez, TB sounds old.
Of course, it makes TB cringe that someone can lose everything with what they say. Why? Because who decides when the line is crossed? Who decides when someone is edgy and cutting edge and then in the next instant toxic.
TigerBlog doesn't think for a minute that the baseball player at Bloomsburg is an awful person who honestly believes what he said about a 13-year-old. He assumes, for that matter, that the two young men who tweeted the atrocious comments about Curt Schilling's daughter are not terrible people.
No, they're people who did something that was really dumb. They did it thinking "what's the big deal, everyone today says stuff like this."
Or, more likely, they said something a little tamer last time, and even tamer the time before that. Each time, they pushed it a little more.
It's one thing to say something at a party. It's another thing to tweet it. That's the problem these days.
As TigerBlog has told a lot of Princeton athletes, to get in trouble you used to have to say something stupid and have someone who can repeat it. Now? Anyone can get in trouble any time they want.
So what is the responsibility for a college and its athletic department in these cases?
That's the big question. TB's advice to all the Princeton athletes he talks to is to make sure they understand that whatever they put out there will be seen by, oh, their coaches, teammates, parents, friends, professors, people on the admissions board at their dream grad school, potential employers. All of that.
Again, though, what is the college to do?
The instinct is to distance itself from the person who is bringing all the heat to the institution. TigerBlog gets that. It's the easy thing to do. The hard thing to do is say "hey, he made a mistake, but he's ours and we're not giving up on him."
But isn't Mo'Ne Davis right? Doesn't he deserve a second chance?
Shouldn't college be about learning and maturing? Think that baseball player at Bloomsburg would ever do something like that again? Think he'd ever take it for granted that he gets to play college baseball?
Instead, he's tarnished forever now.
TigerBlog gets it. He just doesn't like it.
Would Princeton do anything differently? TB doesn't know.
And he hopes to never find out.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Final Thoughts
TigerBlog had a picture emailed to him yesterday of Princeton
University president Christopher L. Eisgruber as he watched the women's
basketball team's NCAA tournament game against Maryland Monday night.
President Eisgruber is with a group of students and professor Sandra Bermann, the master at Whitman College. They're eating pizza and drinking soda and watching the Tigers.
TigerBlog's first thought - what does the University president like on his pizza? TB can't tell from the picture.
And TB's second thought?
This is what a great athletic team in a major sport can do for a university. In a way that maybe nothing else can.
A school like Princeton prides itself on how diverse its campus community is, both the student body and those who work to support them. With such diversity in background comes a diversity of interest, which is understandable.
Again, a look at the main princeton.edu website is proof of this. At any given moment, the University could be showcasing almost anything - educational, cultural, artistic, service, international - anything.
So what can bring this entire extended family together? Rooting for something under the "Princeton" banner.
And who better to root for than the 2014-15 women's basketball team?
That's certainly what happened this time around.
It's what happens when a team can excel so much at its sport while also being a part of the greater University as a whole. The women on Princeton's basketball team could be anyone - from your dorm, in your class, thanking you for whatever service you provide on campus.
They are not hidden away in a dorm near the gym, being steered to the easiest classes. They are accomplished across the entire spectrum of what Princeton has to offer, which is part of the reason that they were so wildly embraced.
Yes, there is something to being undefeated through the regular season and nationally ranked, in a sport where Ivy League schools rarely achieve such status.
But this was different. There was such a genuineness to the team that it became so incredibly likeable. And Princeton took notice. Across the board.
As TigerBlog said a week ago, mentions of the women's basketball team drew the loudest response at the University's employee recognition luncheon.
When it appeared that Princeton had a chance to host the NCAA tournament, Princeton Athletics was required to fill dozens on volunteer positions.
It was a pretty daunting task - until TB sent an email to the email list for all of the communications offices on campus. He ended up with nearly 40 volunteers in less than a day.
Most of the people who responded said they didn't know much about sports but would love to help out. Or that they had seen a game or two and couldn't get enough of the team.
TigerBlog isn't sure if he should be surprised that a women's team generated this level of affection or if this level of affection was generated because it was a women's team, not just on this campus but everywhere.
Maybe there is the appearance of a greater purity to the women's game, and maybe the national audience was responding to that.
There was a time not that long ago when a male audience never would have gotten behind a women's team like this. That's one of TigerBlog's big takeaways from this team, how many men - adults and students - went to watch the Tigers play.
It really does show how far women's athletics have come. TigerBlog has written several times in the last few weeks that the attention this team received rivaled that of the 1997-98 Princeton men's team. In fact, they were incredibly similar.
Both teams had the best record in Division I. Both received tough draws. Both had monstrous hurdles to climb in the second round. And both received a ton of media attention, from across the country, from sports outlets and non-sports outlets.
Had you told him in 1998 that the next time this would happen at Princeton that it would involve a women's team, TB would have said there's no chance of that. But it did.
And that's a big part of the story.
But not the biggest.
No, the biggest part of the story of this team was the team itself. It was a team completely unfazed by all of the attention. They stayed down-to-earth, approachable and likeable.
They seemed to genuinely be enjoying the moment, rather than feeling the pressure of reaching 30-0.
In the end, they settled for 31-1.
It might not have been perfect, but it was darn close.
President Eisgruber is with a group of students and professor Sandra Bermann, the master at Whitman College. They're eating pizza and drinking soda and watching the Tigers.
TigerBlog's first thought - what does the University president like on his pizza? TB can't tell from the picture.
And TB's second thought?
This is what a great athletic team in a major sport can do for a university. In a way that maybe nothing else can.
A school like Princeton prides itself on how diverse its campus community is, both the student body and those who work to support them. With such diversity in background comes a diversity of interest, which is understandable.
Again, a look at the main princeton.edu website is proof of this. At any given moment, the University could be showcasing almost anything - educational, cultural, artistic, service, international - anything.
So what can bring this entire extended family together? Rooting for something under the "Princeton" banner.
And who better to root for than the 2014-15 women's basketball team?
That's certainly what happened this time around.
It's what happens when a team can excel so much at its sport while also being a part of the greater University as a whole. The women on Princeton's basketball team could be anyone - from your dorm, in your class, thanking you for whatever service you provide on campus.
They are not hidden away in a dorm near the gym, being steered to the easiest classes. They are accomplished across the entire spectrum of what Princeton has to offer, which is part of the reason that they were so wildly embraced.
Yes, there is something to being undefeated through the regular season and nationally ranked, in a sport where Ivy League schools rarely achieve such status.
But this was different. There was such a genuineness to the team that it became so incredibly likeable. And Princeton took notice. Across the board.
As TigerBlog said a week ago, mentions of the women's basketball team drew the loudest response at the University's employee recognition luncheon.
When it appeared that Princeton had a chance to host the NCAA tournament, Princeton Athletics was required to fill dozens on volunteer positions.
It was a pretty daunting task - until TB sent an email to the email list for all of the communications offices on campus. He ended up with nearly 40 volunteers in less than a day.
Most of the people who responded said they didn't know much about sports but would love to help out. Or that they had seen a game or two and couldn't get enough of the team.
TigerBlog isn't sure if he should be surprised that a women's team generated this level of affection or if this level of affection was generated because it was a women's team, not just on this campus but everywhere.
Maybe there is the appearance of a greater purity to the women's game, and maybe the national audience was responding to that.
There was a time not that long ago when a male audience never would have gotten behind a women's team like this. That's one of TigerBlog's big takeaways from this team, how many men - adults and students - went to watch the Tigers play.
It really does show how far women's athletics have come. TigerBlog has written several times in the last few weeks that the attention this team received rivaled that of the 1997-98 Princeton men's team. In fact, they were incredibly similar.
Both teams had the best record in Division I. Both received tough draws. Both had monstrous hurdles to climb in the second round. And both received a ton of media attention, from across the country, from sports outlets and non-sports outlets.
Had you told him in 1998 that the next time this would happen at Princeton that it would involve a women's team, TB would have said there's no chance of that. But it did.
And that's a big part of the story.
But not the biggest.
No, the biggest part of the story of this team was the team itself. It was a team completely unfazed by all of the attention. They stayed down-to-earth, approachable and likeable.
They seemed to genuinely be enjoying the moment, rather than feeling the pressure of reaching 30-0.
In the end, they settled for 31-1.
It might not have been perfect, but it was darn close.
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
31-1
The greatest season ever by an Ivy League women's basketball team and one of the greatest seasons by any Princeton team in any sport ended last night when Princeton lost to Maryland 85-70 in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
If Princeton had decided to spend a sizable portion of its endowment to buy positive publicity for the institution, it couldn't have done better than what came of fielding the lone women's basketball team in Division I to reach the NCAA tournament unbeaten.
The 2014-15 Princeton women represented everything that is great about Princeton Athletics and the University as a whole.
First of all, the team won. It won big. It won bigger than any Ivy League team - men's or women's - ever has before, at least record-wise.
The Tigers went 30-0 in the regular season and then pushed that to 31-0 with an 80-70 win over Green Bay in the opening round Saturday. It was only the second NCAA tournament win by an Ivy League women's basketball team.
Princeton destroyed basically everyone who got in its way. Of its 31 wins, 29 were by double figures. Most of those weren't remotely competitive.
Way back in the regular season, attendance at Jadwin Gym skyrocketed, with crowds exceeding 2,000 by the end. And why? Because this team was fun to watch.
This team was great on both ends of the court, and it played at a pace that joined both ends of the court relatively quickly. The teams on the schedule couldn't keep up.
Keep in mind where this team began - as the Ivy League co-favorite along with Penn. It began the year two seasons removed from the graduation of Niveen Rasheed and the rest of the Class of 2013, the one that won four league titles and played in four NCAA tournaments after the program had never played in the NCAA tournament prior to its arrival.
When the 2013-14 regular season ended, the balance of power in the league appeared to have shifted to Penn, who came to Jadwin and handled Princeton to win the Ivy title. Was the run over with the graduation of Rasheed and her classmates?
That's where Princeton was when the season started.
Then the winning started. And kept going. And going and going and going.
It was more than that though. This team is made up incredibly likable players who excel in so many other areas than basketball. And, at a school like Princeton, they have been given the opportunity to do so.
And so you have a Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence winner (Michelle Miller), a Scholar in the Nation's Service Initiative honoree (Alex Wheatley), a two-sport athlete (Blake Dietrick), a player who speaks a bunch of languages (Annie Tarakchian) and the niece of the President of the United States (Leslie Robinson).
If you went to a Princeton game, you saw these players and all the others interact with fans young and old. You saw them be approachable. You saw them smile. You saw how much they loved playing with each other and for Princeton.
Because Princeton was winning every game, the team started to generate incredible media attention.
The more times Princeton's players spoke into a microphone, the better Princeton looked. Every time, every word, every interview. It didn't matter which player it was.
Every time someone on that team spoke, the more impressive they all looked.
And at the forefront of it all was their coach, Courtney Banghart. If the players were really good in front of microphones, Courtney is one of the best that's ever been at it.
She said all the right things every time. TigerBlog has known her since the first day she was hired here, and he can tell you that there are few people who more competitive than she is.
She took over a program that had never played in the NCAA tournament. She is now a regular there. For her, an NCAA tournament appearance isn't good enough. She wants to win and then win again.
The result of the 30-0 regular season was an eighth seed, one that angered pretty much the entire national women's basketball audience. The reward was a tough first round game with Green Bay and then an even tougher second round game against the Terps.
The first half last night was played at a lightning pace, and Princeton appeared to get worn down. It didn't help that Maryland couldn't miss, knocking down 12 of 20 three-point shots. That's the number that Princeton needed to win, not the other way around.
Dietrick finished with 26 points in her final game as a Tiger. Princeton competed really hard, but ultimately the Terps - 32-2, winners of 26 straight, undefeated in the Big Ten, undefeated at home, one of the very few teams that can stay on the court with UConn - were too physical and, on this night, way too accurate.
It wasn't a fair draw for the Tigers.
What they deserved was to play at home, in Jadwin, as a fourth seed. What they deserved was to get Maryland in the next round, on a neutral court.
It didn't get that. And so it ended last night in Maryland.
The final number is 31-1. It's an incredible accomplishment.
All of Princeton - athletics and non-athletics - embraced this team.
Of course. How could it be any different?
Teams like this do not come along too often. They are to be cherished when they do, and that's what happened with the 2014-15 Princeton Tigers.
Cherished.
For what they did. And how they did it.
If Princeton had decided to spend a sizable portion of its endowment to buy positive publicity for the institution, it couldn't have done better than what came of fielding the lone women's basketball team in Division I to reach the NCAA tournament unbeaten.
The 2014-15 Princeton women represented everything that is great about Princeton Athletics and the University as a whole.
First of all, the team won. It won big. It won bigger than any Ivy League team - men's or women's - ever has before, at least record-wise.
The Tigers went 30-0 in the regular season and then pushed that to 31-0 with an 80-70 win over Green Bay in the opening round Saturday. It was only the second NCAA tournament win by an Ivy League women's basketball team.
Princeton destroyed basically everyone who got in its way. Of its 31 wins, 29 were by double figures. Most of those weren't remotely competitive.
Way back in the regular season, attendance at Jadwin Gym skyrocketed, with crowds exceeding 2,000 by the end. And why? Because this team was fun to watch.
This team was great on both ends of the court, and it played at a pace that joined both ends of the court relatively quickly. The teams on the schedule couldn't keep up.
Keep in mind where this team began - as the Ivy League co-favorite along with Penn. It began the year two seasons removed from the graduation of Niveen Rasheed and the rest of the Class of 2013, the one that won four league titles and played in four NCAA tournaments after the program had never played in the NCAA tournament prior to its arrival.
When the 2013-14 regular season ended, the balance of power in the league appeared to have shifted to Penn, who came to Jadwin and handled Princeton to win the Ivy title. Was the run over with the graduation of Rasheed and her classmates?
That's where Princeton was when the season started.
Then the winning started. And kept going. And going and going and going.
It was more than that though. This team is made up incredibly likable players who excel in so many other areas than basketball. And, at a school like Princeton, they have been given the opportunity to do so.
And so you have a Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence winner (Michelle Miller), a Scholar in the Nation's Service Initiative honoree (Alex Wheatley), a two-sport athlete (Blake Dietrick), a player who speaks a bunch of languages (Annie Tarakchian) and the niece of the President of the United States (Leslie Robinson).
If you went to a Princeton game, you saw these players and all the others interact with fans young and old. You saw them be approachable. You saw them smile. You saw how much they loved playing with each other and for Princeton.
Because Princeton was winning every game, the team started to generate incredible media attention.
The more times Princeton's players spoke into a microphone, the better Princeton looked. Every time, every word, every interview. It didn't matter which player it was.
Every time someone on that team spoke, the more impressive they all looked.
And at the forefront of it all was their coach, Courtney Banghart. If the players were really good in front of microphones, Courtney is one of the best that's ever been at it.
She said all the right things every time. TigerBlog has known her since the first day she was hired here, and he can tell you that there are few people who more competitive than she is.
She took over a program that had never played in the NCAA tournament. She is now a regular there. For her, an NCAA tournament appearance isn't good enough. She wants to win and then win again.
The result of the 30-0 regular season was an eighth seed, one that angered pretty much the entire national women's basketball audience. The reward was a tough first round game with Green Bay and then an even tougher second round game against the Terps.
The first half last night was played at a lightning pace, and Princeton appeared to get worn down. It didn't help that Maryland couldn't miss, knocking down 12 of 20 three-point shots. That's the number that Princeton needed to win, not the other way around.
Dietrick finished with 26 points in her final game as a Tiger. Princeton competed really hard, but ultimately the Terps - 32-2, winners of 26 straight, undefeated in the Big Ten, undefeated at home, one of the very few teams that can stay on the court with UConn - were too physical and, on this night, way too accurate.
It wasn't a fair draw for the Tigers.
What they deserved was to play at home, in Jadwin, as a fourth seed. What they deserved was to get Maryland in the next round, on a neutral court.
It didn't get that. And so it ended last night in Maryland.
The final number is 31-1. It's an incredible accomplishment.
All of Princeton - athletics and non-athletics - embraced this team.
Of course. How could it be any different?
Teams like this do not come along too often. They are to be cherished when they do, and that's what happened with the 2014-15 Princeton Tigers.
Cherished.
For what they did. And how they did it.
Monday, March 23, 2015
31 And Obama
TigerBlog lied to you Friday.
Like right to your face.
