Record Chasing, And The Rest Of The Weekend

As TigerBlog has said many times before, the most unbreakable record at Princeton has to be the 2,503 points that Bill Bradley scored in men's basketball.

Bradley graduated in 1965. Since then, no player has scored more than the 1,625 that Ian Hummer did. That's 878 shy of Bradley, who, by the way, put up his total in three years without a three-point shot.

Spencer Weisz and Stephen Cook, who graduated last year, are both in the top 15 all-time at Princeton in scoring. Together they combined for 2,389 points, or 114 short of Bradley by himself.

TigerBlog likes to throw those numbers out there every now and then to remind you of just how insane Bradley's career here was.

TigerBlog, by the way, saw a story the other day about the recent wedding of WNBA player Elena Delle Donne. If you remember, Delle Donne played at Delaware and had an incredible game at Jadwin one night. TigerBlog wrote THIS about her.

If you don't go back and read it, TB was basically making the case that Delle Donne was the Bill Bradley of women's basketball. It's not that ridiculous a claim, either. She scored even more points than Bradley did - 3,039 of them - compared to the second-place total of 1,675. Nobody will ever approach that.

Also, Bradley has the 11 highest scoring single-game totals in Princeton history. Delle Donne has 15 of the top 16 at Delaware.

And of course all of this brings TigerBlog to Chad Kanoff and Jesper Horsted.

The two Princeton football players are chasing records that aren't nearly as untouchable as Bradley's, but at the same time, they've certainly stood the test of time.

Kanoff  is going after the record for passing yards in a career and a season, both of which date back more than 30 years and are held by Doug Butler. Horsted is going after the 34-year-old school record for receptions in a season, currently held by Kevin Guthrie, and the record for touchdown receptions in a season, which was set by Derek Graham in 1983 and equaled four years ago by Roman Wilson.

Here's the scorecard for the records:
Passing yards in a career - 7,291 by Butler (played from 1983-85); Kanoff has 6,612
Passing yards in a season - 3,175 by Butler (in 1983); Kanoff has 2,576
Completion percentage in a season - 68.2% by Jason Garrett in 1988; Kanoff is now at 74.4%
Receptions in a season - 88 by Kevin Guthrie in 1983; Horsted has 74
Touchdown receptions in a season - 11 by Graham and Wilson; Horsted has 10, Stephen Carlson has 9

Princeton has two games remaining, tomorrow at 1 against Yale on Powers Field and then next Saturday at Dartmouth. The Tigers are still mathematically alive for an Ivy title, which means a lot, and a win tomorrow would bring with it a Big Three championship bonfire, which actually means more to some people.

The football game tomorrow, against a Yale team that would clinch at least a share of the league championship with a win of its own, is just one of many big events this weekend. Some are here. Others are away, with viewing options of all kinds.

Here are some of the other highlights:

* NCAA tournament time
The field hockey team will be at Virginia tomorrow afternoon (2) in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. The Tigers did not play UVa during the regular season, but they did defeat the Cavs in the opening round of the tournament a year ago, on the way to the Final Four. The winner of the Princeton-Virginia game will get the winner of North Carolina-St. Joe's. For Princeton, this is the 22nd trip to the NCAA field hockey tournament. The women's soccer team is home tonight at 7 against Monmouth in the first round of that NCAA tournament. The Tigers have had a great season and have earned the No. 4 seed in the region. The reward is Monmouth, a team that is 15-1-1 in its last 17 games, after Princeton beat Monmouth 3-0 back in August. The winner of this one gets the winner of Arkansas-North Carolina State, next weekend at North Carolina. 

* Women's volleyball
The Tigers are tied with Yale for first at 9-3 heading into the final weekend, which sees Princeton at Harvard and Dartmouth and Yale at Columbia and Cornell. Should they be tied at the end of the week, they'd be co-champs, and there'd be a playoff for the Ivy bid to the NCAA tournament. Should Princeton and Yale both get swept, then Harvard or Penn could still get in on a three-way tie for the title, though just one win by either Princeton or Yale eliminates both the Crimson and Quakers.

* Women's basketball
It'll be Princeton against George Washington at 6:30 tonight on Carril Court in the season opener. Then it'll be the next episode of "The Court Report" next week to discuss it. Side note - Yale opens its women's basketball season at home against LIU-Brooklyn tonight as well. It'll be TigerBlog as the PA announcer at Princeton and TigerBlog Jr. as the PA announcer at Yale. May the best PA announcer win.

* Men's basketball
Princeton opens the 2017-18 season at Butler Sunday at 6. You can see the game on CBS Sports Network. It'll be the first chance to see what Princeton looks like after a season in which the Tigers were perfect in the Ivy League, won the first Ivy tournament and lost by two to Notre Dame in the NCAA tournament. The goal, clearly, is to get back to the tournament, but that's a long way away. For now, it's a very attractive opener against Butler, one of the top programs in college basketball in the last decade. For Princeton, it'll be interesting to get a first look at how things look without Weisz and Cook and how Devin Cannady, Amir Bell and Myles Stephens mix with the returning role players and the freshmen. Princeton has been an extraordinarily exciting team the last few years. This year figures to be no different.

* Men's/Women's hockey
Princeton takes on RPI and Union, with the women home and the men away. Admission to the women's games are free.