The Year In Review

Welcome to the final TigerBlog of 2024. 

TigerBlog's tradition is, ahead of the counting down of the ball in Times Square, to count down the top moments in Princeton Athletics for the previous 12 months. 

It's always been a fun exercise. TB has prefaced each year's list by saying that these would be his opinion and his choosing — and not everyone has always agreed with him. 

Here is what TB has had as his No. 1 story dating back to 2012, the first year of his end-of-year list:

2012 - the NCAA field hockey championship
2013 - the Ivy League football championship
2014 - Julia Ratcliffe's NCAA hammer title
2015 - the women's basketball team goes 31-1
2016 - Ashleigh Johnson wins gold as an undergraduate
2017 - the women's soccer team defeats UNC to reach the NCAA quarterfinals
2018 - the men's hockey team wins the ECAC championship/the football team goes 10-0
2019 - the field hockey team reaches the NCAA final
2020 - the Covid pandemic
2021 - the women's lightweight rowing national championship
2022 - the death of Pete Carril
2023 - the men's basketball team reaches the Sweet 16

So what was the top story for 2024? Well, this year, TB is going to go in a slightly different direction. 

There is no No. 1 story for this year. Well, that's not exactly true. There is, though it's not like the others. 

This year, the No. 1 story is that, as 2025 arrives, there are 19 — nineteen — Princeton teams that have won their most recent conference championship. That number, by the way, does not include the Ivy tournament titles of two other teams (men's lacrosse, men's soccer) who did not in their regular season title.

That is a crazy stat. It's incredible on so many levels. 

Because of all of that success, TigerBlog will not be asking the question of what the top 10 moments were. Instead, he'll ask a different question: Was 2024 the greatest calendar year in Princeton Athletic history? 

You can certainly make a case for it. And this is only considering what was accomplished at Princeton, not on the professional or international levels (such as three Olympic gold medalists).

Which of these individual performances and achievements would you rank as the top of the year?:

* Ellie Mitchell becomes the leading rebounder in school history, men's or women's, smashing the old record that had stood since 1978
* Xaivian Lee had the first recorded triple-double in Princeton men's basketball history
* Lauren Sablone hit a walk-off home run to win the Ivy League softball championship
* Tristan Szapary won the NCAA epee title
* Kaitlyn Chen of the women's basketball team became the first three-time Most Outstanding Player of the Ivy League tournament in any sport
* Roko Pozaric became Princeton's all-time leader in goals scored in men's water polo
* Beth Yeager became the third Ivy League field hockey player ever to be a three-time first-team All-American (the other two were also Princeton players and Yeager could become the first four-time honoree next year)
* Paul Inchauspe knocked off the No. 1 seed in the NCAA men's tennis tournament
* Victoria Liu became the fourth women's golfer to win multiple Ivy League individual titles
* Riccardo Fantinelli became the first Princeton men's golfer in 30 years to be an All-American

As TB said, this is only what happens at Princeton. If it didn't, then there was the Olympic gold medal in fencing won by current junior Maia Weintraub. 

Team success? Which story is the best? 

* the men's squash team rallied from 4-1 down to beat Penn 5-4 for its first Ivy League championship since 2013 — in the final match ever played on the Jadwin courts
* the men's soccer team won the Ivy League tournament by taking down nationally ranked Cornell and Penn
* the women's lightweight rowing team won a fourth-straight IRA national title
* the men's lacrosse team won a second-straight Ivy tournament, defeating Yale and Penn by a combined 32-21
* the women's soccer team won the outright Ivy title and the Ivy tournament title
* the men's track and field team completed an 11th "triple-crown" with Heps titles indoors and outdoors
* the men's and women's cross country teams swept the Heps titles in the fall
* the field hockey team won the Ivy League championship by going 7-0 and then defeated Boston College in the opening round of the NCAA tournament
* the women's open rowing team finished fourth at the NCAA championships after winning another Ivy title
* the men's heavyweights first varsity and second varsity both had undefeated regular seasons for the first time in program history and the first varsity had its first perfect regular season since 2006
* the women's basketball team won another Ivy title and then won a fifth-straight Ivy tournament championship
* the women's swimming and diving team led wire-to-wire to win the Ivy title
* the men's and women's water polo teams both won league championships to reach the NCAA tournament

Again, that's a lot.