He didn't mean a word of this when he wrote this:
Does Princeton need this win to validate its perfect regular season? No. At least TigerBlog doesn't think that way. No matter what happens, this will go down as a history-making season by the Princeton women. Nothing that happens tomorrow morning changes that.
He knew at the time is was bogus. He just didn't want to say the truth, which is that had the Princeton women's basketball team not won its opening round game in the NCAA tournament Saturday then it would have in fact left a big hole in an otherwise perfect season.
Actually, it would have done more than that.
Thirty-and-one would have been a bad record. Even at 30-1, the narrative would have been - "oh, you wanted a higher seed? You should have proved it on the court. Overrated. Overrated."
TigerBlog didn't want to say this Friday, just in case Princeton lost. He didn't want to be the one to throw a bigger damper on what the mood would have been.
Yes, it still would have been a great season. No, it wouldn't have been what it became Saturday.
Princeton went out and did what no other Princeton women's basketball team had ever done and what only one other Ivy League team had ever done. It won an NCAA tournament game.
Princeton defeated Green Bay 80-70 in a game that was no fluke at all. Princeton had five players in double figures, had a 49-22 rebounding edge, knocked down 9 of 16 three-pointers and shot 21 for 26 as a team from the foul line.
More than that, Princeton executed flawlessly when it needed to in a close game in a big spot, something that was a big question mark for a team that had won 28 games by double figures and had almost never had a moment this season - other than one game at Yale and maybe a little stretch of the second half at Penn - when the outcome of its game wasn't a foregone conclusion after 10 or 15 minutes.
This time, Princeton trailed at halftime. This time, it was the NCAA tournament. This time, Princeton could be forgiven for sensing the narrative that TigerBlog lied about Friday.
Instead it was a magical day for the Tigers. It's not every day that the President of the United States comes to watch a game in person, so that alone made it special. Call it "31 and Obama."
Beyond that, this was the game the team had pointed to all year. The chance to be different. It's not the 30-0 that necessarily defines this team now. It's the 30-0 regular season AND the NCAA tournament win.
It was accomplished on a huge stage, with a national ESPN2 audience. The team generated a ton of media coverage as it got closer to 30-0, but that was nothing compared to what the last few days were like. And then, with the President there, the attention skyrocketed.
It made for a one of the greatest moments in the history of Princeton Athletics in the last few decades. Or ever, really. That's how great Saturday was.
HERE, see for yourself.
So now what?
Well, it's the game that TB would rather have come one round from now, but oh well. It's the Tigers, the 31-0 Tigers, against the No. 1 seed in the region, the 31-2 Maryland Terps. The game is tonight at 6:30, by the way.
This is a huge challenge.
It would have been better to be a four or five, which would have meant the 12th or 13th seed and then the four or five, with the top seed in the Sweet 16.
But hey, there's nothing that Princeton could do about that.
Maryland is for real. The Terps ran the table in the Big Ten and in fact have won 25 straight. Their only two losses came back-to-back, against Washington State and Notre Dame, back on Nov. 29 and Dec. 3
This is a team built to go deep into this tournament, and it will be playing on its home court. Maryland scores more than 80 a game and allows barely 60.
Princeton needs to shoot well. It needs to rebound. It especially needs to not turn the ball over.
Princeton needs to not get run out of the Xfinity Center quickly. The longer the game stays close, the more confidence Princeton will have. The goal is to get to the under-eight media timeout of the second half in position to pull the game out.
Maybe it will be a great game. Maybe it won't.
Princeton put the validation on its season Saturday. The game tonight just adds to to it.
Princeton has won every game it has played to this point, and it's a team that couldn't be more likable. Every time any member of the team - player, coach - speaks into a microphone, the team's image is enhanced a little more.
Nothing that happens tonight changes that. Yeah yeah, he said that last week, but he was lying to you then. He's not lying now.
This is one of the greatest teams ever to represent Princeton University.
Like right to your face.
He didn't mean a word of this when he wrote this:
Does Princeton need this win to validate its perfect regular season? No. At least TigerBlog doesn't think that way. No matter what happens, this will go down as a history-making season by the Princeton women. Nothing that happens tomorrow morning changes that.
He knew at the time is was bogus. He just didn't want to say the truth, which is that had the Princeton women's basketball team not won its opening round game in the NCAA tournament Saturday then it would have in fact left a big hole in an otherwise perfect season.
Actually, it would have done more than that.
Thirty-and-one would have been a bad record. Even at 30-1, the narrative would have been - "oh, you wanted a higher seed? You should have proved it on the court. Overrated. Overrated."
TigerBlog didn't want to say this Friday, just in case Princeton lost. He didn't want to be the one to throw a bigger damper on what the mood would have been.
Yes, it still would have been a great season. No, it wouldn't have been what it became Saturday.
Princeton went out and did what no other Princeton women's basketball team had ever done and what only one other Ivy League team had ever done. It won an NCAA tournament game.
Princeton defeated Green Bay 80-70 in a game that was no fluke at all. Princeton had five players in double figures, had a 49-22 rebounding edge, knocked down 9 of 16 three-pointers and shot 21 for 26 as a team from the foul line.
More than that, Princeton executed flawlessly when it needed to in a close game in a big spot, something that was a big question mark for a team that had won 28 games by double figures and had almost never had a moment this season - other than one game at Yale and maybe a little stretch of the second half at Penn - when the outcome of its game wasn't a foregone conclusion after 10 or 15 minutes.
This time, Princeton trailed at halftime. This time, it was the NCAA tournament. This time, Princeton could be forgiven for sensing the narrative that TigerBlog lied about Friday.
Instead it was a magical day for the Tigers. It's not every day that the President of the United States comes to watch a game in person, so that alone made it special. Call it "31 and Obama."
Beyond that, this was the game the team had pointed to all year. The chance to be different. It's not the 30-0 that necessarily defines this team now. It's the 30-0 regular season AND the NCAA tournament win.
It was accomplished on a huge stage, with a national ESPN2 audience. The team generated a ton of media coverage as it got closer to 30-0, but that was nothing compared to what the last few days were like. And then, with the President there, the attention skyrocketed.
It made for a one of the greatest moments in the history of Princeton Athletics in the last few decades. Or ever, really. That's how great Saturday was.
HERE, see for yourself.
So now what?
Well, it's the game that TB would rather have come one round from now, but oh well. It's the Tigers, the 31-0 Tigers, against the No. 1 seed in the region, the 31-2 Maryland Terps. The game is tonight at 6:30, by the way.
This is a huge challenge.
It would have been better to be a four or five, which would have meant the 12th or 13th seed and then the four or five, with the top seed in the Sweet 16.
But hey, there's nothing that Princeton could do about that.
Maryland is for real. The Terps ran the table in the Big Ten and in fact have won 25 straight. Their only two losses came back-to-back, against Washington State and Notre Dame, back on Nov. 29 and Dec. 3
This is a team built to go deep into this tournament, and it will be playing on its home court. Maryland scores more than 80 a game and allows barely 60.
Princeton needs to shoot well. It needs to rebound. It especially needs to not turn the ball over.
Princeton needs to not get run out of the Xfinity Center quickly. The longer the game stays close, the more confidence Princeton will have. The goal is to get to the under-eight media timeout of the second half in position to pull the game out.
Maybe it will be a great game. Maybe it won't.
Princeton put the validation on its season Saturday. The game tonight just adds to to it.
Princeton has won every game it has played to this point, and it's a team that couldn't be more likable. Every time any member of the team - player, coach - speaks into a microphone, the team's image is enhanced a little more.
Nothing that happens tonight changes that. Yeah yeah, he said that last week, but he was lying to you then. He's not lying now.
This is one of the greatest teams ever to represent Princeton University.
Friday, March 20, 2015
The Main Event
TigerBlog tried to stay up to watch the Georgetown game. Much the same way he did when Monday Night Football was a new idea, he saw a little but fell asleep.
Happily, the Hoyas won, ending that streak of falling to double-figure seeds - even if one of those double-figure seeds reached the Final Four, another reached the Elite 8 and another reached the Sweet 16. Why would the media add context to it?
Harvard lost, even though the Crimson really fought North Carolina hard and Wesley Saunders was great. TigerBlog joins all Princeton fans in celebrating his great career and the end of his eligibility.
Two No. 14 seeds won. Mostly what it shows is that there isn't much of a difference between the power conference teams and the next level teams if you can get the power conference teams out of their buildings, which you can't in the regular season.
There were a bunch of close games. There were some head-scratching calls by officials.
Northeastern couldn't get a shot off at the end against Notre Dame. VCU couldn't convert at the end of regulation and lost to Ohio State in OT. The kid from SMU took it way too personally; it wasn't his fault. What was he supposed to do? Not go for the ball and let the UCLA kid have an uncontested offensive rebound on a ball that was nowhere near the basket?
Best of all, the kid from Georgia State knocked his father - the team's coach - off of his stool with his game-winning three against Baylor. The coach was only on the stool because he tore his Achilles while celebrating the conference tournament championship.
And basically that was Day 1 of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
What else does TigerBlog have for you today?
Well, there was the NCAA wrestling that was on ESPN3. Princeton sent five wrestlers to St. Louis, and two Tigers won their first round matches.
There was also NCAA fencing, Day 1 of four. Princeton won the NCAA title two years ago.
This is spring break week at Princeton, which means almost nobody is around. There is a lacrosse doubleheader tomorrow, a big one in fact, as all four teams who will be part of it are currently 1-0 in the Ivy League.
It starts at noon when Princeton's 13th-ranked women meet Harvard. The Tigers come in on a short turnaround after Wednesday's 12-11 win over Penn State to go to 5-1 overall.
Olivia Hompe is Princeton's leader in goals (14) and points (21). Erin McMunn leads the team in assists with eight to go with nine goals, and Erin Slifer has been strong all year, with 12 goals and five assists.
Princeton defeated Dartmouth in its Ivy opener. Harvard knocked off Columbia.
In the interest of gender equity, or perhaps coincidence, the Princeton men are also ranked 13th (in the media poll anyway; they're 10th in the coaches' poll), also 5-1 overall, also 1-0 in the Ivy League and also, amazingly enough, a 12-11 winner in its midweek game.
Princeton's trio of Mike MacDonald, Kip Orban and Ryan Ambler have been incredible the last two games. After getting shut out against Maryland, the three have combined for 24 goals and 16 assists in the last two games.
MacDonald had six assists against Penn and then seven goals against Rutgers. Orban had seven goals against Penn. Ambler had five goals against Penn and then five assists against Rutgers. All three either tied or bettered their career highs in goals, assists and points the last two games.
Their next test is against a Yale team ranked 9th in both polls, in the second game of the doubleheader, beginning at 3.
And there you have all that.
Really, though, the Princeton athletic focus this weekend - the main event, as it were - will be at the University of Maryland, where the women's basketball team is hoping to do something that it has never done before and that an Ivy team has only done once in the history of the league. Win in the NCAA women's basketball tournament.
This will be the first time that an Ivy League women's team is the higher seed, as the Tigers are the No. 8 in the region. The first round opponent tomorrow morning at 11 is Green Bay, a 28-4 team that defends well and can make some shots. You don't get to be 28-4 without being really good.
Nor do you get to 30-0 without being really good.
That's where Princeton is now, at 30-0.
Does Princeton need this win to validate its perfect regular season? No. At least TigerBlog doesn't think that way.
No matter what happens, this will go down as a history-making season by the Princeton women. Nothing that happens tomorrow morning changes that.
At the same time, a win in the tournament would be incredibly special. Certainly Princeton will be confident. The Tigers haven't played in 10 days, and it's been since the beginning of January that the team played a non-Ivy opponent.
Still, this team will be primed and ready to go. And it's for real. Princeton did not schedule to get to 30-0. Princeton exceeded any reasonable expectation, not only with the wins but also with the blowout manner in which almost all of them were achieved.
At the same time, will that hurt Princeton when this game comes down the stretch and is close? Or will Princeton be able to execute even though it has been in that situation so few times this year?
One fan thinks the Tigers are ready for a big run. President Obama, whose niece Leslie Robinson is a freshman on the team, picked Princeton to get to the NCAA championship game before losing to UConn.
TigerBlog? He's not picking the Tigers to go that far.
He just wants to see Princeton come out and play its best against Green Bay and see what happens from there. He would love to see the team get to 31-0. And get a shot at Maryland to try to get to 32-0.
It won't be easy. It would be wild.
With everything else going on this weekend, it's the No. 1 storyline for Princeton athletics. If winning the Ivy League became a foregone conclusion at some point this winter and if the quest for 30-0 dominated headlines, it was always this weekend that had Princeton's focus.
This is what the team has wanted all year. This is what this team is built for.
The NCAA tournament.
The main event.
Happily, the Hoyas won, ending that streak of falling to double-figure seeds - even if one of those double-figure seeds reached the Final Four, another reached the Elite 8 and another reached the Sweet 16. Why would the media add context to it?
Harvard lost, even though the Crimson really fought North Carolina hard and Wesley Saunders was great. TigerBlog joins all Princeton fans in celebrating his great career and the end of his eligibility.
Two No. 14 seeds won. Mostly what it shows is that there isn't much of a difference between the power conference teams and the next level teams if you can get the power conference teams out of their buildings, which you can't in the regular season.
There were a bunch of close games. There were some head-scratching calls by officials.
Northeastern couldn't get a shot off at the end against Notre Dame. VCU couldn't convert at the end of regulation and lost to Ohio State in OT. The kid from SMU took it way too personally; it wasn't his fault. What was he supposed to do? Not go for the ball and let the UCLA kid have an uncontested offensive rebound on a ball that was nowhere near the basket?
Best of all, the kid from Georgia State knocked his father - the team's coach - off of his stool with his game-winning three against Baylor. The coach was only on the stool because he tore his Achilles while celebrating the conference tournament championship.
And basically that was Day 1 of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
What else does TigerBlog have for you today?
Well, there was the NCAA wrestling that was on ESPN3. Princeton sent five wrestlers to St. Louis, and two Tigers won their first round matches.
There was also NCAA fencing, Day 1 of four. Princeton won the NCAA title two years ago.
This is spring break week at Princeton, which means almost nobody is around. There is a lacrosse doubleheader tomorrow, a big one in fact, as all four teams who will be part of it are currently 1-0 in the Ivy League.
It starts at noon when Princeton's 13th-ranked women meet Harvard. The Tigers come in on a short turnaround after Wednesday's 12-11 win over Penn State to go to 5-1 overall.
Olivia Hompe is Princeton's leader in goals (14) and points (21). Erin McMunn leads the team in assists with eight to go with nine goals, and Erin Slifer has been strong all year, with 12 goals and five assists.
Princeton defeated Dartmouth in its Ivy opener. Harvard knocked off Columbia.
In the interest of gender equity, or perhaps coincidence, the Princeton men are also ranked 13th (in the media poll anyway; they're 10th in the coaches' poll), also 5-1 overall, also 1-0 in the Ivy League and also, amazingly enough, a 12-11 winner in its midweek game.
Princeton's trio of Mike MacDonald, Kip Orban and Ryan Ambler have been incredible the last two games. After getting shut out against Maryland, the three have combined for 24 goals and 16 assists in the last two games.
MacDonald had six assists against Penn and then seven goals against Rutgers. Orban had seven goals against Penn. Ambler had five goals against Penn and then five assists against Rutgers. All three either tied or bettered their career highs in goals, assists and points the last two games.
Their next test is against a Yale team ranked 9th in both polls, in the second game of the doubleheader, beginning at 3.
And there you have all that.
Really, though, the Princeton athletic focus this weekend - the main event, as it were - will be at the University of Maryland, where the women's basketball team is hoping to do something that it has never done before and that an Ivy team has only done once in the history of the league. Win in the NCAA women's basketball tournament.
This will be the first time that an Ivy League women's team is the higher seed, as the Tigers are the No. 8 in the region. The first round opponent tomorrow morning at 11 is Green Bay, a 28-4 team that defends well and can make some shots. You don't get to be 28-4 without being really good.
Nor do you get to 30-0 without being really good.
That's where Princeton is now, at 30-0.
Does Princeton need this win to validate its perfect regular season? No. At least TigerBlog doesn't think that way.
No matter what happens, this will go down as a history-making season by the Princeton women. Nothing that happens tomorrow morning changes that.
At the same time, a win in the tournament would be incredibly special. Certainly Princeton will be confident. The Tigers haven't played in 10 days, and it's been since the beginning of January that the team played a non-Ivy opponent.
