TigerBlog imagines that spending Veterans' Day at the Veterans Classic at the Naval Academy will be a pretty special experience for the Princeton men's basketball team.
A service academy is an amazing place to watch a game on any day, in any sport. TB has seen a few at Navy and at Army-West Point, and he's been a bit in awe each time.
To be there for a game on Veterans Day, though?
MotherBlog was a nurse who spent much of her career working with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. She did spend several years in the 1980s with the Paralyzed Veterans of America, and TB vividly remembers the times he spent with veterans who had been in wheelchairs after suffering catastrophic injuries in Vietnam and Korea and even World War II.
Today is Veterans Day, which takes place on the anniversary of the end of World War I. Today marks 104 years since the Armistice ended a war that caused 10 million military deaths and eight million civilian deaths.
Spending such a day at a service academy is an honor that Princeton will enjoy tonight at 8:30, when the Tigers take on the host Naval Academy in the second game of a doubleheader that begins at six with Houston and St. Joe's. The games can be seen on CBS Sports Network.
Grateful For The Opportunity.
— Princeton Men’s Basketball (@PrincetonMBB) November 10, 2022
Tremendously thankful to have had the opportunity to tour the Naval Academy today, it was truly an honor to spend time at this special place filled with such incredible leaders. pic.twitter.com/xRtIukzBGS
The day and venue deserve respect. When the game starts, that respect is best shown by, in the words of Pete Carril, "giving a good account of ourselves."
There is also a home women's basketball game tonight at 7, when Villanova is in Jadwin in a matchup of teams who reached the second round of the NCAA tournament last season. Both teams are 1-0, with an average margin of victory on opening night of 23.5 points (Princeton over Temple, Villanova over Marist).
As the basketball season has begun, that has to mean that the football season is reaching its later stages. That, in fact, is the case, with two games remaining on the Ivy League schedule.
For Princeton, there's a lot more to do than count down the hours until the season ends. Between now and a week from Saturday night, Princeton could find itself anywhere from having had a perfect season to finishing out of the running for even a share of the league championship.
For that matter, as TB wrote earlier in the week, there could even be a four-way tie for the Ivy football title, something that has never happened before. In fact, there have only been two three-way ties, and none since 1982.
Princeton is currently 8-0 overall, 5-0 in the Ivy League. Behind the Tigers are Yale and Penn at 4-1 and Harvard at 3-2. As it turns out those teams have two games against the other three to finish the year.
The schedule goes this way: Princeton at Yale tomorrow at noon. Harvard at Penn tomorrow at 1. Penn at Princeton next Saturday. Yale at Harvard next Saturday.
Princeton knows that a win in either of the last two games means at least a share of the league title. Penn and Yale, however, both know that if they win out, they'll have no worse than a share as well.
It's a bad idea for a team, any team, to get caught up in what it has to do or not do in the big picture. As another former men's basketball coach, John Thompson III, always stressed, the biggest thing to do is worry about the next possession.
Yale gives you enough to worry about on every possession, certainly. The Bulldogs come in having just put up 69 points in a win at Brown.
Princeton, on the other hand, comes in off its season low in points, having scored 17 against Dartmouth. If you factor in last week, Yale leads the Ivy League in scoring offense (32.5) and Princeton is second (29.9). If you take away last week, Princeton is at 32.3 and Yale is at 27.2, but hey, none of that matters.
Princeton and Yale are also 1-3 in the league in scoring defense. Princeton, at 11.4 is first. Yale allows 20.1 per game (Penn is second at 17.6).
In fact, Princeton leads all FCS schools who aren't coached by Deion Sanders in scoring defense. The Tiger D has been incredible to watch all year, and it's shown in the last two weeks that it can win on a day when it gives up yards but causes turnovers and on a day when it causes no turnovers but hardly gives up any yards.
The weather tonight and overnight in New Haven looks iffy. Hopefully the rain ends by gametime, as the forecast says it will.
No matter what, though, it'll be a fun one. In fact, the last two weekends will both be.
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