Good News

It's a day for three good news stories. 

TigerBlog didn't realize the NBA regular season was ending this weekend.

As a result, he was wondering if Orlando was going to sign Devin Cannady to a second 10-day contract. Instead, just before the Magic's season finale Sunday against Miami, it was announced that the team had signed him to a multi-year contract. According to what TB read, the contract is "partially guaranteed."

NBA contracts are very complex, obviously, but it's clear that the team sees a player with a future. He certainly showed that in his 10-day contract.

Cannady had a 15-point game against Miami, which was two off his career high. In his five games in Orlando this year, he averaged 10.0 points per game, and he was in double figures in each of his last three games. 

He shot 41 percent from three-point range, and that was with one game where he was 1 for 6. Cannady averaged 29 minutes per night in what TB would assume was a tryout that he passed.

It's remarkable, especially considering that he's a year removed from what looked like it very much was a career-ending leg injury. TB is very happy for him.

TB is also very happy for the Princeton baseball team.

The Tigers came into the weekend 0-6 in the Ivy League and 2-20 overall, with eight one-run losses and a slew of injuries that left the roster short along the way. Rather than give up, Princeton took two of three this weekend from Cornell.

The teams split two games Saturday, as the Tigers won the first game 12-3 and then dropped the second one 7-1. Game 3 went to Princeton 10-6 Sunday afternoon.

Princeton trailed 6-3 after three on Sunday before putting up five runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth. Nadir Lewis hit a go-ahead run during that five-run burst, and he now has a team-best 29 RBIs on the year. 

The Princeton record for RBIs is 53, set in 1985 by Drew Stratton. Can Lewis get there? He's got 15 more regular season games to try. Can he get 24 in 15 games? He has 29 in 25, so there's a chance. He's 19 away from tying for second.

Beyond just the RBI's, Lewis is putting up a monster year.

Lewis leads the Ivy League in OPS, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and home runs. He's second in batting average. He's second in RBIs but leads in RBIs per game. Those are gaudy stats.

Lewis also homered in the win in the first game this weekend. In fact, in that game he went 3 for 4 with a double and five RBIs in addition to the home run. 

Next up for Princeton is a three-game series at Dartmouth this weekend. It's been a challenging year for sure, and it's in those challenging situations that the best coaches continue to get their teams to play hard and push on. Scott Bradley, the Princeton baseball coach, is doing just that.

The men's golf team had a nice weekend as well too. The Tigers won the team championship at the Princeton Invitational, and the Tigers were the runner-up as well. 

There were two Princeton teams in the 15-team field. The Princeton Orange team won the championship, and the Princeton Black team came in second, one stroke back.

Freshman William Huang was the individual champion, shooting 10-under, winning by six strokes. It was the first time in 18 years that Princeton has won its invitational, and it was the first time in 15 years that it had the individual champ.

There were 15 teams in the field, including the other seven Ivy teams. Columbia was the next-best Ivy finisher, coming in fifth, 12 shots behind the Princeton Orange. Seton Hall and Temple came in third an fourth.

Next up for Princeton is the Ivy League tournament, which will be held April 22-24 at the Century Country Club in Harrison, N.Y. 

Obviously anything can happen in a three-day event in golf, but the tournament this weekend is a great sign for the Tigers' chances.

And it was part of a weekend with some pretty good news, for some current Princeton athletes and for one alum who looks like he's making his dream come true.