A Dominant 24th

Princeton hosts Manhattan in men's lacrosse tonight at 6. You can get tickets HERE and watch HERE.

From the first season of official Ivy League men's basketball (1956-57) through the 1990-91 season, there were only four times that a team went 14-0 in conference games.

The first of those, by the way, was Princeton in 1968-69, which was Pete Carril's second season as Tiger head coach.

Princeton then went 14-0 in the 1991 Ivy season, meaning that there were only four perfect league teams in the first 35 years of Ivy men's basketball team. Starting with those 1991 Tigers, there have been 10 perfect teams in the last 32 years. 

What changed? Why have there been more perfect teams? That's a question for another day.

TigerBlog's first thought is that it's a fluke and that there are no trends that are reflected. Or maybe not. He's not sure. It may be surprising to you to learn that none of Bill Bradley's three varsity seasons saw Princeton go 14-0. 

At the other end of the spectrum, no team has ever won the league with more than four losses. There have been four seasons in which the champion went 10-4, all of which were in the 1980s. Amazingly, all of those 10-4 teams were outright champs.

The current season will be the fifth time that the league champ has at least four losses, since Princeton, Penn and Yale are all tied for first at 8-4 with two games to go. Since Princeton plays Penn, there can't be a three-way tie at 10-4, though there could be a three-way tie at 9-5.

The Ivy League made it official that those three teams have all clinched spots in the Ivy tournament, which means that seven of the eight spots for the event at Jadwin March 10-12 have been confirmed (tickets HERE). The women's field is set, with Princeton, Columbia, Penn and Harvard, though the order is still TBD. 

The fourth team on the men's side will be either Cornell or Brown. Or maybe Dartmouth or Harvard. TigerBlog doesn't have the patience to figure it out yet.

It's always been fascinating to TB how differently each of the 33 Ivy sports crowns its champion. For some, it's a long, long road that spans months and features a double-round robin. The 180 degree opposite of that is cross country, whose league championship takes less than a half hour.

Track and field and swimming and diving have their championships earned during multi-day meets. The women's swimming and diving event was held at DeNunzio Pool this past Wednesday through Saturday, and when it was over, Princeton was once again the champ.

Ivy Champions, for the second time in three seasons! 🌿🏆 pic.twitter.com/CrV7L0aR5B

— Princeton Swimming & Diving (@PUCSDT) February 19, 2023

Princeton started it Wednesday with two relay wins and never trailed, outdistancing second-place Harvard 1,480-1254. 

The Tigers also produced the high scorers for both swimming and diving. Senior Nikki Venema was the high-point swimmer for the second time in her career, with the maximum 96 points. Freshman diver Charlotte Martinkus won both the one-meter and three-meter events, finishing with 54 points.

One of TB's favorite celebrations is the way swimmers and divers (and water polos and rowers) jump and/or get tossed into the water following their wins. This past Saturday night, among those who ended up in DeNunzio Pool were Ford Family Director of Athletics John Mack and Office of Athletic Communications swim contact Elliott Carr.

Princeton has now won 24 Ivy League women's swimming and diving championships. Only one other team has reached double figures, and that's Harvard, with 15. The 2023 Princeton title was a dominant one.

As for the 2022-23 academic year, Princeton has now had six teams win league championships, including five in Ivy sports. Your conference champs to date are: field hockey, men's cross country, women's volleyball, men's water polo, women's fencing and women's swimming and diving. 

This weekend will see three more league championships contested, with men's swimming and diving at Brown and men's and women's indoor Heps at Dartmouth.