Still, this team will be primed and ready to go. And it's for real. Princeton did not schedule to get to 30-0. Princeton exceeded any reasonable expectation, not only with the wins but also with the blowout manner in which almost all of them were achieved.
At the same time, will that hurt Princeton when this game comes down the stretch and is close? Or will Princeton be able to execute even though it has been in that situation so few times this year?
One fan thinks the Tigers are ready for a big run. President Obama, whose niece Leslie Robinson is a freshman on the team, picked Princeton to get to the NCAA championship game before losing to UConn.
TigerBlog? He's not picking the Tigers to go that far.
He just wants to see Princeton come out and play its best against Green Bay and see what happens from there. He would love to see the team get to 31-0. And get a shot at Maryland to try to get to 32-0.
It won't be easy. It would be wild.
With everything else going on this weekend, it's the No. 1 storyline for Princeton athletics. If winning the Ivy League became a foregone conclusion at some point this winter and if the quest for 30-0 dominated headlines, it was always this weekend that had Princeton's focus.
This is what the team has wanted all year. This is what this team is built for.
The NCAA tournament.
The main event.
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Princeton Madness
If you're a Princeton fan or a March Madness fan, then you'll like the "30 For 30" short film entitled "The Billion Dollar Game."
If you're both - and you were back in 1989 - then you'll love it.
If you want to watch it, you can click HERE.
Obviously, it's about the 1989 NCAA tournament first round game between Georgetown and Princeton. No. 1 Georgetown. Against Princeton, the 16th seed.
Final score: Georgetown 50, Princeton 49.
A few years later, after he won his 500th game, Pete Carril was asked to list the biggest wins of his career. The first game he mentioned was the Georgetown game, until it was pointed out that he didn't actually win that one.
The game through the years has largely been credited with getting CBS to buy the rights to the entire tournament. The short film confirms that, with interviews with television programmers and execs.
There are also interviews with Pete Carril, several of the 1989 players and current head coach Mitch Henderson, as well as Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Dave Blatt. It is a really well done piece, and it really does convey what a colossal mismatch the game was supposed to be, but wasn't.
The first two nights of the NCAA tournament have come and gone, and the meat of the tournament gets underway today. As days on the sporting calendar go, today and tomorrow are among the best.
TigerBlog filled out a bracket for the Office of Athletic Communications "just for fun, no money is involved, repeat, no money is involved" pool. Figuring everyone in the world was picking Kentucky, TigerBlog went a little different. He has a Final Four of Virginia, Duke, Kentucky and Wisconsin (three 1s and a 2, he knows) and a final of Duke over Kentucky.
Do not take this to mean that TigerBlog is rooting for Duke. It's just that he doesn't think Kentucky is invincible, and he this is the kind of thing that Duke seems to find a way to pull off.
For many people, today and tomorrow are better than the later rounds. And if you agree, well, then you can thank the 1989 Princeton Tigers.
TigerBlog came on board covering Princeton the following year, 1989-90. He wasn't at the Princeton-Georgetown game, bu he saw the after effects, how everyone flocked to the team the next year to see how they did it.
Most of the players who played in that game were back the next year, and TigerBlog got to see most of them play for two or three more years. It was a great group, with some of his all-time favorites, like Kit Mueller, Matt Eastwick, Matt Lapin, Matt Henshon, George Leftwich, Jerry Doyle and Sean Jackson.
TigerBlog saw them play in the 1990, 1991 and 1992 seasons, all of which ended in the NCAA tournament. Until Harvard this year, Princeton's Class of 1992 was the last Ivy League class to go to four NCAA tournaments.
There really is nothing like the NCAA men's basketball tournament. It's an incredible event to be a part of, especially from the inside, from what TigerBlog's perspective always was.
The NCAA tournament is incredibly regimented, with a tournament manual that spells out basically every single thing that can be done, has to be done, will be done. It makes everything run incredibly smoothly, especially for CBS, whose fees to cover the tournament basically underwrites all of college athletics.
For the fans in the building, it's a fun experience. For someone who is behind the scenes, seeing the media crush, seeing how the teams prepare, seeing the intensity of every moment of the trip, it's as fascinating as anything that TB has experienced in his career.
TigerBlog was also there with Princeton in 1996 - the year the Tigers beat UCLA, which was the single wildest week of all his time here - 1997 and 1998. And 2001. And 2004.
He was lucky to be part of such great years of such a great program.
It can be overwhelming to get everything done on time. The postseason guide, which gets distributed to the media, was always a challenge. More than once TB had to meet the printer somewhere on the road as he headed out to the site of the tournament.
When Princeton played in New Orleans in 2001, TB accidentally shipped three boxes of football media guides, rather than the basketball ones.
TigerBlog is left with great memories, beginning the year after the Georgetown game and continuing for the next 15 years or so.
There are others who will be having their own memories made today and tomorrow, or for as long as they can keep their run this year going.
And TB? He's in the same spot he was a year ago, hoping that next year it'll be Princeton's turn again, Princeton's next chance to be part of the madness that it did so much to help create.
Don't believe TB?
Watch the movie.
If you're both - and you were back in 1989 - then you'll love it.
If you want to watch it, you can click HERE.
Obviously, it's about the 1989 NCAA tournament first round game between Georgetown and Princeton. No. 1 Georgetown. Against Princeton, the 16th seed.
Final score: Georgetown 50, Princeton 49.
A few years later, after he won his 500th game, Pete Carril was asked to list the biggest wins of his career. The first game he mentioned was the Georgetown game, until it was pointed out that he didn't actually win that one.
The game through the years has largely been credited with getting CBS to buy the rights to the entire tournament. The short film confirms that, with interviews with television programmers and execs.
There are also interviews with Pete Carril, several of the 1989 players and current head coach Mitch Henderson, as well as Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Dave Blatt. It is a really well done piece, and it really does convey what a colossal mismatch the game was supposed to be, but wasn't.
The first two nights of the NCAA tournament have come and gone, and the meat of the tournament gets underway today. As days on the sporting calendar go, today and tomorrow are among the best.
TigerBlog filled out a bracket for the Office of Athletic Communications "just for fun, no money is involved, repeat, no money is involved" pool. Figuring everyone in the world was picking Kentucky, TigerBlog went a little different. He has a Final Four of Virginia, Duke, Kentucky and Wisconsin (three 1s and a 2, he knows) and a final of Duke over Kentucky.
Do not take this to mean that TigerBlog is rooting for Duke. It's just that he doesn't think Kentucky is invincible, and he this is the kind of thing that Duke seems to find a way to pull off.
For many people, today and tomorrow are better than the later rounds. And if you agree, well, then you can thank the 1989 Princeton Tigers.
TigerBlog came on board covering Princeton the following year, 1989-90. He wasn't at the Princeton-Georgetown game, bu he saw the after effects, how everyone flocked to the team the next year to see how they did it.
Most of the players who played in that game were back the next year, and TigerBlog got to see most of them play for two or three more years. It was a great group, with some of his all-time favorites, like Kit Mueller, Matt Eastwick, Matt Lapin, Matt Henshon, George Leftwich, Jerry Doyle and Sean Jackson.
TigerBlog saw them play in the 1990, 1991 and 1992 seasons, all of which ended in the NCAA tournament. Until Harvard this year, Princeton's Class of 1992 was the last Ivy League class to go to four NCAA tournaments.
There really is nothing like the NCAA men's basketball tournament. It's an incredible event to be a part of, especially from the inside, from what TigerBlog's perspective always was.
The NCAA tournament is incredibly regimented, with a tournament manual that spells out basically every single thing that can be done, has to be done, will be done. It makes everything run incredibly smoothly, especially for CBS, whose fees to cover the tournament basically underwrites all of college athletics.
For the fans in the building, it's a fun experience. For someone who is behind the scenes, seeing the media crush, seeing how the teams prepare, seeing the intensity of every moment of the trip, it's as fascinating as anything that TB has experienced in his career.
TigerBlog was also there with Princeton in 1996 - the year the Tigers beat UCLA, which was the single wildest week of all his time here - 1997 and 1998. And 2001. And 2004.
He was lucky to be part of such great years of such a great program.
It can be overwhelming to get everything done on time. The postseason guide, which gets distributed to the media, was always a challenge. More than once TB had to meet the printer somewhere on the road as he headed out to the site of the tournament.
When Princeton played in New Orleans in 2001, TB accidentally shipped three boxes of football media guides, rather than the basketball ones.
TigerBlog is left with great memories, beginning the year after the Georgetown game and continuing for the next 15 years or so.
There are others who will be having their own memories made today and tomorrow, or for as long as they can keep their run this year going.
And TB? He's in the same spot he was a year ago, hoping that next year it'll be Princeton's turn again, Princeton's next chance to be part of the madness that it did so much to help create.
Don't believe TB?
Watch the movie.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
No Time To Worry About Seedings
TigerBlog will add "Princeton will be home for the NCAA tournament" to the list of things that he was colossally wrong about.
First, there was the Trenton Thunder. TigerBlog used to live in the general neighborhood when the stadium was being built, and he said that nobody in a million years would ever go there. He was wrong about that. Colossally.
Then there was the Backcourt Bistro in Jadwin Gym for men's basketball. He said no way on that one too. He was wrong then also.
And to that list you can now add the NCAA tournament.
TigerBlog was pretty sure that Princeton would be at home when the seedings were announced Monday night. At worst he thought it was going to be a five seed, maybe a six, but unlikely.
Instead, it was an eight.
Princeton will play ninth-seeded Green Bay at 11 a.m. Saturday at the University of Maryland, whose top-seeded Terps loom in the second round for the winner. Green Bay enters with a record of 28-4 and is one of the better mid-majors around.
TigerBlog heard from someone - okay, John Cornell, who is one of two people who ever held the title of Publications Director for Princeton Athletics - who heard the committee valued quality losses and that Princeton might have been marked down because they didn't have any.
Princeton, of course, has no losses, 30-0, 30 games, 30 wins, 28 by double figures.
Steven Schultz, a colleague in the engineering department, put the odds this way: "If they went in as 9-1 favorites in 30 independent games, it would be a 4% chance of a perfect run. If they went in with a 95% shot at winning every game, they'd still just have a 21% chance for a perfect run through 30 games."
Maybe TigerBlog overvalued the respect such a record would carry, since it was shown very little.
Maybe it's an anti-New Jersey thing by the committee. The other two New Jersey teams in the field are Rutgers and Seton Hall, who are seeded eight and nine and meet each other in the first round. The winner gets UConn.
In other words, for a New Jersey team to get to the Sweet 16, it will have to beat a No. 1 seed to do so - assuming that the No. 1s aren't shocked in the first round.
So what's the deal? The committee didn't like "The Sopranos?" Sinatra? Springsteen?
Princeton was one of the big stories in women's basketball yesterday. Those in the know felt that the Tigers were jobbed, as it were, and some columnists really took it to the committee on Twitter and in their stories.
It was all over ESPN.com. And lots of other places. The consensus was that the players and head coach Courtney Banghart handled it flawlessly.
And while that brought even more attention to the program, it doesn't make a difference come Saturday.
So now the anger of not getting more respect from the committee fades away in the face of preparation for the game itself.
The goal for Princeton has always been to get an NCAA win. It's something that only one Ivy team has ever done - Harvard over Stanford in 1998 - and it comes with an asterisk, as Stanford lost three starters to injury the week before the game.
Winning this week was Princeton's goal the other four times that Banghart brought a team this far. It remains the same.
Standing in the way is a Phoenix team that is used to winning.
The two have one common opponent, and that's Duquesne. Princeton beat the Dukes 79-62 in Pittsburgh; Green Bay won 84-52 at home.
What can anyone conclude from those results? Nothing. The games were played six days apart in November. That's about it.
Green Bay is a great defensive team, allowing teams only 55.3 points per game while holding them to 35.8% shooting and just 27.2% three-point shooting. Princeton's averages? 75.8 points, 49.3% shooting, 40.6% from three.
That's the game, right? Green Bay scores 69.2 per game. Princeton allows 50.9.
Princeton wants to run. Green Bay wants to defend. It figures to be the key to the game, at least based on a 30-second analysis of stats.
Come tip-off time, it won't matter who is seeded where. It will only matter what you do in that game
Princeton's reward for 30-0 wasn't a good seed or a chance to play at home.
Its reward is to play a 31st game that gives the team a chance to make history nonetheless. Additional history, beyond just the 30-0.
There's no sense worrying about what the committee said.
Now it's time to try to make your own statement.
First, there was the Trenton Thunder. TigerBlog used to live in the general neighborhood when the stadium was being built, and he said that nobody in a million years would ever go there. He was wrong about that. Colossally.
Then there was the Backcourt Bistro in Jadwin Gym for men's basketball. He said no way on that one too. He was wrong then also.
And to that list you can now add the NCAA tournament.
TigerBlog was pretty sure that Princeton would be at home when the seedings were announced Monday night. At worst he thought it was going to be a five seed, maybe a six, but unlikely.
Instead, it was an eight.
Princeton will play ninth-seeded Green Bay at 11 a.m. Saturday at the University of Maryland, whose top-seeded Terps loom in the second round for the winner. Green Bay enters with a record of 28-4 and is one of the better mid-majors around.
TigerBlog heard from someone - okay, John Cornell, who is one of two people who ever held the title of Publications Director for Princeton Athletics - who heard the committee valued quality losses and that Princeton might have been marked down because they didn't have any.
Princeton, of course, has no losses, 30-0, 30 games, 30 wins, 28 by double figures.
Steven Schultz, a colleague in the engineering department, put the odds this way: "If they went in as 9-1 favorites in 30 independent games, it would be a 4% chance of a perfect run. If they went in with a 95% shot at winning every game, they'd still just have a 21% chance for a perfect run through 30 games."
Maybe TigerBlog overvalued the respect such a record would carry, since it was shown very little.
Maybe it's an anti-New Jersey thing by the committee. The other two New Jersey teams in the field are Rutgers and Seton Hall, who are seeded eight and nine and meet each other in the first round. The winner gets UConn.
In other words, for a New Jersey team to get to the Sweet 16, it will have to beat a No. 1 seed to do so - assuming that the No. 1s aren't shocked in the first round.
So what's the deal? The committee didn't like "The Sopranos?" Sinatra? Springsteen?
Princeton was one of the big stories in women's basketball yesterday. Those in the know felt that the Tigers were jobbed, as it were, and some columnists really took it to the committee on Twitter and in their stories.
It was all over ESPN.com. And lots of other places. The consensus was that the players and head coach Courtney Banghart handled it flawlessly.
And while that brought even more attention to the program, it doesn't make a difference come Saturday.
So now the anger of not getting more respect from the committee fades away in the face of preparation for the game itself.
The goal for Princeton has always been to get an NCAA win. It's something that only one Ivy team has ever done - Harvard over Stanford in 1998 - and it comes with an asterisk, as Stanford lost three starters to injury the week before the game.
Winning this week was Princeton's goal the other four times that Banghart brought a team this far. It remains the same.
Standing in the way is a Phoenix team that is used to winning.
The two have one common opponent, and that's Duquesne. Princeton beat the Dukes 79-62 in Pittsburgh; Green Bay won 84-52 at home.
What can anyone conclude from those results? Nothing. The games were played six days apart in November. That's about it.
Green Bay is a great defensive team, allowing teams only 55.3 points per game while holding them to 35.8% shooting and just 27.2% three-point shooting. Princeton's averages? 75.8 points, 49.3% shooting, 40.6% from three.
That's the game, right? Green Bay scores 69.2 per game. Princeton allows 50.9.
Princeton wants to run. Green Bay wants to defend. It figures to be the key to the game, at least based on a 30-second analysis of stats.
Come tip-off time, it won't matter who is seeded where. It will only matter what you do in that game
Princeton's reward for 30-0 wasn't a good seed or a chance to play at home.
Its reward is to play a 31st game that gives the team a chance to make history nonetheless. Additional history, beyond just the 30-0.
There's no sense worrying about what the committee said.
Now it's time to try to make your own statement.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
What? An Eight?
TigerBlog was part of the University's service luncheon yesterday at Jadwin Gym.
This is an annual event that recognizes those who have worked at Princeton for 10, 15, 20, 25 years, all the way up to 50, in the case of Thomas Provost, who has worked at the Princeton Plasma Physics lab since 1964.
If you're keeping score, that's 20 years for TigerBlog. Actually it's closer to 21, or even 26, if you want to count the time he spent at the newspaper.
The event began when University President Christopher Eisgruber welcomed everyone to the building, calling it "the home of the undefeated women's basketball team," which got a huge ovation.