What was the best game? Was it ... :

* the men's basketball team's riveting 83-82 win over Rutgers, accomplished with Caden Pierce's game-winning bucket with four seconds to play?
* the field hockey team's 2-1 win over Harvard, when Ella Cashman scored the tying goal in the fourth quarter and the winning goal in OT to essentially give Princeton the Ivy championship?
* the men's soccer team's 3-2 overtime win over Cornell in the Ivy semifinal, after the Tigers had trailed 2-0 early and then rallied to tie it with Nico Nee's goal with seven minutes left and won it on Daniel Ittycheria's OT goal (his second of the night)?
* the softball team's 5-4 win over Cornell to clinch an Ivy championship and the host role in the Ivy tournament (which the Tigers also won), accomplished on Lauren Sablone's three-run walk-off blast?
* the women's water polo team's 10-9 win over Michigan in the CWPA championship game, after the Tigers trailed by three and won it on Ava Houlahan's goal with one minute to play?
* the men's lacrosse team's 18-11 win over Penn in the Ivy League tournament final in a game where the Tigers outscored the Quakers 10-4 after intermission? 

Is TB missing anything? He's sure he is. 

Putting together a top 10 for the year? That would have been impossible. 

Hopefully it is again next year, right? 

In the meantime, have a safe and happy New Year's Eve — and a great 2025.

Andrei And MBB Game Day

The Cincinnati Bengals still have a chance at the NFL playoffs as the regular season heads into its final week.

The team wouldn't have had it lost to the Denver Broncos Saturday afternoon, in what turned out to be one of the best games this season. Just when it looked like one team had it won, something crazy would happen — an injury that saved a timeout, a miraculous fourth-down throw and touchdown catch, a short field goal that clanked off the upright — changed everything on a dime. 

In the end, it was the Bengals 30-24 in overtime, giving the team four straight wins and keeping alive the chance that a team that has been dynamic on offense all season while struggling on defense may sneak into the playoffs. Should that be the case, it would be one team nobody would really want to play. 

TigerBlog is rooting for the Bengals, largely because of Princeton alum Andrei Iosivas. In just his second year with the team, Iosivas has been Cincinnati's No. 3 receiver, making him an important part of the passing game led by quarterback Joe Burrow and featuring fellow wide receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins and three tights ends.

Iosivas had three catches for 59 yards against Denver, pushing his season stats to 34 receptions, 467 yards (13.7 per catch) and six touchdowns. He almost had another touchdown in the game Saturday on a beautiful and run of 50 yards, only to have it called back by a penalty.

He has 10 touchdown receptions for his career to date as he clearly has already established himself as a solid NFL wide receiver. He also had 16 touchdown catches in three Princeton seasons, so if he matches this year's total next year, then he'd have as many NFL TD receptions as he had in college.

Iosivas' athletic path could have taken a different turn had he pursued his other option, which was as a track and field decathlete. In truth, Iosivas is one of the very best all-around athletes Princeton has ever had, someone who could have probably played any sport and immediately been great at it. 

TB remembers a time when he saw Iosivas on a Jadwin Gym side court bounce a basketball off the floor, catch it in mid-air and dunk it. 

The Jadwin Gym main court will host the Princeton men's basketball team this afternoon at 1, when the Tigers take on Akron out of the MAC. As an aside, that's either a really good or really bad segue; TB isn't sure which quite yet. 

Today's game will be the third in the season and first in Princeton. In what states were the other two played?

Well, TB will give you Ohio (62-58 Akron win in 2012). That's fairly obvious. The other? That was in Hawaii (64-62 Princeton win in 2017).

If the game today is played at the normal pace that both teams like to go, then this time it'll take way more than 62 or 64 points to win it. Princeton averages 76.9 points per game and put up 83 in its last game, that thrilling one-point win against Rutgers at the Prudential Center nine days ago. 

Akron averages 81.2 points per game. The Zips are 7-4, and in those 11 games, the winning team has reached 90 points four times. 

Expect to see a lot of three-pointers attempted. Princeton, as you know, loves to shoot from deep. Akron does too, even more so. 

Princeton ranks 20th in Division I in three-pointers made per game, at 10.7. Akron ranks sixth, at 11.5. Between them, the teams take more than 60 threes per game. 

