Villanova Drive

TigerBlog walked into Jadwin Gym the other day and found the entire women's basketball coaching staff in the lobby.

"Welcome to Jadwin Gym," head coach Carla Berube said, joking. "First time here?"

That got TB to think about when he first walked into the building. He thinks it was back in 1983 or so. 

He knows that in the spring of 1984, while he was a relative newbie in the newspaper business, he covered the state high school tennis tournament on the indoor courts on Jadwin E level. Princeton High School was playing, and rain forced the Little Tigers to move to Jadwin.

TB thinks about that every now and then, especially since his current office is located a very short walk from those same courts. Would he ever have imagined that 40 years ago? Nope.

He's also tried to imagine if there is any building anywhere that he's spent more time in than the venerable home of the Tigers. Even the house he grew up in can't possibly match up to the sheer number of hours he's spent in Jadwin Gym. 

TigerBlog grew up on a street called Villanova Drive. All of the streets in his neighborhood were named for colleges, or at least had college identities to them. 

For instance, the main road through the middle of the development was called Old Queens Boulevard, named for, obviously, Rutgers. The street behind his was called Annapolis Drive, a nod to the Naval Academy.

Berube's team took on the school TB's childhood street was named for in Jadwin last night. Would any player in the game who took the ball to the hoop go on a Villanova Drive?  

It was Game 3 on the season for the Tigers and No. 2 for the Wildcats. It would be Princeton who came away with a win, 70-61.

At times, it certainly looked like mid-November. At others, it looked like this Princeton team is going to do what so many before it has done: Shake off the major graduation losses and keep moving forward.

It's a formula that has allowed Princeton to list so many Ivy League championship teams on the back of the t-shirts that were given away last night.

Princeton used 13 players in the first half alone, partly because of foul trouble and partly because of the fact that there are so many players who are looking to step into bigger roles this season. It's going to take a few weeks for the lineup and rotation to be a little clearer.

In the meantime, it was fun to see all the new faces and new names out there. And it was fun to see the more seasoned returnees now have to step into bigger leadership roles. 

The game was 28-28 at the half and then 31-28 Villanova after a made three-pointer to start the third quarter. By the start of the fourth quarter, Princeton had built a 10-point lead at 53-43. If you've been paying attention at all since Berube arrived, you know she loves her teams to defend.  

Villanova was able to get within one in the fourth quarter but Princeton did everything it needed to close out the win. Ashley Chea took over the game down the stretch, nailing big shots, especially from deep, while finishing with 17 points. Madison St. Rose was in double figures again with 13. 

Yes, there is a lot to work on, including avoiding fouls. Still, there is a lot to like about this current Princeton women's team, which is only going to get better as the season moves along.

The men, who also have a lot to like, will be home tomorrow night (7), when they host Loyola, the team from Chicago, not the one from Maryland. After that game, Princeton will head to Massachusetts to take on Merrimack Sunday at 1.

There is almost no history between Princeton and either of the two opponents this weekend. Princeton and Loyola have met only once, back in Game 1 of the 2006-07 season, in a game Loyola won 68-57. Any guesses as to who led Princeton in scoring that night with 17 points? 

Princeton and Merrimack have never met. 

Loyola and Princeton are both 3-0 as they head into the game. Princeton has used late comebacks in all three games to pull out the wins.

Most recently Princeton defeated Northeastern 79-76 as Dalen Davis had a career high of 25 points. Davis and Xaivian Lee are tied for the team lead at 17.3 points per game, and Caden Pierce is next with 15 points and a team-best 8.3 rebounds per.

Oh, and the answer to who was the leading scorer in that only other game against Loyola? That would be Michael Strittmatter.