When TigerBlog left the luncheon, he firmly believed that Jadwin Gym was also going to be the home of the 2015 NCAA women's basketball first and second rounds. He was pretty close to 100% sure of it.
Princeton, after all, is 30-0, with nine wins over top 100 RPI teams and an RPI of 12. Plus, TigerBlog figured, the women's basketball committee surely wouldn't hold it against the Tigers that their strength of schedule was low, since more than anyone the committee should realize how hard it is for a powerful mid-major to schedule out of the league.
Not everyone from a power conference is open to playing a team from a non-power conference that figures to be tough to beat. Surely the committee knows this, TB thought.
He thought back to the 1998 men's season, when the Tigers got a fifth seed with a very similar profile. In that year, Princeton was rewarded for its 26-1 regular season.
So yeah, TigerBlog thought the Tigers were going to be home.
And then the selection show started.
TigerBlog was tweeting, and he figured that Princeton was going to be a four or five seed. When the first three regions came and went with no mention of the Tigers, he thought it was down to Princeton and George Washington to be the four and five seeds, in either order.
So what happened? First Maryland came up as the No. 1. And then, stunningly, there was Princeton, an eight seed, to play against Green Bay, a nine seed.
An eighth seed? TigerBlog was shocked.
The winner gets No. 1 Maryland, assuming the 30-2 Terps can beat 16th-seeded New Mexico State in Round 1.
And there you have it.
TigerBlog tweeted "is this fair?" Within an hour he had 36 retweets, 20 favorites and 11 comments.
Afterwards, Princeton coach Courtney Banghart appeared on ESPNU and said all of the right things, about respecting the tournament, about the difficulties in schedule, about how good her opponent is and about how proud she was of her team. She did all this while wearing her 30-0 t-shirt and a big smile.
She did mention that this will be her fifth NCAA tournament with the Tigers and third in the eight/nine game.
This team, though, should have been different. Not a top four seed and host? Okay, TigerBlog could deal with it. Maybe even a six.
But an eight?
Here are the big problems with being an eight: 1) your first opponent is a supposed to be on your level and 2) if you win, you get the No. 1. If your goal is to get to the Sweet 16, that's not the easiest way to do it.
Princeton deserved better.
You want to say that the RPI isn't the only factor and is in fact only a guide? Okay. You want to say Princeton's strength of schedule isn't great? Okay.
But hey, did you watch the team play? It's not a team that went 25-5 or 27-3 or 29-1. Princeton is 30-0.
There's only one unbeaten team in Division I women's basketball. That should have counted for something.
It didn't. Not a thing.
And this wasn't a team that just eked out wins. This is a team that destroyed pretty much everyone it played.
Ironically, during the men's selection show, the committee chair used the term "eye test" a bunch of times in talking about seedings. Princeton's women's biggest strength was the "eye test," but it appears not to have been used here.
So now what? Of course, there's nothing Princeton can do about it now other than to focus on the task at hand, and that's the game Saturday morning at Maryland against Green Bay. It's a chance to get the first NCAA tournament win in program history and just the second by an Ivy League team.
It certainly won't be easy. Green Bay is 28-4, by the way.
Princeton's goal has been to get that first NCAA tournament win for the program.
It just didn't think that it would have to try to do it in the eight/nine game.
In reality, it shouldn't have to be.
Princeton deserved better.
The Tigers earned it. They just didn't get it.
This is an annual event that recognizes those who have worked at Princeton for 10, 15, 20, 25 years, all the way up to 50, in the case of Thomas Provost, who has worked at the Princeton Plasma Physics lab since 1964.
If you're keeping score, that's 20 years for TigerBlog. Actually it's closer to 21, or even 26, if you want to count the time he spent at the newspaper.
The event began when University President Christopher Eisgruber welcomed everyone to the building, calling it "the home of the undefeated women's basketball team," which got a huge ovation.
When TigerBlog left the luncheon, he firmly believed that Jadwin Gym was also going to be the home of the 2015 NCAA women's basketball first and second rounds. He was pretty close to 100% sure of it.
Princeton, after all, is 30-0, with nine wins over top 100 RPI teams and an RPI of 12. Plus, TigerBlog figured, the women's basketball committee surely wouldn't hold it against the Tigers that their strength of schedule was low, since more than anyone the committee should realize how hard it is for a powerful mid-major to schedule out of the league.
Not everyone from a power conference is open to playing a team from a non-power conference that figures to be tough to beat. Surely the committee knows this, TB thought.
He thought back to the 1998 men's season, when the Tigers got a fifth seed with a very similar profile. In that year, Princeton was rewarded for its 26-1 regular season.
So yeah, TigerBlog thought the Tigers were going to be home.
And then the selection show started.
TigerBlog was tweeting, and he figured that Princeton was going to be a four or five seed. When the first three regions came and went with no mention of the Tigers, he thought it was down to Princeton and George Washington to be the four and five seeds, in either order.
So what happened? First Maryland came up as the No. 1. And then, stunningly, there was Princeton, an eight seed, to play against Green Bay, a nine seed.
An eighth seed? TigerBlog was shocked.
The winner gets No. 1 Maryland, assuming the 30-2 Terps can beat 16th-seeded New Mexico State in Round 1.
And there you have it.
TigerBlog tweeted "is this fair?" Within an hour he had 36 retweets, 20 favorites and 11 comments.
Afterwards, Princeton coach Courtney Banghart appeared on ESPNU and said all of the right things, about respecting the tournament, about the difficulties in schedule, about how good her opponent is and about how proud she was of her team. She did all this while wearing her 30-0 t-shirt and a big smile.
She did mention that this will be her fifth NCAA tournament with the Tigers and third in the eight/nine game.
This team, though, should have been different. Not a top four seed and host? Okay, TigerBlog could deal with it. Maybe even a six.
But an eight?
Here are the big problems with being an eight: 1) your first opponent is a supposed to be on your level and 2) if you win, you get the No. 1. If your goal is to get to the Sweet 16, that's not the easiest way to do it.
Princeton deserved better.
You want to say that the RPI isn't the only factor and is in fact only a guide? Okay. You want to say Princeton's strength of schedule isn't great? Okay.
But hey, did you watch the team play? It's not a team that went 25-5 or 27-3 or 29-1. Princeton is 30-0.
There's only one unbeaten team in Division I women's basketball. That should have counted for something.
It didn't. Not a thing.
And this wasn't a team that just eked out wins. This is a team that destroyed pretty much everyone it played.
Ironically, during the men's selection show, the committee chair used the term "eye test" a bunch of times in talking about seedings. Princeton's women's biggest strength was the "eye test," but it appears not to have been used here.
So now what? Of course, there's nothing Princeton can do about it now other than to focus on the task at hand, and that's the game Saturday morning at Maryland against Green Bay. It's a chance to get the first NCAA tournament win in program history and just the second by an Ivy League team.
It certainly won't be easy. Green Bay is 28-4, by the way.
Princeton's goal has been to get that first NCAA tournament win for the program.
It just didn't think that it would have to try to do it in the eight/nine game.
In reality, it shouldn't have to be.
Princeton deserved better.
The Tigers earned it. They just didn't get it.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Tonight's The Night
Manish Mehta was not exactly suited for a life in athletic communications, which is fine. It's not for everyone.
And hey, Manish gave it a try. He worked in the Office of Athletic Communications in the 1996-98 range. TigerBlog is pretty sure he was the women's basketball contact at one point.
TB knows he was a lunchtime basketball player. In fact, that was probably Manish's favorite part of working here.
It certainly wasn't the daily grind of sports information. Manish had this incredible ability to annoy almost everyone and yet do so in a charming way that made almost all of those people really like him. Almost all of those people. Some of his exploits are part of OAC legend.
What Manish was really good at was writing. When he left here, to pursue that as his career, he had made some lifelong friendships, including with TigerBlog. To this day, when you mention Manish to people like Gary Walters, Joe Scott and John Thompson - he called him "muh-NISH" - the first thing they'll do is smile.
Manish has come a long way from the guy who used to bring quarters of chocolate milk, pounds of lunch meat and loaves of bread to work with him.
Today, Manish is one of the top NFL writers in the country, covering mostly the New York Jets for the New York Daily News. He is a regular guest on sports talk shows all over the country, locally on WFAN, the biggest sports talk station in the country.
TigerBlog saw his friend muh-NISH on a different outlet yesterday. Manish was one of the panelists on ESPN's popular Sunday morning show, "The Sports Reporters."
Jeremy Schaap was the host. Manish was on the panel with William Rhoden of the New York Times and Gene Wojciechowski, who writes for ESPN.
TigerBlog's only pre-show advice to Manish was to mention the Princeton women's basketball team. Early Sunday Manish texted TB to tell him that he was going to bring up the Tigers but that both Rhoden and Wojciechowski had beaten him to it.
Rhoden mentioned Princeton during his opening segment. Wojciechowski mentioned the Ivy League in his "parting shot."
What Wojciechowski said was that this was a great year for Ivy basketball. He mentioned specifically Harvard's 53-51 win over Yale in the Ivy League playoff game at the Palestra yesterday, and he also mentioned the 30-0 Tiger women.
Wojciechowski mentioned a quote by Blake Dietrick, the Ivy League Player of the Year, who said that her two immediate goals were to win an NCAA tournament game and to finish her thesis. Wojciechowski said that, like the Tigers, her quote was perfect.
It's hard these days to turn on ESPN without hearing about the undefeated Tigers.
It's obviously been an incredible year for them. It's far beyond what any of them figured would happen when they came to Princeton.
Did they expect to win? Of course. Did they expect to go 30-0, be ranked where they are and be swarmed by the national media?
Probably not.
Tonight is a big night for the women's basketball team. There will be another media crush, this time around the selection show, which is at 7 on ESPN.
Before he talks about the women, TigerBlog does want to say something about the Ivy League men.
Harvard's win over Yale earned the Crimson a fourth-straight trip to the NCAA tournament, something no Ivy men's team had done since the 1989-92 Princeton men did it. Harvard's margin was razor thin this time around, and in fact it was out of the Crimson's hands a week ago, when it took that miraculous comeback by Dartmouth against Yale to force the playoff in the first place.
Harvard found out last night that it will be the 13th seed in the West region, with a first round date against North Carolina in Jacksonville.
Yale? It came oh so close and had it get away. It's a tough one for the Bulldogs and their faithful, whose team hasn't been to the NCAA tournament since 1962.
What was the difference between the two? It was Wesley Saunders, who carried Harvard home when it was needed most. Saunders is a total difference maker on that team; his graduation will be huge in terms of the balance of power in Ivy League men's basketball.
As for the Princeton women?
Today is a day to have a party, to celebrate 30-0, to hope that the committee keeps the team in Jadwin Gym for the NCAA tournament.
No matter where they play, the Tigers will be the highest seeded Ivy League women's basketball team ever, bettering their own No. 9 seed two years ago. The 1998 Princeton men were a five seed.
After tonight, Princeton will know exactly what's up, who's next, what stands between them and extending this season more than one more game.
30-0 is perfect. 30-1?
About two months ago, TigerBlog asked Milena Flores, the women's basketball assistant coach, if she would take 30-1 for a final record or play it out from where the season was. She didn't even blink and said she'd play it out.
Now they're at 30-0, with the chance to play it out.
One more day to celebrate perfection. Then it's time for the serious work.
And hey, Manish gave it a try. He worked in the Office of Athletic Communications in the 1996-98 range. TigerBlog is pretty sure he was the women's basketball contact at one point.
TB knows he was a lunchtime basketball player. In fact, that was probably Manish's favorite part of working here.
It certainly wasn't the daily grind of sports information. Manish had this incredible ability to annoy almost everyone and yet do so in a charming way that made almost all of those people really like him. Almost all of those people. Some of his exploits are part of OAC legend.
What Manish was really good at was writing. When he left here, to pursue that as his career, he had made some lifelong friendships, including with TigerBlog. To this day, when you mention Manish to people like Gary Walters, Joe Scott and John Thompson - he called him "muh-NISH" - the first thing they'll do is smile.
Manish has come a long way from the guy who used to bring quarters of chocolate milk, pounds of lunch meat and loaves of bread to work with him.
Today, Manish is one of the top NFL writers in the country, covering mostly the New York Jets for the New York Daily News. He is a regular guest on sports talk shows all over the country, locally on WFAN, the biggest sports talk station in the country.
TigerBlog saw his friend muh-NISH on a different outlet yesterday. Manish was one of the panelists on ESPN's popular Sunday morning show, "The Sports Reporters."
Jeremy Schaap was the host. Manish was on the panel with William Rhoden of the New York Times and Gene Wojciechowski, who writes for ESPN.
TigerBlog's only pre-show advice to Manish was to mention the Princeton women's basketball team. Early Sunday Manish texted TB to tell him that he was going to bring up the Tigers but that both Rhoden and Wojciechowski had beaten him to it.
Rhoden mentioned Princeton during his opening segment. Wojciechowski mentioned the Ivy League in his "parting shot."
What Wojciechowski said was that this was a great year for Ivy basketball. He mentioned specifically Harvard's 53-51 win over Yale in the Ivy League playoff game at the Palestra yesterday, and he also mentioned the 30-0 Tiger women.
Wojciechowski mentioned a quote by Blake Dietrick, the Ivy League Player of the Year, who said that her two immediate goals were to win an NCAA tournament game and to finish her thesis. Wojciechowski said that, like the Tigers, her quote was perfect.
It's hard these days to turn on ESPN without hearing about the undefeated Tigers.
It's obviously been an incredible year for them. It's far beyond what any of them figured would happen when they came to Princeton.
Did they expect to win? Of course. Did they expect to go 30-0, be ranked where they are and be swarmed by the national media?
Probably not.
Tonight is a big night for the women's basketball team. There will be another media crush, this time around the selection show, which is at 7 on ESPN.
Before he talks about the women, TigerBlog does want to say something about the Ivy League men.
Harvard's win over Yale earned the Crimson a fourth-straight trip to the NCAA tournament, something no Ivy men's team had done since the 1989-92 Princeton men did it. Harvard's margin was razor thin this time around, and in fact it was out of the Crimson's hands a week ago, when it took that miraculous comeback by Dartmouth against Yale to force the playoff in the first place.
Harvard found out last night that it will be the 13th seed in the West region, with a first round date against North Carolina in Jacksonville.
Yale? It came oh so close and had it get away. It's a tough one for the Bulldogs and their faithful, whose team hasn't been to the NCAA tournament since 1962.
What was the difference between the two? It was Wesley Saunders, who carried Harvard home when it was needed most. Saunders is a total difference maker on that team; his graduation will be huge in terms of the balance of power in Ivy League men's basketball.
As for the Princeton women?
Today is a day to have a party, to celebrate 30-0, to hope that the committee keeps the team in Jadwin Gym for the NCAA tournament.
No matter where they play, the Tigers will be the highest seeded Ivy League women's basketball team ever, bettering their own No. 9 seed two years ago. The 1998 Princeton men were a five seed.
After tonight, Princeton will know exactly what's up, who's next, what stands between them and extending this season more than one more game.
30-0 is perfect. 30-1?
About two months ago, TigerBlog asked Milena Flores, the women's basketball assistant coach, if she would take 30-1 for a final record or play it out from where the season was. She didn't even blink and said she'd play it out.
Now they're at 30-0, with the chance to play it out.
One more day to celebrate perfection. Then it's time for the serious work.
Friday, March 13, 2015
The Calm Before The Hurricane, Or Possibly Hurricanes
For a team with an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament already in its back pocket, these are the oddest days of the season.
Everything builds to March, except there's this big hole in the schedule between the clincher and the end of the regular season - or, if your conference does it wrong, conference tournament. The result is a few days of uncertainty, where coaches have nobody to prepare a scouting report on, players have no idea how they'll match up and, for that matter, teams that have no idea where they'll be playing on their biggest stage.
Such is the case for the Princeton women's basketball team.
Princeton earned the automatic bid last Saturday and wrapped up a 30-0 regular season Tuesday night. And then? There was a six-day wait to see what fate - and the NCAA committee - has in store for the Tigers.
Today marks the halfway point of that wait.
If you had been in Jadwin Gym around noon yesterday, you could have seen a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor named Lex Smits talking with Tiger head coach Courtney Banghart and seniors Blake Dietrick and Alex Rodgers about the science behind a three-point shot, all under the watchful eye and camera of Princeton's athletic video guru John Bullis.