The Akron roster has nine players from the state of Ohio. There is one player with a Princeton connection — Bowman Hardman, who went to Princeton High School (the one in Ohio). Hardman by the way is one of nine — that's right, nine — Zips players who averages at least seven points per game, while no player averages more than 13.3.

With so many threes that figure to be taken, there also figure to be a lot of opportunities for offensive rebounds, something both teams do very well. Akron is 21st in Division I with 14.3 per game; Princeton had 19 of them in the win over Rutgers. 

On paper, at least, this looks like it should be a fun one.

The Times They Are A-Changin

Could TigerBlog have been a movie critic? 

He would have given "Major League" a much better review than "Field of Dreams." He would have said "Elf" wasn't funny but "Scrooged" was hilarious. 

He would have said that there haven't been too many more entertaining movies ever made than "Point Break." He would have written that he hated all of the superhero movies but for some reason loved "The Dark Knight." He'd have to have let his son write the reviews of all the "Star Wars" movies because he wouldn't have wanted to sit through them.

He'd also never use the word "film" unless it was in the context of "that scene was one of the best ever filmed." He'd also 

Do with that information what you will. 

TigerBlog went on Christmas Day to see the Bob Dylan movie, whose actual title is "A Complete Unknown." Here is his review: 

"With a run-time of 2:21, you'd probably be better off watching a Princeton game on ESPN+ and then spend the rest of your time watching Bob Dylan concert videos on YouTube."

Actually, that's not really fair. The movie does run a bit long and the character and plot development is a bit simplistic — or in some cases non-existent — but it's worth watching simply because of the performance of Timothée Chalamet as Dylan.

For starters, Chalamet learned to play the guitar and harmonica for the role, and he performed all of Dylan's songs that are featured in the movie. The scenes where he sings "The Times They Are A-Changin'' and "Like A Rolling Stone" will give you chills if you're a fan. 

Also, Monica Barbaro was great as Joan Baez. TB didn't even realize she was also in "Top Gun-Maverick," where she played the fighter pilot known as "Phoenix." 

It wouldn't be shocking to see Chalamet and Barbaro get Oscar nominations, even if the movie itself is severely lacking overall. 

So there's that. 

As for your next chance to watch a Princeton game on ESPN+, it comes up Sunday at 2, when the women's basketball team hosts Middle Tennessee State. If you're watching from Murfreesboro, then tip-off is at 1, since it's Central Time and well, the Times They Are A-Changin' (sorry about that). 

You can watch Princeton play Army at 4 tomorrow in men's hockey, by the way, though that game is not on ESPN+. It's on FloHockey.

Princeton has won four straight games in men's hockey, though the team hasn't played in 21 days. Army comes into the game at 5-11 having dropped five straight but also has been off for nearly three weeks.

As for women's basketball, a year ago these teams played at MTSU where the Tigers trailed by five at the half before coming back to win 65-60. Who was the leading scorer that day for Princeton? It was Skye Belker, who had 18. Kaitlyn Chen had 14, and then Ashley Chea was next with nine. 

Obviously Chen is now at UConn, but the other two are currently sophomores who are, with the absence of the injured Madison St. Rose, the two leading scorers on the team. Between them, they averaged 22 points per game prior to when St. Rose was hurt and have averaged just short of 28. That might not seem like much, but it's exactly what the Tigers needed without St. Rose and her 17 per game.

Princeton has played only once in the last two weeks, and that was a dominant 60-45 win over Vermont on the 21st. MTSU last played on the 17th, taking down Cal Baptist on the road, 74-54. 

Princeton brings a 7-4 record into the game. MTSU is 8-4.

Here's a fun fact: If both teams reach their scoring averages for the season in the game Sunday, then the Blue Raiders will win by three-hundredths of a point. Middle Tennessee averages 67.67, while Princeton averages 67.64.

Middle Tennessee has three players who average between 14 and 15 points per game, and those three — Anastasia Boldyreva, Ta'Mia Scott and Jalynn Gregory — combined for 40 of the 60 Blue Raider points in the game against Princeton last year. 

The game Sunday will be the first of three games on Carril Court in three days. Next up would be the men's game Monday at 1 against Akron, followed by the women at noon against LeMoyne Tuesday. 

That's three afternoon home basketball games in three days, at three different times. And, as TB has already established, "the times ..."

Twas The Day After Christmas

Twas the day after Christmas ... 

