What A Game In Bloomington

It's harsh, this NCAA basketball tournament.

There are 68 teams in both tournaments, the men's and women's. Only one on each side will end with a win. 

For the rest? There is only that one hurdle is too tall to clear. Some of those hurdles hurt a bit more than others when they finally trip you up.

It can be a such roller-coaster of emotions from one round to the next, or even one possession to the next. And when it does finally end, you're left with the immediacy of it, the harshness of a marathon season over just like that, with nothing to do about it. This isn't best-of-seven. This is one and done, survive and advance, and only one of the teams on the court gets to do that.

The Princeton women's basketball team learned all that the hard way last night. Just two days removed from the highest of highs after an opening round win over Kentucky, the Tigers saw their season – as great a season as any Ivy League women's basketball team has ever had – end with a 56-55 loss at Indiana.

Fifty-six to fifty-five. One point. One excruciating point. 

In the end, there is only the heartbreak and the finality, and such a moment doesn't allow for perspective. That will come in time for these Tigers, and they'll realize that what they did this year was something amazing and special. 

The game that ended their season was a spectacular one. It wasn't a perfect one by any means. There were turnovers and scoring droughts, shots that normally went in that didn't and others that didn't even come close

It was spectacular nonetheless. 

It was spectacular in its intensity and in just how hard both teams played. It was spectacular in its competitiveness. It was spectacular in the tenacity both teams showed. 

On such a night, someone had to lose. This time, it was Princeton, by that single point. Before you can really appreciate what the Tigers did last night, you have to understand a few things. 

First, there was the environment. There were 9,628 fans there, and they were about 95 percent rooting for the Hoosiers. This wasn't in just any building. This was Indiana, Assembly Hall, a venue that is steeped in basketball history and a state that is even more so.

Then there was that opponent. Indiana started five players who were all 1,000-point career scorers. The Hoosiers were big and physical, and they most recently made it to the Big Ten championship game. They were ranked in the Top 10 for pretty much the entire season.

Had Princeton lost by 20 or so, nobody would have thought less of the visitors. It certainly looked like that might be the case when Indiana went from 17-17 at the end of the first quarter to 39-29 up at halftime and then to 41-29 in the third.

But Princeton didn't go away. There was no way this team ever would do that. This team is built around its defense, and defense is built around effort, and Princeton was going to give maximum effort to the end. 

The Tigers would lead twice in the fourth quarter, 50-49 with five minutes left and 52-51 with little more than a minute to go. Indiana won it with a Grace Berger layup and some foul shots, leaving Princeton one possession short of the Sweet 16.

There were four Tigers in double figures, and the one who wasn't might have been the most impressive. Ellie Mitchell had six points, but she also had 15 rebounds, and her energy never waned even as she went all 40 minutes. 

Princeton had beaten Kentucky 69-62 in Round 1 for the second NCAA win in program history. That effort, too, was wildly impressive, considering Kentucky had just won the SEC tournament and beaten No. 1 South Carolina to do it.

Indiana, though, is probably a better team, and Indiana was on its home court. Everyone there, the nearly 10,000 Hoosiers who were in the building, knew they'd seen a team that was the equal of theirs.

The NCAA tournament, though, is so unforgiving. It doesn't allow for a second chance, no matter how worthy a team may be of one.

And so Princeton had to deal with the disappointment. It's a team with two seniors. It's a team with an incredible coaching staff. It's a team that is built for the long haul.

The 2021-22 Tigers will be remembered for being as good as any the Ivy League has seen. They'll be remembered for their NCAA win and for how captivating they were to watch. They'll be remembered for the incredible game that they played in the second round against Indiana.

In time, the disappointment of 56-55 will fade.

This team's legacy never will. It's etched in stone.