The result was a fun, lighthearted piece that saw Smits interact with the players and coach in an easy-going, glad-to-get-to-meet-you way. It was a great slice of Princeton, the integration of the athletics and engineering, all brought together by a 30-0 basketball team.
In the end, after analyzing how Dietrick and Rodgers shot the ball, Smits took a turn, from the foul line. He airballed his first. Then he got a quick tutorial from Rodgers, which led him to, well, airball his second too.
His third? Swish. Perfect. Nothing but net. It made for a great ending to the video.
The big question around Jadwin, though, isn't how fast to release a basketball or how much arc to put on it.
Nope. The big question is this: When the NCAA women's basketball selections are announced Monday (at 7, on ESPN), will Princeton be playing at home?
TigerBlog says yes. He bases this on potentially flawed logic of course
The Tigers currently have an RPI of 12. There will be 16 home sites in the first and second rounds, and the team with the No. 7 RPI, Louisville, cannot host due to the fact that its facility is unavailable.
Plus, Princeton is the only undefeated team in the country. And the 30-0 Ivy League team has made for a great story that has generated great publicity for women's basketball.
Why wouldn't that be rewarded with a home site, especially with its RPI so high?
Someone who disagrees with TigerBlog is Charlie Creme, who does the women's basketball bracketology for ESPN.com. He has the Tigers as a fifth seed and has them on a plane west, headed to Stanford, to take on the 12th-seeded Miami Hurricanes.
TigerBlog cannot image that the No. 12 RPI team, the lone unbeaten in the country, will be shipped out 3,000 miles. Maybe the Tigers will be. TigerBlog just doesn't think that they will.
Of course, there's no way to know until Monday at 7. It's one of the great parts of the selection show. Nobody knows anything until it's released. Courtney Banghart is in the dark as much as the most casual fan.
The Ivy League men's automatic bid will be decided tomorrow afternoon at 4 at the Palestra, when Harvard and Yale play in a one-game playoff. It'll be the first time in Ivy League history that a playoff game does not involve either Princeton or Penn.
Because Harvard and Yale are considered co-champions regardless of what happens tomorrow, that means that the winter Ivy League seasons are all in the books.
And you know what that means, don't you? The Ivy League's unofficial all-sports points championship.
Harvard ended Princeton's 27-year run last year. This year? It's neck and neck between the two.
As a reminder, teams get eight points for finishing first, seven for second and so on. In a sport like men's lacrosse, say, where only seven schools field a team, the champion still gets eight. In the event of ties, the teams split the points, so two teams who tie for third each gets 5.5 points.
At the end of the winter, Princeton has 128.5 points. Harvard has 125.5. Nobody else has more than 85.
In other words, this figures to be close as the spring gets underway.
But all of that is weeks away.
The NCAA selections are days away.
Today? It's a day for things like videos with engineering professors and speculating on whether or not the Tigers will be at home.
TigerBlog says yes.
Everything builds to March, except there's this big hole in the schedule between the clincher and the end of the regular season - or, if your conference does it wrong, conference tournament. The result is a few days of uncertainty, where coaches have nobody to prepare a scouting report on, players have no idea how they'll match up and, for that matter, teams that have no idea where they'll be playing on their biggest stage.
Such is the case for the Princeton women's basketball team.
Princeton earned the automatic bid last Saturday and wrapped up a 30-0 regular season Tuesday night. And then? There was a six-day wait to see what fate - and the NCAA committee - has in store for the Tigers.
Today marks the halfway point of that wait.
If you had been in Jadwin Gym around noon yesterday, you could have seen a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor named Lex Smits talking with Tiger head coach Courtney Banghart and seniors Blake Dietrick and Alex Rodgers about the science behind a three-point shot, all under the watchful eye and camera of Princeton's athletic video guru John Bullis.
The result was a fun, lighthearted piece that saw Smits interact with the players and coach in an easy-going, glad-to-get-to-meet-you way. It was a great slice of Princeton, the integration of the athletics and engineering, all brought together by a 30-0 basketball team.
In the end, after analyzing how Dietrick and Rodgers shot the ball, Smits took a turn, from the foul line. He airballed his first. Then he got a quick tutorial from Rodgers, which led him to, well, airball his second too.
His third? Swish. Perfect. Nothing but net. It made for a great ending to the video.
The big question around Jadwin, though, isn't how fast to release a basketball or how much arc to put on it.
Nope. The big question is this: When the NCAA women's basketball selections are announced Monday (at 7, on ESPN), will Princeton be playing at home?
TigerBlog says yes. He bases this on potentially flawed logic of course
The Tigers currently have an RPI of 12. There will be 16 home sites in the first and second rounds, and the team with the No. 7 RPI, Louisville, cannot host due to the fact that its facility is unavailable.
Plus, Princeton is the only undefeated team in the country. And the 30-0 Ivy League team has made for a great story that has generated great publicity for women's basketball.
Why wouldn't that be rewarded with a home site, especially with its RPI so high?
Someone who disagrees with TigerBlog is Charlie Creme, who does the women's basketball bracketology for ESPN.com. He has the Tigers as a fifth seed and has them on a plane west, headed to Stanford, to take on the 12th-seeded Miami Hurricanes.
TigerBlog cannot image that the No. 12 RPI team, the lone unbeaten in the country, will be shipped out 3,000 miles. Maybe the Tigers will be. TigerBlog just doesn't think that they will.
Of course, there's no way to know until Monday at 7. It's one of the great parts of the selection show. Nobody knows anything until it's released. Courtney Banghart is in the dark as much as the most casual fan.
The Ivy League men's automatic bid will be decided tomorrow afternoon at 4 at the Palestra, when Harvard and Yale play in a one-game playoff. It'll be the first time in Ivy League history that a playoff game does not involve either Princeton or Penn.
Because Harvard and Yale are considered co-champions regardless of what happens tomorrow, that means that the winter Ivy League seasons are all in the books.
And you know what that means, don't you? The Ivy League's unofficial all-sports points championship.
Harvard ended Princeton's 27-year run last year. This year? It's neck and neck between the two.
As a reminder, teams get eight points for finishing first, seven for second and so on. In a sport like men's lacrosse, say, where only seven schools field a team, the champion still gets eight. In the event of ties, the teams split the points, so two teams who tie for third each gets 5.5 points.
At the end of the winter, Princeton has 128.5 points. Harvard has 125.5. Nobody else has more than 85.
In other words, this figures to be close as the spring gets underway.
But all of that is weeks away.
The NCAA selections are days away.
Today? It's a day for things like videos with engineering professors and speculating on whether or not the Tigers will be at home.
TigerBlog says yes.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
To The Victors
The victors - in all 30 of their games - were enjoying the spoils yesterday, with more and more media waiting to hear them tell their story.
Among those yesterday were ESPN "College Gameday" and National Public Radio.
As the NCAA women's basketball selection show draws closer - the announcement will be Monday at 7 on ESPN - the excitement for the Princeton women's basketball team will continue to grow. And of course there is one huge, unanswerable question right now:
Will Princeton play at home?
Will Princeton be rewarded for its 30-0 season, the one that makes Princeton the only undefeated team in Division I women's basketball, with a chance to bring the NCAA tournament to Jadwin Gym?
Princeton was all over the women's basketball page on ESPN.com, including a big celebration picture that spent most of yesterday afternoon front and center.
Then there was the bracketology. This was about the only thing that wasn't going Princeton's way of late.
According to the current edition of bracketology, Princeton won't be playing at home. Or anywhere near home.
Nope, according to this, Princeton will be about as far from home as it could possibly be, all the way on the other side of the country. The destination is Stanford, at least as far as ESPN.com was concerned yesterday.
It had Princeton as a fifth seed playing 12th seeded Miami (the one in Florida, not the one in Ohio). For what it's worth, no Ivy team has ever been higher than a nine, which Princeton was two years ago.
And, if TigerBlog is right about the location of the 1998 Harvard win over Stanford, then Stanford is the site of the only win ever by an Ivy League team in the NCAA tournament.
Still, TB can't help but think there will be a little benefit of the doubt given to Princeton when the committee makes its ultimate decision. An undefeated Ivy League team? One that has generated a ton of publicity?
Maybe TB is way off the mark here. But send that team 3,000 miles from home?
It seems 1) not right and 2) unlikely.
So the women's basketball team is the biggest winner right now at Princeton. It's not the only winner.
While Princeton waits for some good news in the women's basketball selections, yesterday was a pretty good day for the wrestling team.
Princeton had three automatic qualifiers to the NCAA wrestling championships after last weekend's EIWA championships. Those three were joined yesterday by two at-large selections.
From the release on goprincetontigers.com:
Juniors Abram Ayala (197) and Chris Perez (149) joined sophomore Jorfdan Laster (141) as automatic qualifiers during last weekend's EIWA Championships, when Princeton finished seventh as a team despite having only nine wrestlers in competition. Sophomore Brett Harner (184), who defaulted from the tournament due to injury, and freshman Jonathan Schleifer (165) earned at-large bids because of the quality of their regular season.
The five wrestlers who advanced to the NCAAs - to be held in St. Louis next weekend - tied the program record for the most ever to advance to the championships.
Also from the release:
The group is just the third five-man Princeton squad to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the same year. In 1975, Dennis Underkoffler '76, Kevin Roesch '78, Randy Schutte '75, Bill Miron '78, and Mike Murburg '77 qualified. In 1978, when Princeton won its most recent EIWA Championship, the quintet of Roesch, Steve Grubman '78, John Sefter '78, Keith Ely '79 and Bill Hawley '80 qualified.
Again, it's hard to overstate how much Chris Ayres and his staff have done to rebuild Princeton wrestling. Sending five wrestlers to the NCAA championships? A few years back that didn't seem possible.
Meanwhile, there are some other victors as well.
Harrison Wagner and Corey Okubo earned spots in the NCAA men's swimming and diving championships, which will be held in Iowa City. Wagner, a senior, has the 16th-best time in the 50 free in the country. Okubo, a freshman, has the 23rd-best 400 IM time - as well as the Ivy League record.
Princeton will also compete in the relay events, and it is up to the Princeton staff to decide which four will swim.
On the women's side, diver Caitlin Chambers will also be in the NCAA championships, these to be held in Greensboro. Chambers will compete on the 1-meter and 3-meter and the platform.
And in women's track and field, Megan Curham earned herself a trip to the NCAA championships this weekend in Fayetteville, Ark. She will run in the 5,000 meters tomorrow night at 8:25.
It's March. NCAA championship time.
For some, their travel is already set.
For the women's basketball team, the hope is that there will be no travel at all.
Among those yesterday were ESPN "College Gameday" and National Public Radio.
As the NCAA women's basketball selection show draws closer - the announcement will be Monday at 7 on ESPN - the excitement for the Princeton women's basketball team will continue to grow. And of course there is one huge, unanswerable question right now:
Will Princeton play at home?
Will Princeton be rewarded for its 30-0 season, the one that makes Princeton the only undefeated team in Division I women's basketball, with a chance to bring the NCAA tournament to Jadwin Gym?
Princeton was all over the women's basketball page on ESPN.com, including a big celebration picture that spent most of yesterday afternoon front and center.
Then there was the bracketology. This was about the only thing that wasn't going Princeton's way of late.
According to the current edition of bracketology, Princeton won't be playing at home. Or anywhere near home.
Nope, according to this, Princeton will be about as far from home as it could possibly be, all the way on the other side of the country. The destination is Stanford, at least as far as ESPN.com was concerned yesterday.
It had Princeton as a fifth seed playing 12th seeded Miami (the one in Florida, not the one in Ohio). For what it's worth, no Ivy team has ever been higher than a nine, which Princeton was two years ago.
And, if TigerBlog is right about the location of the 1998 Harvard win over Stanford, then Stanford is the site of the only win ever by an Ivy League team in the NCAA tournament.
Still, TB can't help but think there will be a little benefit of the doubt given to Princeton when the committee makes its ultimate decision. An undefeated Ivy League team? One that has generated a ton of publicity?
Maybe TB is way off the mark here. But send that team 3,000 miles from home?
It seems 1) not right and 2) unlikely.
So the women's basketball team is the biggest winner right now at Princeton. It's not the only winner.
While Princeton waits for some good news in the women's basketball selections, yesterday was a pretty good day for the wrestling team.
Princeton had three automatic qualifiers to the NCAA wrestling championships after last weekend's EIWA championships. Those three were joined yesterday by two at-large selections.
From the release on goprincetontigers.com:
Juniors Abram Ayala (197) and Chris Perez (149) joined sophomore Jorfdan Laster (141) as automatic qualifiers during last weekend's EIWA Championships, when Princeton finished seventh as a team despite having only nine wrestlers in competition. Sophomore Brett Harner (184), who defaulted from the tournament due to injury, and freshman Jonathan Schleifer (165) earned at-large bids because of the quality of their regular season.
The five wrestlers who advanced to the NCAAs - to be held in St. Louis next weekend - tied the program record for the most ever to advance to the championships.
Also from the release:
The group is just the third five-man Princeton squad to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the same year. In 1975, Dennis Underkoffler '76, Kevin Roesch '78, Randy Schutte '75, Bill Miron '78, and Mike Murburg '77 qualified. In 1978, when Princeton won its most recent EIWA Championship, the quintet of Roesch, Steve Grubman '78, John Sefter '78, Keith Ely '79 and Bill Hawley '80 qualified.
Again, it's hard to overstate how much Chris Ayres and his staff have done to rebuild Princeton wrestling. Sending five wrestlers to the NCAA championships? A few years back that didn't seem possible.
Meanwhile, there are some other victors as well.
Harrison Wagner and Corey Okubo earned spots in the NCAA men's swimming and diving championships, which will be held in Iowa City. Wagner, a senior, has the 16th-best time in the 50 free in the country. Okubo, a freshman, has the 23rd-best 400 IM time - as well as the Ivy League record.
Princeton will also compete in the relay events, and it is up to the Princeton staff to decide which four will swim.
On the women's side, diver Caitlin Chambers will also be in the NCAA championships, these to be held in Greensboro. Chambers will compete on the 1-meter and 3-meter and the platform.
And in women's track and field, Megan Curham earned herself a trip to the NCAA championships this weekend in Fayetteville, Ark. She will run in the 5,000 meters tomorrow night at 8:25.
It's March. NCAA championship time.
For some, their travel is already set.
For the women's basketball team, the hope is that there will be no travel at all.
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Just Perfect
TigerBlog doesn't need many words today. He doesn't need any, actually.
He can tell the whole story with just numbers.
30-0.
There you have it.
The Princeton women's basketball team completed an incredible feat yesterday when it knocked off Penn 55-42. The result was a perfect 30-0 regular season with a run of dominance that includes 28 wins by double figures and 20 games in which Princeton led by at least 20 points at some point.
The Tigers did so much to destroy any reasonable expectations that it seemed unusual that the game yesterday stayed close into the second half. Keep in mind, this was a double-figure win over a team with an RPI of 49 that had won nine straight games.
Princeton's 30-0 romp through the 2014-15 regular season included four wins against teams with an RPI in the top 50 and a total of nine wins against teams with an RPI in the top 100.
Oh, and of those nine wins? Eight of them were by double figures.
The question looking forward is whether or not the 30-0 record will bring the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament to Jadwin Gym. Will Princeton get to play at home?
The fact that this is even under discussion shows you how ridiculous Princeton's season has been. An Ivy team with home court in the NCAA?
The women's basketball selections will be announced Monday at 7. Between now and then, it's all speculation.
There will also be a continuation of the media crush that has descended on this team, including some time with ESPN's College GameDay.
And then it'll be time for the NCAA tournament. Only once has an Ivy League women's team won an NCAA tournament game, back in 1998, when Harvard defeated injury-ravaged Stanford.
All of that is still to come.
For today, it's a chance to step back and marvel at a team that went 30-0.
No Ivy League women's basketball had ever won even its first 10 games of the season. The Tigers eclipsed the 28-0 start of the 1971 Penn men for the best start in league history.
It's not just that Princeton is unbeaten. It's that Princeton has annihilated these teams, overwhelmed them often from the opening tip.
It's been extraordinary to watch. It's so beyond the spectrum of what a basketball season is supposed to be. Teams aren't supposed to win 28 games by double figures - and have no team stay within six of them, for that matter.
It's even harder in the Ivy League, TigerBlog supposes, where games are played on Fridays and then Saturdays. Surely one of those Saturday nights would be an off-night, where nothing is falling. Surely there has to be a night or two when it just doesn't go your way - or when an opponent who usually shoots 35% as a team shoots 65%.