Do you think they have some sort of debrief/follow-up meeting at the North Pole this week, or is it just vacation time? 

By the way here's a Christmas joke you can file away for next year: 

"How much does it cost to power Santa's sleigh? Eight bucks. Nine if it's foggy."

TigerBlog will now give you a second to recover from the howls of laughter.

Ayway, so how was your Christmas? 

Merry, TigerBlog hopes. There was at least enough snow on the ground to qualify as a White Christmas in the Princeton area, something that doesn't happen most years.

Great news: TigerBlog Jr.'s gift is arriving today. TB was going to share with you a screenshot of the email he got confirming delivery before Christmas, but hey, why embarrass the company when it's really TB's fault for waiting so long to order it, right?

Today is Dec 26. As TB has written before:

Today has to be the worst day to have a birthday. Well, it's either today, or February 29. 

Actually, December 26 has to be way worse. When you're born on Feb. 29, yes, your birthday only comes around once every four years, but that has to be a pretty cool thing in a lot of ways. If you were, say, 28, you could tell people you were seven.

No, Dec. 26 is the worst day for a birthday. Yesterday, obviously, was Christmas. Today is the day that nobody really feels like doing anything after a long time, and actually a long month, of lead-up.

You don't want to be the one to say "hey, it's my birthday. What are we doing?" 

The answer has to be "nothing. You're on your own. We're all wiped out."

Anyway, if today's your birthday, well, happy birthday. 

There was some pretty interesting pre-Christmas news that TB saw the other day. It came in the form of one of the few things that might be able to get him to root against Caitlin Clark. 

The Washington Mystics hired Sydney Johnson to be their new head coach. 

That's the same Sydney Johnson who is the only Ivy League men's basketball alum ever to have all three of these things on his resume: Player of the Year, along with Ivy champion as a player and head coach. Actually, Johnson had two Ivy League championships (1996, 1997), with his Player of the Year honor in 1997, his senior year. 

Johnson was a defensive stopper at Princeton who could guard anyone on the other team and who still holds the school record for career steals with 169. He also found time to score 1,044 career points, 33 of which came on 11 consecutive made three-pointers, across two games, a number that is still the Ivy League record. 

Johnson began his coaching career at Georgetown under John Thompson III and was part of the Hoyas staff that led the team to the 2007 NCAA Final Four. He then got the head coaching job at Princeton and took the Tigers to the 2011 NCAA tournament and a two-point loss to Kentucky in the opening round. 

Now he takes over the Mystics, who finished a game back of the Atlanta Dream for the final playoff spot a year ago. The team also drew 20,711 fans to a game against Clark and the Indiana Fever in what is the most-attended game in league history. 

TigerBlog was the men's basketball contact during Johnson's career as a player at Princeton, and TB saw all but three games that Johnson played as a Tiger. He was one of those people who was mature beyond what you'd expect from a college athlete, and that made him one of the best leaders of a team TB has seen in all his years here. In fact, Johnson was a three-time team captain.

Here's a quote from the story announcing the hiring of Johnson as head coach and Jamila Wideman, a Stanford alum and the No. 3 pick in the first WNBA draft back in 1997, as the team's general manager:

“There are few things more valuable to me than tenacity, integrity, and excellence – and those qualities are what make Jamila and Sydney stand above the crowd,” stated Monumental Sports & Entertainment Partner Sheila C. Johnson. “These highly decorated, accomplished, and world-class leaders will serve to empower and inspire our players by maintaining a championship culture filled with purpose and compassion."

Those words — tenacity, integrity and excellence — those all perfectly describe Sydney Johnson. And now he's a WNBA head coach. 

Go Mystics. Even when they play Fever.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

The supermarket was super-crowded the other day when TigerBlog stopped in. 

He goes to the self-checkout lane, and there's almost never a wait. On this day, though, it was jammed. The line stretched so long that it was creating a log-jam for everyone who trying to go up and down the aisles. 

One man decided to take matters into his own hands. He successfully got everyone in the long checkout line to move away from the aisles and relocate to the other side of the self-serve lanes, saying "everyone just remember who was in front of you and line up the same way."

And that's what happened, without incident, without anyone who tried to move ahead of anyone else. It was a Christmas miracle, albeit a minor one.  

As tomorrow is Christmas, TigerBlog also wanted to share this screenshot with you. It dates back seven years now, with one text from former Princeton filmmaker John Bullis and then the perfect follow up from Greg Paczkowski, the Associate AD for Facilities at Princeton:

Perfect, right? 

