The First Busy Weekend Of 2020

This is the last of the decade review stuff for you, TigerBlog promises.

He has three last things.

First, it dawns on him that the list of top women's athletes in the last 10 years was so strong that the top 10 TB came up with didn't even include others who were either 1) NCAA individual champions, 2) Olympians or 3) professional athletes.

Second, he had the wrong class year for one of the top athletes, which got him to thinking about which class years were most represented. If you were keeping score, the class with the most top athletes of the decade was the Class of 2013.

Third, he gave you his top 10 athletes for men and women but not the top events of the last decade. There were certainly a lot of them, and he'd probably have to go with:

10. The women's basketball win over Green Bay in the 2015 NCAA tournament to improve to 31-0
9. The men's track and field team got a win in the final event to edge Cornell in the 2015 Ivy Heps outdoor championships, the closest one in history
8. The men's hockey win over Colgate in Game 2 of the 2017 ECAC opening round playoff series, where Princeton tied the game with one second left in regulation and won in OT while facing elimination
7. The 63-62 win over Harvard in the 2011 Ivy men's basketball playoff (the Doug Davis shot)
6. Princeton's 14-9 win over Dartmouth in football in 2018, en route to a perfect season
5. Princeton's 51-48 win over Harvard in 2013 in football (three OTs)
4. Princeton defeats Clarkson in OT to win the 2018 ECAC men's hockey championship
3. Princeton wins the 2012 national men's squash championship, ending Trinity's 13-year title run
2. Princeton wins the 2012 NCAA field hockey championship game
1. Princeton defeats North Carolina in NCAA women's soccer tournament

Okay.

Is that enough decade review stuff?

The interesting thing about all of the end-of-decade lists and such that you've seen here and everywhere else is that there's nothing that actually makes this week different than last week, other than the number of the year.

On the other hand, it was a fun exercise.

Who will get a jump on being the top athletes of the coming decade?

Well, it's a pretty good weekend for Princeton Athletics, so there will be a few chances to jump out of the gate here.

Actually, if you think about it, Ashleigh Johnson, who was TB's pick for the top female athlete of the last decade, was a sophomore in high school at this time 10 years ago. But that's more decade in review stuff, so forget that.

There are seven teams who will be competing from today through Monday (including men's volleyball, who also competed last night in California at USC).

The men's swimming and diving team is at Navy tomorrow, and the women are at Tennessee's invitational starting today and running through Sunday.

The wrestling team is at F&M tomorrow. The men's volleyball team is bringing second-ranked UCLA to Dillon Gym Monday afternoon (2), after the defending EIVA champion Tigers played in California to start the season.

If you're looking for home events this weekend, you have four chances to watch hockey at Hobey Baker Rink. There will be doubleheaders this weekend, with the women against St. Anselm today and tomorrow at 3 and then the men against Dartmouth and Harvard at 7 tonight and tomorrow.

St. Anselm women, by the way, are 10-4 on the season. Of its 10 wins, there have been five by shutout and two others in which the Hawks allowed one goal.

Lastly, there is the men's basketball game at Penn in the Ivy League opener for both.

Princeton comes in having won three of its last four.

The Princeton-Penn men's basketball rivalry is the best in Ivy League history, in any sport. The teams first met on Valentine's Day 1903 and have since met at least twice every year since.

The teams between them have completely dominated Ivy League men's basketball, combining to win 53 of the 75 championships won. The Ivy men's basketball championship leaderboard looks like this:
1. Princeton 27
2. Penn 26
3. Harvard/Yale 7

That's a lot of dominance.

There's always something very, very special about a Princeton-Penn men's basketball game. Add in that it's the league opener for both and that it's Princeton's only Ivy game until Jan. 31 due to first semester exams, and this one has a lot going for it.

Tip at the Palestra is at 7.