Make That 26th

TigerBlog starts today with Nate Ewell. 

Way back when, or in the 1990s, Nate was a student-worker in the Office of Athletic Communications, and a great one at that. He was also a Spirit of Princeton winner as a senior in 1996.

These days he's the Vice President for Communications and Content for the Vegas Golden Knights. Actually, make that the Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights.

TigerBlog rooted for the Golden Knights, solely because of Nate, of course. TB texted Nate during the second period of Game 5, when the Knights were up 4-1, and said that he was going to sleep but congratulations. 

He figured that it wasn't premature. In fact, it wasn't. Vegas won 9-3. 

Princeton has produced more than its share of great professional and international athletes. It's also produced more than its share of great professionals who work behind the scenes for those athletes and teams. 

Nate is one of them. After a long career of working in college athletics, especially college hockey, Nate got his chance with Vegas. Now it's paid off with a Stanley Cup championship, which could not have happened for a nicer person. 

That's where TB wanted to start today. 

Next up is yesterday's entry.

First, to those who contacted TB to talk about their own experiences at the DMV, thank you. It is a rite of passage, no?

Next, TigerBlog made a bit of an error when he said that Princeton was locked into 23rd in the final standings for the NACDA Learfield Directors' Cup. As it turns out, that is not quite accurate. 

By the way, the Directors' Cup attempts to measure the top overall athletic programs in Division I, Division II, Division III and the NAIA. Points are awarded based on postseason participation and success. 

Stanford has clinched the Division I title, as TB said yesterday. In fact, the overall Cup winner was to be determined by the winner of the Stanford-Texas Super Regional deciding game between the two, and, well, if you didn't see how that ended, make sure you go and check it out.

The Division III winner was Johns Hopkins, which has won the Cup for the first time ever. 

The Division I standings on the NACDA website that were updated yesterday said "final," but clearly they're not, since the College World Series for baseball doesn't start until tomorrow. TB's mistake was the assumption that the points for baseball were awarded for all of the teams other than those who are still playing in Omaha.

As it turns out, that wasn't the case. All sports have been counted except for baseball.

If TB is correct, then, Princeton figures to move down three spots. Teams get 25 points for reaching the tournament, which means that Oklahoma State will go from 775 to 800, one point ahead of Princeton, who finished with 799.

The other two teams who will pass Princeton are Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, both of whom picked up enough points from the baseball tournament to move ahead of the Tigers. 

As such, that leaves Princeton in 26th. None of the other schools behind Princeton, even the ones who are still playing in the CWS, can catch the Tigers.

Once again, this is just TB's calculations. The official, final standings won't be posted until after the CWS ends. 

This will also mark the third time since the Directors' Cup began in 1993-94 that Princeton will have back-to-back academic years of being under 30 in the final standings. The first time was 1994-95 and 1995-96, when the TIgers finished 29th and 23rd. The second time was 2000-01 (24th) and 2001-22 (21st).

That 21st-place finish in 2001-02 was the best Princeton had ever had until last year, when the Tigers finished 18th overall. 

Assuming that TB is correct, even with the three-place drop, finishing 26th is still pretty amazing. The Tigers will once again be the highest finishing non-Power Five school, let alone FCS and Ivy League. 

It may seem like just another ranking, but it's not. There are no style points. There are no built-in advantages for Power Five schools. 

There are only points you get for how you do in the NCAA championships.

To finish the way Princeton consistently does? That's worth celebrating, whether it's 23 or 26.