In the meantime, here is what TB offered up last year on Christmas Eve: 

TigerBlog has a large collection of Christmas songs on his iTunes.

He's always been a big fan of Christmas music. He was a trumpet player in high school, and he loved when the concert band, or the jazz band, played holiday music.

What's his favorite? 

It's probably not a shock to anyone who has read this for awhile to learn that it's "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band version, of course. That's a big sticking point with TB.

It's the song, but it's also the artist. He's not interested in hearing anyone sing "Silver Bells" except for Dean Martin. The same goes for "Silent Night" and Emmylou Harris. 

It has to be Darlene Love's version of "Winter Wonderland," though his high school jazz band did do its own great version of the song.

"The Christmas Song?" If it's not Nat King Cole's voice that starts out with "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire," it's likely TB won't even make it to "Jack Frost nipping at your nose." 

And does he even have to mention "White Christmas" and Bing?

He has his favorites. 

Having said all that, he does have to give honorable mention to the Beach Boys jazzed up version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town."

Oh, and you know what he cannot stand, not even a little bit? TV commercials that substitute its own lyrics for classic Christmas songs. TB would rather listen to fingernails on blackboards.

Today, of course, is the day before Christmas. As he said last year (and the year before that and the year before that and so on and so on):

The surest way to get TigerBlog to tear up is invite him over, click HERE and fast-forward to the 7:00 mark.

Never fails.

If you don't want to go through all that, then the link takes you to the last scene of the Christmas classic "It's A Wonderful Life."

The line that always, 100 percent of the time, brings a tear to TB's eyes is Harry Bailey's toast to his brother. TB could watch it in early July on a day far removed from Christmas and still it'll have the same effect.

Want to see some more of TB's favorite Christmas clips? Then watch one of these:

* the end scene from "A Christmas Story"

* bonus scene from the same movie

* Charlie Brown makes a bold purchase

* the Grinch's heart grows

* now this is a duet

* and this is a ballet

* this one is the greatest ever version of any Christmas song ever performed 

* this one is second

* this is really cute

* and you can't watch the last one without this one

* this is long, but cute

* oh, and here's one more. Is this a Christmas song, or a show tune? It's both.

* you can thank Princeton's own Jeff Ingold for this one.

* and this one too.

Merry Christmas everyone. Hopefully it's safe and happy. 

And he'll leave you today with this, which, unfortunately, is not available on iTunes, at least not by these guys. And this one especially has to be these guys. 

 

A Princeton Christmas

TigerBlog will start out by saying this: The Princeton-Rutgers men's basketball game Saturday afternoon was one of the best he's ever seen.

There wasn't much missing, other than perhaps the words "NCAA" and "tournament." Other than that? This was an epic. 

The final score at the Prudential Center in Newark was Princeton 83, Rutgers 82, the game-winner from Caden Pierce with four seconds to go — after Rutgers' Ace Bailey put the Scarlet Knights up 82-81 with a three-pointer eight seconds earlier. 

WILD ending to Princeton-Rutgers 🤯@PrincetonMBB hangs on to win! pic.twitter.com/QvUNfmkulx

— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) December 21, 2024

That was John Fanta on the call. "A Princeton Christmas." Well done.  

What made this such a great game? It just had that special feeling from start to finish. The intensity was obvious. The crowd was into it. There were huge shots on both sides.

There was just a spark to this one, and the way it played out only upped the ante.  

This was the first Princeton-Rutgers game ever where both teams reached at least 80 points. That's a total of 122 games, by the way. 

It was also the first time Princeton and Rutgers played a one-point game since the infamous 54-53 Scarlet Knights win in the first round of the 1976 NCAA tournament.

Neither team ever led by more than six. There were 13 ties and 17 lead changes. Each time one team looked like it was in control, the other team stormed right back. Momentum came and momentum went. 

There was the subplot of Zach Martini, the Princeton alum who is playing at Rutgers as a grad transfer. Martini had a seven-point day against his alma mater, including a three-pointer with eight minutes to play to account for one of the lead changes. 

And the stars? They played like stars. 

Rutgers guard Dylan Harper is third in Division I in scoring, first among freshmen. He's also a sure-fire lottery pick in the next NBA Drafter. Harper certainly looked the part Saturday, with a game-high 22 points and a season's worth of individual highlights. 

