The Court Report, Spring Version

TigerBlog noticed that this is entry No. 2,503 in the history of this little venture of his.

If you're a Princeton fan, specifically a Princeton basketball fan, you know that the number 2,503 is a special one - and not for how many times you've been here to read something.

No idea? Well, TigerBlog will get back to you on that one in a few paragraphs.

In the meantime, you know how when you reset your password on certain things you'll get a text message with a code in it? This happens all the time. It happened to TB yesterday.

You request a new code, and it gets texted to your phone. The one TB got yesterday was 8059.

When TB saw the code, it also made him think of Princeton basketball. Specifically, a men's game back in the 1998-99 season between Princeton and Maryland.

Why? The final score. It was 81-58. He couldn't remember an 80-59 game, and that was the closest one he thought of.

Do you remember that game? It was at the Baltimore Arena. Princeton shot 56 percent for the game and lost by 23, largely because of 29 turnovers against the fierce Terps pressure.

Did you figure out what 2,503 stands for by the way?

That was the career point total for Bill Bradley. It's worth the reminder every now and then of Bradley's accomplishments, which include that astonishing point total in just three years, with no three-point shot.

He remains, 50 years later, 878 points ahead of the next-best total in program history, the 1,625 scored by Ian Hummer.

Devin Cannady will go into his senior year with 1,224 career points. If he matches this past season's point total of 484, that would leave him in second, at 1,708, which would still be 795 away from Bradley.

While TigerBlog is talking basketball, he'd like to mention that he and Princeton head women's coach Courtney Banghart did their first off-season podcast yesterday.

This episode is the first in what will be a semi-regular series of them as the spring and summer roll along. They are a follow up to the regular podcast that TB an Banghart did each week through the season.

As TigerBlog says near the end of this episode, he's been asked a million times through the years if the jobs of the head coaches at Princeton are full time or not. The answer is yes, of course.

Banghart followed that up by telling a story of her own, one that involved Katie Couric and an awards banquet. It's a really good story.

Oh, by the way, HERE'S the link to the podcast.

The point about how coaching is a year-round profession can be seen throughout TB's talk with Courtney. It's always there with her, what she can be doing for her program at any given time.

Princeton is coming off a huge season, one that saw the Tigers win the Ivy League regular season championship, with the Ivy League tournament championship and return to the NCAA tournament, someplace Banghart has taken the Tigers seven times, with two WNIT berths mixed in.

The big news from Princeton women's basketball since the end of the season was that Leslie Robinson was chosen in the third round of the WNBA draft. It's a huge honor for Robinson, who had a monster senior year and who improved herself as a player as much as anyone TB has seen around here has, in any sport.

Perhaps you remember that it was Robinson who had the first triple-double in program history this past season, en route to first-team All-Ivy League honors. Now she'll have to a chance to try to compete in the WNBA.

It'll be interesting to see what the pro future is for other current players, especially Bella Alarie, the Ivy League Player of the Year this past year. Alarie, luckily for Princeton fans, has two more years left at Princeton.

Banghart also talked about the NCAA tournaments, especially the drama of the women's Final Four and the dominance on both ends of the Villanova men. She talked about the NBA playoffs; she is a huge Celtics fan, but more than that, just a huge basketball fan. There were other subjects too, including the way she tries to go to as many other events as she can. 

TigerBlog enjoys doing the podcasts, and Courtney is really good at them. TB wasn't really sure what to think when they first started doing them, but they've been really well-received. The off-season ones seem to be worth it as well, at least the first.

Coaching, after all, is a year-round thing, so why not podcasting too.

Oh, and blogging. That's 2,503 of them.

When you've done something as much as Bill Bradley scored points at Princeton, then you've done something a lot.