Thursday, May 5, 2016

Seven To Go

TigerBlog had to walk over to Class of 1952 Stadium yesterday to get something out of the press box.

An encoder, actually. It's the one that Princeton used to upload its lacrosse productions to ESPN3.

The encoders get sent all over the country, from school to school, depending on who needs one for their own ESPN3 productions. Then they send it on to the next school.

When TigerBlog went to put the packing label on, he had to rip off the previous one. This encoder came to Princeton from Yale. Underneath that was the one before it. That was North Carolina State.

It's too bad there weren't any other labels on the box. It would have been interesting to see the entire itinerary. There was certainly enough packing tape on the box.

When TigerBlog got on the Jadwin elevator to begin his walk over to ’52 yesterday, he had to wait until about 10 members of the men's basketball team got off the elevator.

When TigerBlog go on, he saw that the maximum weight for that elevator is 4,000 pounds, so the basketball guys were fine in that respect. On the other hand, the ceiling is sort of low in there.

As TB walked to the lacrosse field, he ran into Carrie Moore, who is the new assistant coach for the women's basketball team. Carrie isn't new to Princeton, though - she was director of operations here for two seasons, 2008-09 and 2009-10. The well-liked director of operations, by the way.

That 2009-10 season was the first that Princeton reached the NCAA tournament. The Tigers have been back every year but one since, including this past season,. when they received an unprecedented  at-large bid to the field.

During that time, Moore was an assistant coach at Creighton, where the team made it to five postseasons, including the NCAA tournament twice. Moore was also the nation's leading scorer as a player at Western Michigan, where she scored 2,218 career points.

Meghin Williams also joined the women's staff, as the new director of operations. Williams played at Nebraska, helping the team to two Sweet 16s, and then coached there as well.

The rebuilt basketball staff is a little more than six months away from its opener. The 2015-16 year still has some big events in the more immediate future.

One of the events that was supposed to be this weekend has been pushed back until next weekend. That would be the Ivy League baseball championship series.

Princeton had already locked up the Gehrig Division title and the host role in the ILCS. The problem was that the Rolfe Division was still going on until Tuesday, when Harvard and Dartmouth played a rain-delayed doubleheader. When it was over, Dartmouth and Harvard had split, leaving Dartmouth and Yale tied.

As a result of that, those two will play a one-game playoff this weekend, with the winner to come to Princeton next weekend.

The Ivy League softball championship will be this weekend, though. Harvard wrapped up the North Division by splitting with Dartmouth Tuesday, losing the first game and then taking the winner-take-all second game.

As a result, the Crimson will host Princeton Saturday for two and then Sunday for one if necessary. Winner of the best-of-three heads to the NCAA tournament.

There are 33 Ivy League sports, of which 26 have already crowned the 2015-16 championship. Three of the remaining seven will be awarded this weekend.

Obviously one is the softball championship. The other two for this weekend will be celebrated in Princeton.

The Ivy League Heptagonal outdoor track and field championships take place Saturday and Sunday at Weaver Track and Field Stadium. If you've never been to a Heps, it's well worth the visit.

There is non-stop action for two days, with major swings in momentum. The Harvard women are a heavy favorite; the men's race figures to be between Princeton and Cornell, especially if history means anything.

No other team has won a men's outdoor Heps title other than Princeton or Cornell since 2003. Cornell won eight straight; Princeton has won four of the last five, including last year's, by a dramatic 3.5 points - over Cornell.

After this weekend, there will be four Ivy titles, all to be decided next weekend.

There will be the baseball playoff. And there will be the men's heavyweight, men's lightweight and women's open rowing championships.

And that'll be the end of the Ivy League championships for another academic year.

Princeton currently has 11 Ivy titles for the academic year.

It's always nice to have the chance to add more.

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