Bailey, another freshman and another lottery pick, finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds, including what otherwise might have been the clutch winner were it not for Pierce.

Then there were Princeton's two first-team All-Ivy League selections from a year ago, Pierce and Xavian Lee. 

Harper and Bailey combined for 37 points, 17 rebounds and four assists. Pierce and Lee? They had 42 points, 20 rebounds and 13 assists. 

At times it looked like Harper and Lee were playing some sort of game of "HORSE" in the middle of the actual game. It was certainly a showcase of how to create your own shot, and it was definitely impressive.

Lee finished with a career-high 11 assists and six rebounds, leaving him only four boards away from another triple-double. He didn't score in the first 14 minutes, missing his first four shots, and then scored 21 in the final 26 minutes. 

Pierce led a rebounding effort that was extraordinary, as the Tigers had an edge of 43-36 on the glass, with 19 offensive rebounds that led to 23 second-chance points. Pierce had 14 rebounds, a season high, and there was no doubt that he was going to be the one to take the last shot. 

This was a "get out of the way" moment, and Pierce made it happen by himself. In fact, he was the only one who touched the ball after Blake Peters inbounded it after the Baily three-pointer. 

Peters had three three-pointers of his own and was one of five other Tigers who had at least seven in the game. It was a big shot here by Philip Byriel (he had eight points and five rebounds), and another one from Jackson Hicke (eight points, three for three shooting). Dalen Davis had seven, and Malik Abdullahi had eight points and four rebounds while providing a huge inside presence against the Rutgers inside players. 

In the end, it was a wildly entertaining game, one that ultimately will lack the historical significance of a game in March. That hardly matters to anyone who watched, either in the building or on TV. 

This was a classic, start to finish. And a great win for the Tigers.

Saturday Hoops

Back when TigerBlog was the Princeton men's basketball contact, one of the best parts of any year was seeing the schedule for the first time. 

This would be in the fall, well before the season began. Where was the team traveling? Anyplace good? Flights? Warm weather? 

It was with the Princeton men's basketball team that TB got to travel from here to there and pretty much everywhere around the country. He really appreciates the stops he made along the way in those years, places he might never have had the chance to see.

To name a few: El Paso, Texas. East Lansing, Michigan. Lawrence, Kansas. New Orleans (twice). Honolulu. Green Bay. Milwaukee. Champaign, Illinois. Fresno. Ames, Iowa (twice). Muncie, Indiana.

This was back when this time of year was dominated by holiday tournaments that no longer exist, usually four-team events both before and after Christmas. It was always a big deal to win the first game and avoid the dreaded "consolation" game, something Princeton was very good at doing. 

Ah, those were the days. All-tournament teams. MVPs. It reminds TigerBlog of one of his favorite Pete Carril moments, after one of those events. 

TB asked Carril what he thought about one of his players who had made the all-tournament team. Carril's response: "So did the guy he was guarding." 

Even all these years later, TB still laughed out loud as he typed that.

For all of those experiences, he can't imagine what the Vermont women's basketball team members thought when the 2024-25 schedule came across their phones. A trip to Minneapolis for the second game of the year? That was nothing compared to what was to follow. 

Vermont made the 4,256-mile trip to Anchorage, Alaska, for games Nov. 22 and 23. Next up? Two more games five and six days later in Cancun. Distance from Burlington? This one was only 3,656 miles. 

Or did the team go straight from Anchorage to Cancun? That's 5,775 miles. 

That is an incredible 10-day stretch for any team. Has any college basketball team ever had a four-game stretch with the first two in Alaska and the next two in Mexico? 

Vermont's next game is also on the road, though this trip is nothing quite like the other two. In fact, it's in Jadwin Gym, where the Catamounts will tip off at noon tomorrow against Princeton. 

It's a big Saturday tomorrow for Princeton Basketball, with the women's game at home and the men's game at the Prudential Center in Newark against Rutgers, also at noon tomorrow. It's a return to the court for the teams after first semester exams after they last played on Dec. 10 (the men) and Dec. 11 (the women).

The Vermont women will come to Jadwin on short rest, after they played yesterday at Buffalo, where they dropped a tough 70-68 decision to a Bulls team that is now 10-0. 

