Princeton-Kentucky II

Childbirth is, of course, a very serious thing, so TigerBlog doesn't want to joke about it.

Well, maybe a little. It's possible, after all, that this conversation may actually happen in the next few hours in a delivery room near Princeton:

Doctor: "Okay, it's time to push."
Mother-to-be: "Honey, hold my hand."
Father-to-be: "Can it wait? The game is about to start."

The father-to-be in question is Warren Croxton, Princeton's women's basketball contact in the Office of Athletic Communications. The mother-to-be is his wife Michelle, who is due tomorrow. 

It's entirely possible that little Theresa Croxton will make her appearance before tip-off tomorrow afternoon of the Princeton-Kentucky NCAA women's basketball game. It's possible, though, that she'll be taking her sweet time and will come along right at 4 tomorrow afternoon, right when the game starts.

Despite TB's attempt to convince Warren that Michelle would never hold it against him if he went to the women's game in Indiana, Warren will in fact will be there for the birth of the baby. Princeton head coach Carla Berube, who has three children of her own, mentioned Warren on the most recent podcast she and TB did.

Hopefully mother and baby will be doing great by the time the game starts and Warren will be able to watch it. 

Before TB gets into the Princeton-Kentucky women's game, he does want to mention his beloved South Dakota State Jackrabbits, who lost to Providence in the men's first round yesterday. TB said that he thought South Dakota State had a good chance in that one. 

In fact, the Jackrabbits would have won had it not been for way rougher than normal three-point shooting. Even with that, it was a three-point game with less than a minute to go when Providence put up a desperation three as the shot clock expired. The ball clanked off the rim and South Dakota State now had it with a chance to tie – except the ref called a ticky tack foul, giving the Friars three foul shots. It was over after that.

Is there no sense on the part of the officials to understand the situation? Come on. It's the NCAA tournament. 

TB also watched the Princeton-Penn, er Richmond-Iowa, game. That was a Princeton alum (Chris Mooney) against a Penn alum (Fran McCaffery). Mooney is one of TB's favorite Princeton men's basketball players ever. McCaffery is the one who got TB started in writing.  

Princeton (Richmond) won a very entertaining game 67-63. In fairness, Richmond may have benefited from a non-call on an Iowa three-point attempt in the final minute.

And what can you say about the St. Peter's win over Kentucky? It was fabulous. And the Peacocks' coach, Shaheen Holloway, gave the greatest postgame sideline reporter interview of all time. He was completely calm the whole time, and when he was asked about his demeanor, he said "It's just basketball."

Okay, back to Princeton-Kentucky women.

It's the second-straight NCAA game in which Princeton will face Kentucky. The two teams played in 2019, and the Wildcats won that time 82-77. Do you know who Princeton's leading scorer in that game was? TB will give you a few paragraphs.

Princeton has two current players who played in that game. Grace Stone played 38 minutes and had six points, five rebounds and four assists. That's a very solid line. 

Julia Cunningham played seven minutes and did not score. Abby Meyers, as you might recall, took that year off from school, but she did play in the 2018 NCAA tournament, when she had a team-best 13 points (in 24 minutes) of a 77-57 loss to Maryland. 

Who was the leading scorer against Kentucky? It was Gabrielle Rush, who had 22 points, shooting 6 for 11 from three-point range. Bella Alaire had 20 points, 15 rebounds and five assists that day. 

Princeton outrebounded Kentucky in that game but was done in by the Wildcats' 50 percent shooting and 16 turnovers. 

This is a whole new group of Tigers, one with a lot of experience winning games and limited experience in the NCAA tournament (those are the only minutes for the entire team). Berube has a ton of NCAA experience, as both a player at UConn (where she won an NCAA title) and as a Division III head coach at Tufts.

When TB asked Berube on the podcast about getting ready to play a team on such short notice, she said it was actually a lot more time than you'd think. Interesting.

The first part of the first sentence of the pregame story on Kentucky's website says a lot: 

Looking to continue its momentum from winning the 2022 Southeastern Conference Tournament and riding a 10-game winning streak ...

Consider that to stretch that winning streak to 10 and to win the SEC title, Kentucky had to beat South Carolina, still the No. 1 overall seed.

There's also this paragraph:

The turnaround for Kentucky overall has been amazing. The Wildcats sat 9-11 overall and 2-8 in the SEC on Feb. 10. Less than a month later, the Wildcats will enter the NCAA Tournament 19-11 overall, 8-8 in the SEC and with a conference tournament title. The 10-game winning streak is the most for Kentucky under Elzy. All 10 wins were against league foes, marking only the second time in program history the Wildcats have achieved that feat. During that stretch, five straight games were won by 15 or more points, marking the first time in program history UK has done that.

The first order of business for Princeton is to contend with Rhyne Howard, who was just named a first-team All-American. Howard is 6-2 and listed as a guard. Going back to the Kentucky website, there is this:

The most versatile player in the country, Howard is the only player in the nation that has over 600+ points, 200+ rebounds, 100+ assists, 70+ steals and 35+ blocks.

Howard had 15 points, five rebounds and four assists against Princeton in the 2019 game. Those are solid numbers, but they're numbers Princeton can live with. Her average for the season is 21 points and seven rebounds, and she has had 32 in two of Kentucky's last five games. Those numbers are more problematic.

Looking at Kentucky's stats don't say much, because of how much better the team has played the second half of the year. The big questions are 1) does the momentum from last week carry over, 2) can Princeton impose its defensive will on the game, 3) can Princeton rebound against a much-bigger opponent and 4) can Princeton shoot well?

The outcome lies somewhere in those answers.

Princeton went to Indiana yesterday. By all indications on social media, the team is enjoying the experience, which is a big part of what the tournament is all about.

It's Fran McCaffery who several decades ago told TigerBlog that nothing compares to playing in the NCAA tournament. And he's right. 

Of course, winning enhances that experience. Princeton has earned its spot. It's almost time to see what happens in Princeton-Kentucky II.  

Good luck to the Tigers. And to the Croxtons.