Before TigerBlog gets into the NCAA men's lacrosse game between Princeton and Penn State this weekend, there's something he has to mention.
When Matt Henshon shot the basketball during his Princeton career, there was a pretty good chance it was going in.
In fact, if you add up his two-point shots, three-point shots and foul shots during his career, he made better than 62 percent of his shots. Henshon, a 6-5 forward from outside of Boston, was sort of a Princeton basketball version of longtime NBA star Adrian Dantley — a very smooth player on some great teams.
Henshon was a member of the Class of 1991, which means he played on Ivy League championship teams as a sophomore, junior and senior and was part of epic NCAA tournament games each year. He went from Princeton to Harvard Law School, and today he is a partner in the law firm of Henshon Klein.
TigerBlog saw pretty much every game Henshon played as a junior and senior at Princeton. He's one of those players that Princeton has had through the years who are simply "winning" players, the glue of any championship team. He's also an incredibly impressive person.
Why bring him up today? Because of the Ivy League baseball Players of the Week, that's why.
Princeton's Kyle Vinci was the Player of the Week after shattering the league record for home runs in a season, and his teammate Jackson Emus was the Pitcher of the Week after going seven innings, allowing four hits and striking out seven. Who was the Rookie of the Week?
That would be Mark Henshon, Brown's second baseman, who went 8 for 16 with three runs, six RBIs and a double. He's also Matt Henshon's son, for those of you who want to feel as old as TB does reading that.
Mark Henshon was a two-time Ivy Rookie of the Week, and his .305 season average was the fourth-best for the Bears.
TigerBlog has always said that he would feel old when the children of athletes he covered here started to compete here as well. The first one to do so was men's lacrosse player Jack Crockett, the son of former Princeton offensive lineman Todd Crockett. Then there was Ellie Mueller, the daughter of Henshon's teammate Kit Mueller. Back when TB was writing about Princeton men's basketball in the late ’80s/early ’90s, he never would have imagined his daughter and Kit's daughter would Princeton women's lacrosse teammates one day.
Back in the present day, Jack Crockett and his teammates will be heading out to Penn State to take on the fifth-seeded Nittany Lions in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Face-off from Panzer Stadium will be 7:30 Sunday night (ESPNU), as the Tigers play the last of eight first-round games this weekend.
Princeton and Penn State have almost no history in men's lacrosse. In fact, they've played only three times, in 1991, 1996 and 1997. Will anyone else beside TigerBlog be at the game Sunday who was at those three as well?
Princeton is looking to return to Championship Weekend after last year's visit to the Final Four. Doing so will not be easy.
Penn State was the Big Ten regular season champion and earned the fifth seed despite its 17-15 loss to sizzling Michigan in the B1G tournament. Princeton is here because it won the Ivy League's automatic bid by taking the league tournament last year.
Here are a few Princeton-Penn State numbers:
* Princeton's Michael Gianforcaro is second in Division I save percentage at .592; Penn State's Jack Fracyon is third at .574
* Princeton allows 10.93 goals per game; Penn State allows 10.69
* Princeton averages a little more than 14 goals per game; Penn State averages just under 14 goals per game
* Both teams are below 50 percent on face-offs for the season
In other words, it figures to be a fairly even matchup, which is what you'd expect this time of year. Princeton continues to push through all of its injuries, and the Tigers have peaked at the right time.
A year ago, Princeton had a week off before its NCAA opener after missing the Ivy tournament. The Tigers then turned around and beat Boston University 12-5 at home and Yale 14-10 at Hofstra in the quarterfinals before falling to Maryland in the semifinals.
This year, Princeton has to turn it around after the euphoria of the Ivy championship game one week earlier.
Either way, there are only 16 teams who are still playing. It's great to be one of them.
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