Um, Boss, Someone Put Up The Women's Bracket A Little Early

So TigerBlog hopes that whoever the poor soul at ESPN who accidentally released the NCAA women's basketball bracket four hours early yesterday is still employed.

TB isn't quite sure that this will be the case, but hey, accidents happen.

In case you missed it, the women's basketball selections were supposed to air on ESPN at 7 last night. Instead, at about 3 in the afternoon, ESPNU accidentally had the bracket scrolling on the bottom of its feed.

Was it done on purpose to generate interest? TB read that someplace, though he did really consider that to be plausible. That leaves human error to explain it. 

How did this happen? Hmmm. TigerBlog has no idea, other than he imagined how the conversation went:
"Why the %@#@$ is the bracket already on our network?"
"Uh, not my fault."
"Not my fault."
"Not my fault."
"His fault."
"No, her fault."
"Nooooo. Not me."

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

ESPN would move the Selection Show from 7 to 5, since the draw was already known. Or, in the case of Princeton, because the Cats were already out of the bag.

Princeton, who clinched the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament with a 65-54 win over Penn in the championship game Sunday, drew the Kentucky Wildcats of the Southeastern Conference in the opening round. The game will be played Saturday at 11 am in Raleigh, N.C.

Princeton is the No. 11 seed in the Greensboro Regional. Princeton and Kentucky, the sixth seed, have never met before.

The early announcement spoiled the plans for a watch party in Jadwin Gym, but it didn't spoil the excitement for the Tigers, who are headed to the NCAA tournament - and to Raleigh, site of last year's loss to Maryland - for the second straight year and eighth time in 10 years.

Kentucky is 24-7 and ranked 17th in the country. Princeton is 22-9 and the winner of 12 straight and 21 of the last 23.

TigerBlog learned a few things about Kentucky on the Wildcats website yesterday:
* Kentucky has reached the NCAA tournament nine times in the last 10 years
* Kentucky has hosted the first two rounds each of the last four years
* this is the first time since 2006 that Kentucky has been in the NCAA field and not been a top four seed in a region
* there are 34 people in the Kentucky team photo, 15 players and 19 non-players

The one year in the last 10 that Kentucky was not in the tournament was a year ago, when the Wildcats went 15-17. What's different this year?

Rhyne Howard, for one. The 6-2 guard is the espnW national Freshman of the Year, averaging 16.3 points and 6.7 rebounds while tying for the team-best with 68 made three-pointers.

Looking at Kentucky's stats, the Wildcats score 71.7 (Princeton averages 70.7) and allow 58.2 per game. What other numbers are there?

Kentucky is not a good rebounding team, ranking 239th, out of 349 teams, in the country in rebounding margins. The Wildcats are 214th in field goal percentage defense and 157th in three-point percentage defense.

And yet they're 34th in scoring defense. What explains that?

Kentucky causes a lot of turnovers. They are fourth in the country in turnover margin and seventh in turnovers forced.

Princeton has done a good job taking care of the ball, leading the Ivy League and ranking 53rd in Division I in turnover margin and 52nd in assist-to-turnover ratio. In other words, the story of this game could be Princeton's ability to control the ball.

Where else does Princeton rank well?

Princeton is the No. 6 team in Division I in team free throw percentage. The Tigers also rank 13th in blocked shots per game and in the top 100 nationally in 18 different team statistical categories.

Of course, this is the NCAA tournament, against an SEC team. On the one hand, nothing that got you here totally applies. On the other, it's one game, and anything can happen.

The Ivy League has two wins all time in the NCAA tournament, most recently by Princeton in 2015, against Wisconsin-Green Bay. Winning for the Ivy champ is never easy, and this one certainly won't be either.

Then again, it's a chance to make history. Princeton learned a lot from its 77-57 loss to Maryland a year ago in a game that was five points at the break. Bella Alarie had 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and four blocks, numbers that are great for anyone else and probably left her wanting to improve upon this time around.

Gabrielle Rush hit a pair of threes in 16 minutes, and Carlie Littlefield played 25 minutes. In a perfect world, they'll go pretty much all 40 against Kentucky.

College basketball teams do everything they can to be playing in the NCAA tournament.

Princeton has been making it a habit for the last decade, but that doesn't mean the Tigers would ever take it for granted. These chances don't just happen.

And they are opportunities to make history, and that is definitely something to cherish.