But no. Not this team. Not this year.
There was no let up at any point. There was no off-night. Even when pushed - like at Yale or yesterday, when Penn had six possessions in the second half with a chance to take the lead - Princeton responded and executed when needed.
Maybe it's because Princeton is a team of great balance. It can score and defend. It can shoot from the outside and the inside. It can rebound at both ends of the court.
It has an experienced starting five and depth on the bench, and it doesn't need any one or two players to simply carry the team night after night.
TigerBlog is a history guy, and he's been wondering where this 30-0 run ranks all-time in Princeton athletic history.
It's way, way up there.
It's really hard to compare achievements across sports. Is going 30-0 in women's basketball during the regular season better than winning the NCAA field hockey championship or getting to a women's soccer Final Four?
It all depends on your perspective, TB supposes. TigerBlog mentions those two because they are achievements by Princeton teams that, like being 30-0, are unmatched in Ivy League women's history.
TigerBlog supposes that the answer to this question depends on what happens next week in the NCAA tournament.
For now, though, 30-0 stands on its own merit.
Keep in mind this as well: Princeton and Penn were tied for first in the Ivy League's preseason poll. And when Princeton's Class of 2013 - the Niveen Rasheed class - graduated and Penn won last year, it wasn't outrageous to think that the teams were fairly even for 2015.
Instead, Princeton did something historic.
The first person to mention 30-0 to TigerBlog was Andrew Borders, his colleague in the Office of Athletic Communications. Andrew casually said that Princeton would be 30-0 when the team was something like 4-0 or 5-0, before it ever played at Michigan.
When TB heard this, he scoffed. It seemed ridiculous.
30-0? No way. No chance. Impossible.
30-0? As of yesterday, that's Princeton's record.
30-0.
Nothing else really needs to be said.
Well, maybe this:
Princeton women's basketball 2014-15. This is what greatness looks like.
If you saw them play, you know exactly what TigerBlog means.
He can tell the whole story with just numbers.
30-0.
There you have it.
The Princeton women's basketball team completed an incredible feat yesterday when it knocked off Penn 55-42. The result was a perfect 30-0 regular season with a run of dominance that includes 28 wins by double figures and 20 games in which Princeton led by at least 20 points at some point.
The Tigers did so much to destroy any reasonable expectations that it seemed unusual that the game yesterday stayed close into the second half. Keep in mind, this was a double-figure win over a team with an RPI of 49 that had won nine straight games.
Princeton's 30-0 romp through the 2014-15 regular season included four wins against teams with an RPI in the top 50 and a total of nine wins against teams with an RPI in the top 100.
Oh, and of those nine wins? Eight of them were by double figures.
The question looking forward is whether or not the 30-0 record will bring the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament to Jadwin Gym. Will Princeton get to play at home?
The fact that this is even under discussion shows you how ridiculous Princeton's season has been. An Ivy team with home court in the NCAA?
The women's basketball selections will be announced Monday at 7. Between now and then, it's all speculation.
There will also be a continuation of the media crush that has descended on this team, including some time with ESPN's College GameDay.
And then it'll be time for the NCAA tournament. Only once has an Ivy League women's team won an NCAA tournament game, back in 1998, when Harvard defeated injury-ravaged Stanford.
All of that is still to come.
For today, it's a chance to step back and marvel at a team that went 30-0.
No Ivy League women's basketball had ever won even its first 10 games of the season. The Tigers eclipsed the 28-0 start of the 1971 Penn men for the best start in league history.
It's not just that Princeton is unbeaten. It's that Princeton has annihilated these teams, overwhelmed them often from the opening tip.
It's been extraordinary to watch. It's so beyond the spectrum of what a basketball season is supposed to be. Teams aren't supposed to win 28 games by double figures - and have no team stay within six of them, for that matter.
It's even harder in the Ivy League, TigerBlog supposes, where games are played on Fridays and then Saturdays. Surely one of those Saturday nights would be an off-night, where nothing is falling. Surely there has to be a night or two when it just doesn't go your way - or when an opponent who usually shoots 35% as a team shoots 65%.
But no. Not this team. Not this year.
There was no let up at any point. There was no off-night. Even when pushed - like at Yale or yesterday, when Penn had six possessions in the second half with a chance to take the lead - Princeton responded and executed when needed.
Maybe it's because Princeton is a team of great balance. It can score and defend. It can shoot from the outside and the inside. It can rebound at both ends of the court.
It has an experienced starting five and depth on the bench, and it doesn't need any one or two players to simply carry the team night after night.
TigerBlog is a history guy, and he's been wondering where this 30-0 run ranks all-time in Princeton athletic history.
It's way, way up there.
It's really hard to compare achievements across sports. Is going 30-0 in women's basketball during the regular season better than winning the NCAA field hockey championship or getting to a women's soccer Final Four?
It all depends on your perspective, TB supposes. TigerBlog mentions those two because they are achievements by Princeton teams that, like being 30-0, are unmatched in Ivy League women's history.
TigerBlog supposes that the answer to this question depends on what happens next week in the NCAA tournament.
For now, though, 30-0 stands on its own merit.
Keep in mind this as well: Princeton and Penn were tied for first in the Ivy League's preseason poll. And when Princeton's Class of 2013 - the Niveen Rasheed class - graduated and Penn won last year, it wasn't outrageous to think that the teams were fairly even for 2015.
Instead, Princeton did something historic.
The first person to mention 30-0 to TigerBlog was Andrew Borders, his colleague in the Office of Athletic Communications. Andrew casually said that Princeton would be 30-0 when the team was something like 4-0 or 5-0, before it ever played at Michigan.
When TB heard this, he scoffed. It seemed ridiculous.
30-0? No way. No chance. Impossible.
30-0? As of yesterday, that's Princeton's record.
30-0.
Nothing else really needs to be said.
Well, maybe this:
Princeton women's basketball 2014-15. This is what greatness looks like.
If you saw them play, you know exactly what TigerBlog means.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
29 Straight Vs. 9 Straight
During this current winning streak, only one game has been decided by fewer than 10 points. Most have been over by halftime.
Now that the regular season is ending, the team is looking to win its last one before the postseason, where it hopes to make a little noise and be a tough out.
TigerBlog speaks, of course, about the Penn women's basketball team.
Penn has won nine straight, by an average margin of 16 points per game. No Ivy team in that stretch has really challenged the Quakers, who haven't had a team stay within 10 points of them in nearly a month.
So if you're thinking the Princeton women's basketball team is going to roll the balls out in the Palestra tonight and stomp Penn en route to a 30-0 regular season, well, be careful.
Penn has a lot on its side. It has the pride of the defending champion. It turned a blowout loss to Princeton in its Ivy opener a year ago into a blowout win over Princeton in the regular-season finale. It has an RPI of 49.
And, more than anything else, Penn will be foaming at its collective mouth for the chance to derail the Princeton express.
You don't think Penn is tired of reading about and seeing Princeton all over everywhere for its perfect record?
Princeton is 29-0 as it heads to Philadelphia for a game that tips at 5 p.m. and can be seen on CBS College Sports or heard on WPRB FM 103.3. What seemed ludicrous when it was first thought about a few months ago - the idea of 30-0 - is now just 40 minutes away.
Princeton, too, has a lot on its side. The Tigers know full well that the only thing between them and six Ivy titles and NCAA trips in the last six years was last year's season-finale at Jadwin, an 80-64 win by the Quakers in a winner-take-all showdown, so there is a ton of motivation for this one.
Beyond that, Princeton is playing for history. TigerBlog doesn't have to say anything about what it would mean to go 30-0. And you don't get to 29-0 without having overwhelming talent that plays well together.
Finally, in addition to that, there's the idea of wanting to do well in the NCAA tournament. And that's something that will be aided by a better seed and possibly playing at home, two things that depend on a win tonight.
No matter what happens tonight, Princeton is headed to the NCAA tournament. Penn is headed to the WNIT - though a win over a Top 20 RPI team with Penn's current RPI?
How different it could have been.
Back on Feb. 6 at the Palestra, Penn fell behind Cornell by 18 in the second half, cut it to four and then ultimately lost 60-49.
Were it not for that game, Penn would be 12-1 in the league, and oh what a difference that would have made.
Can you imagine what that would be like? Princeton, at 29-0, still not guaranteed of the league's automatic bid, faced with the prospect of a playoff game if it didn't get to 30-0 just to be assured of a spot in the NCAAs?
It's been exactly two months since Princeton defeated Penn 83-54 at Jadwin in the Ivy opener. The Tigers led by 10 at the half and then blew the game wide open at the start of the second.
Remember, though, that Princeton had an eerily similar 84-53 win over Penn at the Palestra in the 2014 Ivy opener, and remember what happened in the rematch.
Princeton certainly remembers what happened. There's nobody in the Tiger locker room who has gotten past that, the lone blemish on a six-year run of dominance.
It all adds up to what should be an incredibly charged atmosphere in the Palestra this evening.
It's a doubleheader of course, with the Penn-Princeton men at 7:30. It'll be the final game for Jerome Allen as the Quaker head coach. Princeton is locked into third place, behind Yale and Harvard, who tied for the league title and will meet Saturday also at the Palestra for the league's automatic NCAA tournament bid.
Meanwhile, back at the women's game, one long winning streak will end tonight.
Either way, it's going to be a game that is long remembered in Ivy League women's basketball history, really as much as any TigerBlog can remember.
Either Princeton is going to make history by going 30-0, or Penn is going to make history by denying 30-0.
No, it's not what it would have been had Penn not lost to Cornell.
Still, how can you not be excited about this one?
Now that the regular season is ending, the team is looking to win its last one before the postseason, where it hopes to make a little noise and be a tough out.
TigerBlog speaks, of course, about the Penn women's basketball team.
Penn has won nine straight, by an average margin of 16 points per game. No Ivy team in that stretch has really challenged the Quakers, who haven't had a team stay within 10 points of them in nearly a month.
So if you're thinking the Princeton women's basketball team is going to roll the balls out in the Palestra tonight and stomp Penn en route to a 30-0 regular season, well, be careful.
Penn has a lot on its side. It has the pride of the defending champion. It turned a blowout loss to Princeton in its Ivy opener a year ago into a blowout win over Princeton in the regular-season finale. It has an RPI of 49.
And, more than anything else, Penn will be foaming at its collective mouth for the chance to derail the Princeton express.
You don't think Penn is tired of reading about and seeing Princeton all over everywhere for its perfect record?
Princeton is 29-0 as it heads to Philadelphia for a game that tips at 5 p.m. and can be seen on CBS College Sports or heard on WPRB FM 103.3. What seemed ludicrous when it was first thought about a few months ago - the idea of 30-0 - is now just 40 minutes away.
Princeton, too, has a lot on its side. The Tigers know full well that the only thing between them and six Ivy titles and NCAA trips in the last six years was last year's season-finale at Jadwin, an 80-64 win by the Quakers in a winner-take-all showdown, so there is a ton of motivation for this one.
Beyond that, Princeton is playing for history. TigerBlog doesn't have to say anything about what it would mean to go 30-0. And you don't get to 29-0 without having overwhelming talent that plays well together.
Finally, in addition to that, there's the idea of wanting to do well in the NCAA tournament. And that's something that will be aided by a better seed and possibly playing at home, two things that depend on a win tonight.
No matter what happens tonight, Princeton is headed to the NCAA tournament. Penn is headed to the WNIT - though a win over a Top 20 RPI team with Penn's current RPI?
How different it could have been.
Back on Feb. 6 at the Palestra, Penn fell behind Cornell by 18 in the second half, cut it to four and then ultimately lost 60-49.
Were it not for that game, Penn would be 12-1 in the league, and oh what a difference that would have made.
Can you imagine what that would be like? Princeton, at 29-0, still not guaranteed of the league's automatic bid, faced with the prospect of a playoff game if it didn't get to 30-0 just to be assured of a spot in the NCAAs?
It's been exactly two months since Princeton defeated Penn 83-54 at Jadwin in the Ivy opener. The Tigers led by 10 at the half and then blew the game wide open at the start of the second.
Remember, though, that Princeton had an eerily similar 84-53 win over Penn at the Palestra in the 2014 Ivy opener, and remember what happened in the rematch.
Princeton certainly remembers what happened. There's nobody in the Tiger locker room who has gotten past that, the lone blemish on a six-year run of dominance.
It all adds up to what should be an incredibly charged atmosphere in the Palestra this evening.
It's a doubleheader of course, with the Penn-Princeton men at 7:30. It'll be the final game for Jerome Allen as the Quaker head coach. Princeton is locked into third place, behind Yale and Harvard, who tied for the league title and will meet Saturday also at the Palestra for the league's automatic NCAA tournament bid.
Meanwhile, back at the women's game, one long winning streak will end tonight.
Either way, it's going to be a game that is long remembered in Ivy League women's basketball history, really as much as any TigerBlog can remember.
Either Princeton is going to make history by going 30-0, or Penn is going to make history by denying 30-0.
No, it's not what it would have been had Penn not lost to Cornell.
Still, how can you not be excited about this one?
Monday, March 9, 2015
A Wild Saturday Night In Ivy Hoops
The Princeton men's basketball team picked the wrong night to play one of the most exciting games ever played in Jadwin Gym.
TigerBlog was on his way back from the men's lacrosse game at Maryland Saturday, and he wouldn't be able to get to Jadwin in time for the men's basketball game against Columbia. He was able to listen to the first half on WPRB with Derek Jones and Noah Savage - they are really good - and then saw the second half on the Ivy League Digital Network, with Derek and Noah again.
Oh, and before he gets too deep into basketball, TigerBlog can sum up the men's lacrosse game easily enough - it happens. Move on. Lots of season left. Big game Saturday at Penn.
Okay, back at hoops.
The Princeton-Columbia game, an 85-83 Tiger win, at Jadwin Saturday night was epic.
Columbia's Maodo Lo set the Ivy League record with 11 three-pointers and came within three of the building record for points in a game. Lo finished with 37, and he came ridiculously close to tying the record of 40 set by Monmouth's Rahsaan Johnson in 2001.
How close did Lo come? Really, really, really close, as his potential game-winning three-pointer as time expired - a running off-balance try from just in front of his bench - rolled around the rim, hung around awhile, looked like it was going in and then just fell out.
Before that, Princeton had closed on an 11-0 run. Columbia led 83-74 with just over two minutes left, but Princeton got an and-one from Hans Brase, two foul shots from Pete Miller and a three-pointer from Clay Wilson to make it 83-82. Brase then put the Tigers up with a spinning move to the basket, and Wilson made one of two foul shots with 2.4 seconds left, setting up the near-miss from Lo.
It's impossible to overstate how insanely good Lo was. He got on one of those incredible roles shooters get on, to the point where it seems impossible that he's going to miss. He didn't miss often, going 11 for 15 from three-point range.
When it was over, Princeton had swept the weekend and clinched third place in the league.
Ah, but as TB said, these two teams picked the wrong night to play that game.
Why? There was a lot of other things that happened Saturday night.
TigerBlog had the Princeton-Columbia women and the Yale-Dartmouth men on split screen after the Tiger men's game ended. He also had Princeton-Dartmouth hockey going as well.
As for the two basketball games, it was like this. Princeton and Yale needed wins to clinch outright Ivy championships and automatic bids to the NCAA.
That Princeton would win was as close to a certainty as there is in sports, and that's how it came to be. Princeton defeated Columbia 63-44 to improve to 29-0 overall and 13-0 in the league. Penn, at 11-2, cannot catch the Tigers, though the Quakers can ruin Princeton's quest for a perfect regular season when they meet tomorrow night at the Palestra.
Anyway, the Princeton game and Yale-Dartmouth game were on about the same timeline, at least until they got to the final two minutes. Then the Princeton game sprinted to the finish, while Yale crawled and crawled and crawled.
Yale defeated Harvard Friday night in the huge showdown for first place, clinching a tie for the men's championship for the Bulldogs. All that stood between Yale and its first NCAA tournament since 1962 was Dartmouth.
The Big Green, of course, have been hot of late, having won four straight and five of six before taking on the Bulldogs. Yale led throughout but couldn't completely shake the Big Green, but it still looked all the way to the end like it would be a Yale win.
In fact, TigerBlog was watching the two games to see the contrast in championship celebrations. Princeton's women were a lock to win the game. TB didn't figure it would be a massive celebration, and it wasn't.
Yale? TB was sure that this would be one excited group.
