The Basketball Weekend

TigerBlog told you earlier this week about the story he wrote about former lightweight rower Charlie Cobbs, who is now a neurosurgeon and brain cancer researcher.

Cobbs was a member of the Class of 1985. TB didn't realize he was friends with another member of that class, Howard Levy, until Howard texted Wednesday to let him know. 

It's something that TigerBlog has written for years. Cobbs was a lightweight rower from Birmingham, Alabama. Howard was a basketball player from Suffern, N.Y. They came to Princeton from completely different areas of the country to play completely different sports, and they became friends.

Multiply that by several thousands, and that's what you have from Princeton Athletics. Wins, yes. Championships, yes.

What makes it truly special is the relationships.

On a more modern note, there's Maggie Connolly and Kaitlyn Chen of the women's basketball team. Connolly was a starter in the beginning of the year, not to mention a team captain. Chen became the starter and has established herself as one of the Ivy League's best players.

Did Connolly sulk? Nope. 

TB spoke to Connolly on this week's women's basketball podcast "Conversations With Carla" and asked her about it. Connolly talked about doing whatever the team needs and how Chen is one of her best friends. 

Those are the kinds of players you need and the kind of relationships you want to see. Back in that story about Cobbs, he mentioned that he didn't enjoy his national team experience nearly as much as his Princeton experience because he didn't feel the same team-oriented mentality.

Having people who buy into what you do is why Princeton basketball is where it finds itself right now, for both the men and the women. The Ivy League is one week away from the start of its tournament, and both the Princeton men and women will be the No. 1 seeds.

Both have clinched no worse than a share of the Ivy League championship. 

The women are 12-0 in the league with a busy weekend ahead. It starts tonight with Senior Night at Jawin against Penn, with tip-off at 7. After that, it's on the bus for the first of two trips to Harvard in consecutive weekends.

The Ivy tournaments will be held at Harvard next Friday and Sunday. Princeton, the top seed, will be playing one of the teams it plays this weekend again next weekend in Massachusetts. 

Penn and Harvard both currently have six league losses. One or both of them could actually tie Yale for third, but the Bulldogs hold the tiebreaker on both. Whether it's a two-way tie between those three or a two-way tie between Penn and Harvard, the fourth spot would go to Harvard, who holds the tiebreaker over Penn.

Harvard also has two games to play, with one against Dartmouth before the Princeton game. Penn has only Princeton, and Yale has only Brown (Cornell-Columbia is the other game).

As for the men, it's all sewn up as far as teams and matchups, with No. 1 Princeton against No. 4 Cornell and Penn against Yale in the other semifinal. Who will be the No. 2 seed and who will be the No. 3? It doesn't matter.

Yale could still tie Princeton for the championship with a win over Brown and a Princeton loss to Penn tomorrow night, but Princeton will be the No. 1 seed regardless. A Tiger win over Penn means an outright title (so does a Brown win).

TB is looking forward to the tournament. He's also looking forward to the announcement of the All-Ivy teams next week. Princeton has some serious contenders for first-team honors and Player of the Year honors.

If TB is reading the schedule correctly, then it'll be Princeton women at 4:30 next Friday in its semifinal and the Princeton men Saturday at 11 in its semi. The women's final is Saturday at 5, and the men's final is Selection Sunday at noon.

The women's final is on ESPNEWS. The men's semis are on ESPNU, with the final on ESPN2.