Only it never came to that. Dartmouth erased a five-point deficit in the final 35 seconds and four-point deficit in the final 24 seconds and won it with a beautiful out-of-bounds play - after a length-of-the-court pass was knocked out of bounds by Yale, completely changing the dynamic of the final 2.3 seconds.
It was shocking. TigerBlog could hardly believe what he saw.
It was an indescribable loss for Yale. Actually, it made TigerBlog think - on a much, much, much smaller scale - about how the U.S. Olympic hockey team in 1980 still had to beat Finland after beating the Soviets.
Indescribable, but not season-ending. Now it'll be Yale and Harvard in a one-game playoff Saturday at the Palestra for the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Prevailing wisdom among those TB spoke to yesterday suggested that it's going to be tough for Yale to come back emotionally after having come so close to sewing it up. TigerBlog disagrees. No, it won't be easy. And yes, the mental part is going to be the tough part.
But at least for Yale, it didn't end in Hanover. In fact, if Yale can win Saturday, it'll be better in the long run, since the Bulldogs will have a game between Saturday and the NCAA tournament.
Anyway, it was a wild night in the Ivy League. When it was over, all anyone wanted to talk about was Yale.
That's a shame for Princeton and Maodo Lo, who put on a show like few that have ever been seen in Jadwin Gym.
Just not on the right night.
TigerBlog was on his way back from the men's lacrosse game at Maryland Saturday, and he wouldn't be able to get to Jadwin in time for the men's basketball game against Columbia. He was able to listen to the first half on WPRB with Derek Jones and Noah Savage - they are really good - and then saw the second half on the Ivy League Digital Network, with Derek and Noah again.
Oh, and before he gets too deep into basketball, TigerBlog can sum up the men's lacrosse game easily enough - it happens. Move on. Lots of season left. Big game Saturday at Penn.
Okay, back at hoops.
The Princeton-Columbia game, an 85-83 Tiger win, at Jadwin Saturday night was epic.
Columbia's Maodo Lo set the Ivy League record with 11 three-pointers and came within three of the building record for points in a game. Lo finished with 37, and he came ridiculously close to tying the record of 40 set by Monmouth's Rahsaan Johnson in 2001.
How close did Lo come? Really, really, really close, as his potential game-winning three-pointer as time expired - a running off-balance try from just in front of his bench - rolled around the rim, hung around awhile, looked like it was going in and then just fell out.
Before that, Princeton had closed on an 11-0 run. Columbia led 83-74 with just over two minutes left, but Princeton got an and-one from Hans Brase, two foul shots from Pete Miller and a three-pointer from Clay Wilson to make it 83-82. Brase then put the Tigers up with a spinning move to the basket, and Wilson made one of two foul shots with 2.4 seconds left, setting up the near-miss from Lo.
It's impossible to overstate how insanely good Lo was. He got on one of those incredible roles shooters get on, to the point where it seems impossible that he's going to miss. He didn't miss often, going 11 for 15 from three-point range.
When it was over, Princeton had swept the weekend and clinched third place in the league.
Ah, but as TB said, these two teams picked the wrong night to play that game.
Why? There was a lot of other things that happened Saturday night.
TigerBlog had the Princeton-Columbia women and the Yale-Dartmouth men on split screen after the Tiger men's game ended. He also had Princeton-Dartmouth hockey going as well.
As for the two basketball games, it was like this. Princeton and Yale needed wins to clinch outright Ivy championships and automatic bids to the NCAA.
That Princeton would win was as close to a certainty as there is in sports, and that's how it came to be. Princeton defeated Columbia 63-44 to improve to 29-0 overall and 13-0 in the league. Penn, at 11-2, cannot catch the Tigers, though the Quakers can ruin Princeton's quest for a perfect regular season when they meet tomorrow night at the Palestra.
Anyway, the Princeton game and Yale-Dartmouth game were on about the same timeline, at least until they got to the final two minutes. Then the Princeton game sprinted to the finish, while Yale crawled and crawled and crawled.
Yale defeated Harvard Friday night in the huge showdown for first place, clinching a tie for the men's championship for the Bulldogs. All that stood between Yale and its first NCAA tournament since 1962 was Dartmouth.
The Big Green, of course, have been hot of late, having won four straight and five of six before taking on the Bulldogs. Yale led throughout but couldn't completely shake the Big Green, but it still looked all the way to the end like it would be a Yale win.
In fact, TigerBlog was watching the two games to see the contrast in championship celebrations. Princeton's women were a lock to win the game. TB didn't figure it would be a massive celebration, and it wasn't.
Yale? TB was sure that this would be one excited group.
Only it never came to that. Dartmouth erased a five-point deficit in the final 35 seconds and four-point deficit in the final 24 seconds and won it with a beautiful out-of-bounds play - after a length-of-the-court pass was knocked out of bounds by Yale, completely changing the dynamic of the final 2.3 seconds.
It was shocking. TigerBlog could hardly believe what he saw.
It was an indescribable loss for Yale. Actually, it made TigerBlog think - on a much, much, much smaller scale - about how the U.S. Olympic hockey team in 1980 still had to beat Finland after beating the Soviets.
Indescribable, but not season-ending. Now it'll be Yale and Harvard in a one-game playoff Saturday at the Palestra for the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Prevailing wisdom among those TB spoke to yesterday suggested that it's going to be tough for Yale to come back emotionally after having come so close to sewing it up. TigerBlog disagrees. No, it won't be easy. And yes, the mental part is going to be the tough part.
But at least for Yale, it didn't end in Hanover. In fact, if Yale can win Saturday, it'll be better in the long run, since the Bulldogs will have a game between Saturday and the NCAA tournament.
Anyway, it was a wild night in the Ivy League. When it was over, all anyone wanted to talk about was Yale.
That's a shame for Princeton and Maodo Lo, who put on a show like few that have ever been seen in Jadwin Gym.
Just not on the right night.
Friday, March 6, 2015
50 Years Later
As TigerBlog mentioned the other day, he's been covering Princeton sports since before any current Princeton athlete was born.
That's a long time. He's seen in a lot in his more than 25 years around here.
And yet, if he can do match correctly, he's been around for about 17% of Princeton's athletic history. That's nearly 26 years out of the 150 since it all started, back with a baseball game in 1864.
Okay, you want to say that most of the first 15 or so of Princeton athletics was pretty hit or miss? And that women didn't start playing until the last 45 years? So maybe TB has been around for closer to 20% or so. Maybe even 25%?
That's a lot of stuff that happened before TB's time.
TigerBlog was a history major. One of the best parts about his job at Princeton has been working in an athletic department so steeped in history.
TB figures he knows more than most about the history of the Tigers, from that first date in 1864 through the present. To him, though, that's all it is, history.
He's seen pictures of Palmer Stadium when it was packed and when the parking lot was jammed - with horses.
Actually, speaking of Palmer Stadium, there are way more people who work in the department who never were in Palmer Stadium than those who were around when the stadium was around. That's pretty freaky.
One person who certainly was around Palmer Stadium is John McPhee. TB loves to talk to him about his experiences as a child, when his father was the Princeton athletics doctor. And as a student. And even after his graduation.
Why the nostalgia?
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the 1965 men's basketball team's appearance in the NCAA Final Four. It remains one of the great signature moments in the history of Princeton athletics.
Princeton went 23-6 and won the Ivy League with a 13-1 record. During the regular season, the Tigers played an epic game against Michigan in the final of the ECAC Holiday Festival, falling 80-78.
They then beat Penn State and North Carolina State to start the NCAA tournament, setting up a game against Providence in the quarterfinals. TigerBlog has heard Gary Walters, the point guard on Princeton's team back then, talk about how Providence cut down the nets after its win over St. Joe's, assuming that a win over Princeton and a Final Four trip was inevitable.
So what happened? Princeton destroyed Providence, winning 109-69, advancing to the Final Four in Portland. Princeton would lose in the semifinal to, of all teams, Michigan, before walloping Wichita State 118-82 in the third-place game, which no longer exists.
TigerBlog will be on Maryland's campus tomorrow, not far from Cole Field House, where the Princeton-Providence game was played. Later in the day, all but two of the members of the 1965 team will be on Carril Court at halftime of the men's games against Cornell, to be honored 50 years later.
TigerBlog's first conversation with Walters, by the way, came when he was still at the newspaper and Walters was still in the business world. TB called him as part of a preview story on the 25th anniversary celebration.
Included in the celebration tomorrow night will be Bill Bradley, who put up 41 against Providence and then 58 against Wichita State. The 58 points are the school record and are still the most ever in a Final Four game.
Maybe it's because Walters spent 20 years as Princeton's AD or because of how successful the team was, but TigerBlog has always marveled at how close it appears that the whole group has been. He could tell this 25 years ago, and it's still true now.
The 50th anniversary celebration got TigerBlog thinking about something. If he could go back to any one moment in Princeton Athletics history, what would it be?
Would it be the 1965 team, and the opportunity to see Bradley play as a Tiger? Or Dick Kazmaier in football? Or even all the way back to Hobey Baker?
Maybe it would be to see what Princeton sports were like in the 1800s. Or the football team of destiny in 1922? Or the first decade of the 1900s, when football began to look a bit more modernized and Princeton's athletic landscape grew with the addition of basketball, hockey, tennis, wrestling, soccer and cross country in a six-year span.
He would love to know what the earliest women's teams were like. He wonders what he would have thought back then about the thought of "girls" teams at Princeton. Would he have been on board with them? Or would he have been rooted in the old days?
The more he thinks about it, he realizes that it's an impossible question to answer.
The 1965 team would have been way, way up there. He knows that much.
For those, like TigerBlog, who missed out on seeing that team, they'll be out there on Carril Court tomorrow night.
Fifty years to the month after one of the greatest accomplishments in Princeton history.
That's a long time. He's seen in a lot in his more than 25 years around here.
And yet, if he can do match correctly, he's been around for about 17% of Princeton's athletic history. That's nearly 26 years out of the 150 since it all started, back with a baseball game in 1864.
Okay, you want to say that most of the first 15 or so of Princeton athletics was pretty hit or miss? And that women didn't start playing until the last 45 years? So maybe TB has been around for closer to 20% or so. Maybe even 25%?
That's a lot of stuff that happened before TB's time.
TigerBlog was a history major. One of the best parts about his job at Princeton has been working in an athletic department so steeped in history.
TB figures he knows more than most about the history of the Tigers, from that first date in 1864 through the present. To him, though, that's all it is, history.
He's seen pictures of Palmer Stadium when it was packed and when the parking lot was jammed - with horses.
Actually, speaking of Palmer Stadium, there are way more people who work in the department who never were in Palmer Stadium than those who were around when the stadium was around. That's pretty freaky.
One person who certainly was around Palmer Stadium is John McPhee. TB loves to talk to him about his experiences as a child, when his father was the Princeton athletics doctor. And as a student. And even after his graduation.
Why the nostalgia?
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the 1965 men's basketball team's appearance in the NCAA Final Four. It remains one of the great signature moments in the history of Princeton athletics.
Princeton went 23-6 and won the Ivy League with a 13-1 record. During the regular season, the Tigers played an epic game against Michigan in the final of the ECAC Holiday Festival, falling 80-78.
They then beat Penn State and North Carolina State to start the NCAA tournament, setting up a game against Providence in the quarterfinals. TigerBlog has heard Gary Walters, the point guard on Princeton's team back then, talk about how Providence cut down the nets after its win over St. Joe's, assuming that a win over Princeton and a Final Four trip was inevitable.
So what happened? Princeton destroyed Providence, winning 109-69, advancing to the Final Four in Portland. Princeton would lose in the semifinal to, of all teams, Michigan, before walloping Wichita State 118-82 in the third-place game, which no longer exists.
TigerBlog will be on Maryland's campus tomorrow, not far from Cole Field House, where the Princeton-Providence game was played. Later in the day, all but two of the members of the 1965 team will be on Carril Court at halftime of the men's games against Cornell, to be honored 50 years later.
TigerBlog's first conversation with Walters, by the way, came when he was still at the newspaper and Walters was still in the business world. TB called him as part of a preview story on the 25th anniversary celebration.
Included in the celebration tomorrow night will be Bill Bradley, who put up 41 against Providence and then 58 against Wichita State. The 58 points are the school record and are still the most ever in a Final Four game.
Maybe it's because Walters spent 20 years as Princeton's AD or because of how successful the team was, but TigerBlog has always marveled at how close it appears that the whole group has been. He could tell this 25 years ago, and it's still true now.
The 50th anniversary celebration got TigerBlog thinking about something. If he could go back to any one moment in Princeton Athletics history, what would it be?
Would it be the 1965 team, and the opportunity to see Bradley play as a Tiger? Or Dick Kazmaier in football? Or even all the way back to Hobey Baker?
Maybe it would be to see what Princeton sports were like in the 1800s. Or the football team of destiny in 1922? Or the first decade of the 1900s, when football began to look a bit more modernized and Princeton's athletic landscape grew with the addition of basketball, hockey, tennis, wrestling, soccer and cross country in a six-year span.
He would love to know what the earliest women's teams were like. He wonders what he would have thought back then about the thought of "girls" teams at Princeton. Would he have been on board with them? Or would he have been rooted in the old days?
The more he thinks about it, he realizes that it's an impossible question to answer.
The 1965 team would have been way, way up there. He knows that much.
For those, like TigerBlog, who missed out on seeing that team, they'll be out there on Carril Court tomorrow night.
Fifty years to the month after one of the greatest accomplishments in Princeton history.
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Weekend Forecast
Snow again? Sigh.
It's enough already. Enough with this winter stuff.
Here's how it's gone around here since Tuesday afternoon. First it started to sleet, which made the ride home really icy. Then it snowed for awhile. Then it sleeted some more as it started to warm up.
Eventually, it got above freezing, so it was just rain. And it rained all day yesterday, on and off at least. Then the temperature fell again, so that snow began.
Of course, every school in the area was cancelled before the snow began. And for awhile, it looked like it might not snow at all. It finally started around 5 AM.
By the time it ends later today, there could be around eight inches on the ground here, though TigerBlog thinks it'll be a little less. And then it's supposed to get cold, record-setting cold single-digit cold.
So, yes. Sigh.
It actually hasn't been that bad of a snow winter around here. Not like it has in Boston, where that city is only two inches away from the all-time record.
There haven't been any complete blizzards in the Princeton area. There's been snow here or there, though never more than five or six inches at once.
What there's been has been cold. Lots of that. It's been below 30 endlessly, for weeks. The normal high right now for Princeton is 47 degrees. The high for this day is 72, in 1991.
Forty-seven? This area hasn't been near that, except for yesterday, when it was in the upper 30s while it rained. Sunshine and a temp in the 40s? Not since December.
Oh well. The 10-day forecast is for a bunch of days like that. Sunshine. 40s. It'll be heavenly.
TigerBlog emailed with his men's lacrosse counterpart at Maryland to tell him that he would be there Saturday. Usual stuff. Media list. Rosters. And parking information.
TB was told that because the Maryland high school wrestling championships will be going on at Cole Field House that he might have to walk a little further than normal. It'll be 43 and sunny? TigerBlog is fine with a little walk.
TigerBlog will be on the road this weekend. So will most of Princeton's athletic events.
The only home events are men's basketball, against Cornell tomorrow night and Columbia Saturday night. And men's volleyball, home with Juniata tomorrow night and NJIT Saturday night. And men's tennis, against Army and Binghamton Sunday in Jadwin Gym.
The men's basketball team is in third place in the Ivy League. Princeton cannot catch Harvard or Yale, who are both 10-2 and tied for first in advance of their showdown tomorrow night in Cambridge.
The Tigers are 6-5 in the league, with the games this weekend and then Tuesday's game at Penn remaining. Cornell, Columbia and Dartmouth are all 5-7. With one win in the last three, Princeton will be no worse than a tie for third.
There are some pretty important events on the road.
The EIWA wrestling championships are at Lehigh this weekend, beginning tomorrow at 10 with first-round matchups; quarterfinal matches and wrestlebacks will start at 12:30. The semifinals will begin Saturday morning at 10, with wrestlebacks scheduled for a 12:30 start. The EIWA Hall of Fame inductions follow, as do the the 1st, 3rd and 5th place matches.
The path to the NCAA championships goes through this event.
It's hard to overstate how solid of a job Chris Ayres has done as head coach of the Princeton wrestling program. Keep in mind, this was a program that struggled to win a single match, and it is in the same league as Cornell, who is to Ivy wrestling what Princeton is to Ivy field hockey (minus the NCAA title).
This season, Princeton finished third in the Ivy League. The program produced Jonathan Schleifer, Princeton's first ever Ivy League Rookie of the Year. As in ever.
And now Princeton heads to the EIWA meet with six All-Ivy selections, the most in Ayres' tenure.
In addition to the wrestling, the NCAA fencing regionals are this weekend. Princeton, the NCAA champ two years ago, will be looking to qualify the maximum 12 fencers for the NCAA finals.
TigerBlog has no idea how it works. He'll leave it at that.
If you're going to be in Hanover, N.H., this weekend, you're in luck. You can see the Princeton men's hockey team play at Dartmouth in the ECAC opening round, a best-of-three with games definitely tomorrow and Saturday at 7.
And, if you're there, the women's lacrosse team will play its Ivy opener at 1, also at Dartmouth. It's a chance to see both teams play without ever leaving the same parking lot.
Princeton's women's lacrosse team is off to a 3-0 start and is ranked 10th nationally. The Tigers and Dartmouth usually have played in April, but the game is now the league opener this season.
If you're going to be at Dartmouth, you'll also see a snow-lined field.
Of course, you can come here and do that. It's even worse now than it was last week.
Stop. Already.
Stupid groundhog. TigerBlog is ready for spring.
It's enough already. Enough with this winter stuff.
Here's how it's gone around here since Tuesday afternoon. First it started to sleet, which made the ride home really icy. Then it snowed for awhile. Then it sleeted some more as it started to warm up.
Eventually, it got above freezing, so it was just rain. And it rained all day yesterday, on and off at least. Then the temperature fell again, so that snow began.
Of course, every school in the area was cancelled before the snow began. And for awhile, it looked like it might not snow at all. It finally started around 5 AM.
By the time it ends later today, there could be around eight inches on the ground here, though TigerBlog thinks it'll be a little less. And then it's supposed to get cold, record-setting cold single-digit cold.
So, yes. Sigh.
It actually hasn't been that bad of a snow winter around here. Not like it has in Boston, where that city is only two inches away from the all-time record.
There haven't been any complete blizzards in the Princeton area. There's been snow here or there, though never more than five or six inches at once.
What there's been has been cold. Lots of that. It's been below 30 endlessly, for weeks. The normal high right now for Princeton is 47 degrees. The high for this day is 72, in 1991.
Forty-seven? This area hasn't been near that, except for yesterday, when it was in the upper 30s while it rained. Sunshine and a temp in the 40s? Not since December.
Oh well. The 10-day forecast is for a bunch of days like that. Sunshine. 40s. It'll be heavenly.
TigerBlog emailed with his men's lacrosse counterpart at Maryland to tell him that he would be there Saturday. Usual stuff. Media list. Rosters. And parking information.
TB was told that because the Maryland high school wrestling championships will be going on at Cole Field House that he might have to walk a little further than normal. It'll be 43 and sunny? TigerBlog is fine with a little walk.
TigerBlog will be on the road this weekend. So will most of Princeton's athletic events.
The only home events are men's basketball, against Cornell tomorrow night and Columbia Saturday night. And men's volleyball, home with Juniata tomorrow night and NJIT Saturday night. And men's tennis, against Army and Binghamton Sunday in Jadwin Gym.
The men's basketball team is in third place in the Ivy League. Princeton cannot catch Harvard or Yale, who are both 10-2 and tied for first in advance of their showdown tomorrow night in Cambridge.
The Tigers are 6-5 in the league, with the games this weekend and then Tuesday's game at Penn remaining. Cornell, Columbia and Dartmouth are all 5-7. With one win in the last three, Princeton will be no worse than a tie for third.
There are some pretty important events on the road.
The EIWA wrestling championships are at Lehigh this weekend, beginning tomorrow at 10 with first-round matchups; quarterfinal matches and wrestlebacks will start at 12:30. The semifinals will begin Saturday morning at 10, with wrestlebacks scheduled for a 12:30 start. The EIWA Hall of Fame inductions follow, as do the the 1st, 3rd and 5th place matches.
The path to the NCAA championships goes through this event.
It's hard to overstate how solid of a job Chris Ayres has done as head coach of the Princeton wrestling program. Keep in mind, this was a program that struggled to win a single match, and it is in the same league as Cornell, who is to Ivy wrestling what Princeton is to Ivy field hockey (minus the NCAA title).
This season, Princeton finished third in the Ivy League. The program produced Jonathan Schleifer, Princeton's first ever Ivy League Rookie of the Year. As in ever.
And now Princeton heads to the EIWA meet with six All-Ivy selections, the most in Ayres' tenure.
In addition to the wrestling, the NCAA fencing regionals are this weekend. Princeton, the NCAA champ two years ago, will be looking to qualify the maximum 12 fencers for the NCAA finals.
TigerBlog has no idea how it works. He'll leave it at that.
If you're going to be in Hanover, N.H., this weekend, you're in luck. You can see the Princeton men's hockey team play at Dartmouth in the ECAC opening round, a best-of-three with games definitely tomorrow and Saturday at 7.
And, if you're there, the women's lacrosse team will play its Ivy opener at 1, also at Dartmouth. It's a chance to see both teams play without ever leaving the same parking lot.
Princeton's women's lacrosse team is off to a 3-0 start and is ranked 10th nationally. The Tigers and Dartmouth usually have played in April, but the game is now the league opener this season.
If you're going to be at Dartmouth, you'll also see a snow-lined field.
Of course, you can come here and do that. It's even worse now than it was last week.
Stop. Already.
Stupid groundhog. TigerBlog is ready for spring.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
A Look At Lax
Johns Hopkins defeated Princeton 14-5 at Homewood Field in 2004. This game is significant for two reasons.
First, it is the last time the home team won a game in the series. It's not as long a streak as it seems, since the teams played at M&T Bank Stadium from 2007-10. Still, that is still seven straight on-campus games that have gone to the visiting team, which seems pretty interesting at the very least.
And what is the other reason that the 2004 game is significant?
It's the last time Princeton played a men's lacrosse game that TigerBlog was not at. While Hopkins was winning on its home field, TigerBlog was 450 miles north of there, watching Princeton close out the 2004 Ivy League men's basketball championship at Dartmouth.
Since then, TigerBlog has been at every single men's lacrosse game the Tigers have played. That's a streak that reached 159 straight games with last Saturday's game at Johns Hopkins.
Going back before 2004, TigerBlog didn't have a streak quite that long, though he has never missed a game that Princeton has played at Class of 1952 Stadium, dating back to when it opened, in 1997.
In other words, TigerBlog has seen a lot of Princeton lacrosse, going back 26 seasons, to when he first started covering the team. That was 1990, or before any current player was born.
Princeton has played 372 men's lacrosse team since the 1990 season started. TigerBlog figures he's missed, approximately, 25 of those games, meaning that he's seen Princeton play somewhere around 340-350 times.
And he can tell you that, factoring out all historical context and just judging on the game itself, that last Saturday's 16-15 win over Johns Hopkins - keeping the visitors' streak alive - was one of the five best of all of them. Maybe even three best. Maybe even best.
Keep in mind that TB has been around for six NCAA championships, four of which went into overtime. Obviously, all of those games were bigger than last Saturday's.
But just in terms of a game to watch? The game last Saturday trumped everything.
Princeton ran out to a 7-0 lead. Hopkins erased all but one of those goals in a five-minute stretch. Princeton tried to pull away but couldn't. Hopkins went on its own 4-0 run to go up two in the fourth quarter. Princeton tied it. Hopkins went up again. Princeton tied it again - this time with seven seconds left, on a goal by Ryan Ambler, who then appeared to win it in overtime, only to have the goal disallowed by what may or may not have been a good call. Even the replay doesn't make it clear.
Ultimately, it was Gavin McBride who ended it, dropping in a cross-crease feed from Riley Thompson with 1:07 left in the OT.
The game also featured one of the single best individual performances TigerBlog has ever seen by a Princeton men's lacrosse player. Zach Currier, a sophomore middie, was dominant all game, with two goals, three assists, 6 of 8 facing off and eight ground balls. And tenacity and grit and the ability to exert his will over every facet of the game, all of which were more important than any numbers he put up. He was, in one word, incredible.
When it was over, Princeton had done more than just win a lacrosse game. It had won a one-goal lacrosse game, something that was problematic for the Tigers the last two years, when the team went 3-7 in one-goal games. Reverse that, and Princeton would have been in the NCAA tournament both of those years.
Here's one thing TB does not want to hear, and he's heard it and read it already: Do not tell TigerBlog that Princeton is better without Tom Schreiber, the three-time first-team All-America who graduated a year ago. Schreiber is the best Princeton player of the last decade, and he made every player around him better. No, Princeton isn't better off without him.
So where is Princeton after three games? Well, first of all, it's not in Princeton, at least not for too many more games this year. The Tigers have played two of their five home games, and the game last weekend was the first of four straight on the road. Next up? At Maryland.
Right now, Princeton is ranked 10th in the media poll and 11th in the coaches' poll. Maryland is ranked one spot ahead of the Tigers in each.
And ahead of Maryland? Yale and Cornell. And just behind Princeton? Harvard. And a little further back? Penn and Brown. And in the receiving votes group? Future opponents Lehigh and Stony Brook.
In other words, the Ivy League is completely loaded this year and Princeton's schedule is tough.
This is a good thing, not a bad thing. Keep rooting for the league teams as they play non-conference games. Make sure that any league win is a good win. Clearly, Princeton is going to have a shot at some Top 10 and Top 20 wins, which are a huge part of the selections, should the Tigers need to get an at-large bid.
Princeton's offense is clicking, with goal totals of 14, 14 and 16 through three games, even though the temperature hasn't reached 30 yet for one second of those three games. Kip Orban and Mike MacDonald are Major League Lacrosse draftees, and Ambler is a proven veteran scorer. Even without Jake Froccaro - out the last two games due to injury - Princeton has gotten big production from McBride and especially Currier, who has opened up eyes all over the country the last two weeks.
This team shares the ball effortlessly, and it leads Division I in assists per game, which is a good stat in which to be No. 1.
Princeton has been without injured Mark Strabo and Will Reynolds, possibly the team's two best poles, and yet the Tigers have gotten contributions from any number of players on the defensive end, especially goalie Eric Sanschagrin.
And, with Currier and freshman Sam Bonafede, Princeton's face-off percentage has gone from 46% a year ago to 54% this year.
The next challenge is the Terps, who are the top defensive team in the country, allowing little more than five goals per game. And then Penn, the defending Ivy tournament champ, in the league opener. No Ivy game figures to be easy this year.
Still, through three games, there's a lot to like about these Tigers. They have gone from unranked to 20th to 18th to their current perch.
Where will they be at the end? That probably will be determined by how Princeton does in what figures to be several more one- or two-goal games.
That's how college lacrosse is now, with all kinds of parity and depth in Division I. Every game is tough.
The one last weekend certainly was. It was tough. And it was great.
And Princeton got a huge win out of it.
It was a great February for Princeton. March? Five opponents, four of whom are currently ranked.
It won't be easy. It'll definitely be fun.
First, it is the last time the home team won a game in the series. It's not as long a streak as it seems, since the teams played at M&T Bank Stadium from 2007-10. Still, that is still seven straight on-campus games that have gone to the visiting team, which seems pretty interesting at the very least.
And what is the other reason that the 2004 game is significant?
It's the last time Princeton played a men's lacrosse game that TigerBlog was not at. While Hopkins was winning on its home field, TigerBlog was 450 miles north of there, watching Princeton close out the 2004 Ivy League men's basketball championship at Dartmouth.
Since then, TigerBlog has been at every single men's lacrosse game the Tigers have played. That's a streak that reached 159 straight games with last Saturday's game at Johns Hopkins.
Going back before 2004, TigerBlog didn't have a streak quite that long, though he has never missed a game that Princeton has played at Class of 1952 Stadium, dating back to when it opened, in 1997.
In other words, TigerBlog has seen a lot of Princeton lacrosse, going back 26 seasons, to when he first started covering the team. That was 1990, or before any current player was born.
Princeton has played 372 men's lacrosse team since the 1990 season started. TigerBlog figures he's missed, approximately, 25 of those games, meaning that he's seen Princeton play somewhere around 340-350 times.
And he can tell you that, factoring out all historical context and just judging on the game itself, that last Saturday's 16-15 win over Johns Hopkins - keeping the visitors' streak alive - was one of the five best of all of them. Maybe even three best. Maybe even best.
Keep in mind that TB has been around for six NCAA championships, four of which went into overtime. Obviously, all of those games were bigger than last Saturday's.
But just in terms of a game to watch? The game last Saturday trumped everything.
Princeton ran out to a 7-0 lead. Hopkins erased all but one of those goals in a five-minute stretch. Princeton tried to pull away but couldn't. Hopkins went on its own 4-0 run to go up two in the fourth quarter. Princeton tied it. Hopkins went up again. Princeton tied it again - this time with seven seconds left, on a goal by Ryan Ambler, who then appeared to win it in overtime, only to have the goal disallowed by what may or may not have been a good call. Even the replay doesn't make it clear.
Ultimately, it was Gavin McBride who ended it, dropping in a cross-crease feed from Riley Thompson with 1:07 left in the OT.
The game also featured one of the single best individual performances TigerBlog has ever seen by a Princeton men's lacrosse player. Zach Currier, a sophomore middie, was dominant all game, with two goals, three assists, 6 of 8 facing off and eight ground balls. And tenacity and grit and the ability to exert his will over every facet of the game, all of which were more important than any numbers he put up. He was, in one word, incredible.
When it was over, Princeton had done more than just win a lacrosse game. It had won a one-goal lacrosse game, something that was problematic for the Tigers the last two years, when the team went 3-7 in one-goal games. Reverse that, and Princeton would have been in the NCAA tournament both of those years.
Here's one thing TB does not want to hear, and he's heard it and read it already: Do not tell TigerBlog that Princeton is better without Tom Schreiber, the three-time first-team All-America who graduated a year ago. Schreiber is the best Princeton player of the last decade, and he made every player around him better. No, Princeton isn't better off without him.
So where is Princeton after three games? Well, first of all, it's not in Princeton, at least not for too many more games this year. The Tigers have played two of their five home games, and the game last weekend was the first of four straight on the road. Next up? At Maryland.
Right now, Princeton is ranked 10th in the media poll and 11th in the coaches' poll. Maryland is ranked one spot ahead of the Tigers in each.
And ahead of Maryland? Yale and Cornell. And just behind Princeton? Harvard. And a little further back? Penn and Brown. And in the receiving votes group? Future opponents Lehigh and Stony Brook.
In other words, the Ivy League is completely loaded this year and Princeton's schedule is tough.
This is a good thing, not a bad thing. Keep rooting for the league teams as they play non-conference games. Make sure that any league win is a good win. Clearly, Princeton is going to have a shot at some Top 10 and Top 20 wins, which are a huge part of the selections, should the Tigers need to get an at-large bid.
Princeton's offense is clicking, with goal totals of 14, 14 and 16 through three games, even though the temperature hasn't reached 30 yet for one second of those three games. Kip Orban and Mike MacDonald are Major League Lacrosse draftees, and Ambler is a proven veteran scorer. Even without Jake Froccaro - out the last two games due to injury - Princeton has gotten big production from McBride and especially Currier, who has opened up eyes all over the country the last two weeks.
This team shares the ball effortlessly, and it leads Division I in assists per game, which is a good stat in which to be No. 1.
Princeton has been without injured Mark Strabo and Will Reynolds, possibly the team's two best poles, and yet the Tigers have gotten contributions from any number of players on the defensive end, especially goalie Eric Sanschagrin.
And, with Currier and freshman Sam Bonafede, Princeton's face-off percentage has gone from 46% a year ago to 54% this year.
The next challenge is the Terps, who are the top defensive team in the country, allowing little more than five goals per game. And then Penn, the defending Ivy tournament champ, in the league opener. No Ivy game figures to be easy this year.
Still, through three games, there's a lot to like about these Tigers. They have gone from unranked to 20th to 18th to their current perch.
Where will they be at the end? That probably will be determined by how Princeton does in what figures to be several more one- or two-goal games.
That's how college lacrosse is now, with all kinds of parity and depth in Division I. Every game is tough.
The one last weekend certainly was. It was tough. And it was great.
And Princeton got a huge win out of it.
It was a great February for Princeton. March? Five opponents, four of whom are currently ranked.
It won't be easy. It'll definitely be fun.
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