The Catamounts are 5-8 on the year with all the travel and the tough opponents. Their record the last three years combined was 70-30 (that's around a 70 percent winning percentage, right?) with an NCAA tournament appearance two years ago and a run to the WNIT semifinals last year. 

Princeton defeated Vermont 67-47 a year ago in Burlington. The leading scorer in that game was Madison St. Rose, who put up 23.

St. Rose, of course, is out injured. Without her, Princeton has gone 4-2, with wins over Rutgers, Seton Hall, Temple and Rhode Island and losses at Portland (who is still unbeaten) and Utah. 

As for the Princeton-Rutgers men's game, as TB wrote Monday, this is a chance for the Tigers to go up against the phenomenal Scarlet Knights duo of Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, who rank first and third in Division I in points per game among freshman, with more than 40 per game between them. 

What does Harper have in common with Bill Bradley, at least through 11 career games (as opposed to the 83 Bradley played)? They both have a career-low of 14 points. Harper has had at least 20 points nine times in those 11 games, with games of 36 against Notre Dame and 37 against Alabama in back-to-back outings. 

Rutgers also has former Tiger Zach Martini, a key member of Princeton's Sweet 16 team of two years ago. 

Whether you're in Jadwin or Newark, or in front of your TV or computer, make sure you take advantage of your Saturday hoops. 

The wrapping presents can wait until later.

To The Playoffs

So, it's finals week at Princeton. 

Christmas is next week. The schedule across all eight teams is light. Things are slow in the Ivy League right now, right?

Yeah, no.

TigerBlog has to say that he was not expecting the announcement yesterday of a major change in Ivy League policy. Beginning in 2025, the Ivy football champion will play in the FCS playoffs. 

If you haven't seen the release, you can read it HERE.

This is the first sentence: Following a year-long process initiated by the Ivy League's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), the Ivy League Council of Presidents has approved a proposal to participate in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs beginning next season.

Yale's Mason Shipp caught 39 passes 431 yards and two touchdowns, both of which came against Brown, this past season. That's not an All-Ivy League resume, but it is a solid senior season, obviously.

More than that, though, Shipp will be remembered for his role in what is among the top three changes that TigerBlog has witnessed in all his time in the league (along with freshman eligibility in football and the adoption of Ivy League tournaments in most team sports but especially basketball).

"It's a monumental day in the Ivy League and a special day to be an Ivy League student-athlete," said Mason Shipp, a senior football student-athlete at Yale who serves as the Ivy League SAAC chair and penned the proposal. "Thank you to the Presidents for listening and responding to the voices of your students. For the future generations that are fortunate enough to represent the Ivy League in the FCS playoffs, go win us some hardware!"

The vote of the Ivy presidents to adopt the proposal that Shipp put forward reminds TB of another athlete, Curt Flood, a pretty good Major League Baseball player in the 1950s and 1960s. Back then, the Major Leagues operated under the Reserve Clause, which meant that the players were obligated to their teams until they were traded or released. 

It was Flood who refused to accept a 1969 trade, leading to a series of legal dominoes that ended with the first free agency four years later. Extra credit goes to those who knew that the first Major League free agent was pitcher Andy Messersmith.

So what does this mean for Ivy football? 

It's certainly a game-changing move. If you go back to 1945, you'll see the first Ivy Group agreement, one that was amended in September 1952. This is from the Daily Princetonian in 1952:

A new Presidents' Agreement governing football has been signed by the Presidents of Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale. It revises the original agreement of November 1945 and formulates an association "to be known as the 'Ivy Group.'" Among the points changed is the rule regarding the abolition of spring football practice, football clinics and post-season games.

With that as a background, the Ivy League first contested an official football championship in 1956. The Division I-AA tournament — the forerunner to the FCS tournament — began in 1978, when Florida A&M was the first winner. Either North Dakota State or South Dakota State has won 11 of the last 13 championships, and one of them is guaranteed to be in this year's championship game, since they play Saturday in the semifinals (Montana and South Dakota play in the other). 

There have been two finalists from teams currently in the Patriot League, Lehigh in 1979 and Colgate in 2003. Lehigh was this year's Patriot League representative, and the Mountain Hawks won their first round game against Richmond before falling to Idaho. 

Have there been Ivy League teams since 1978 who would have made strong runs through the tournament? Probably. Were Princeton teams among them? Certainly — especially 2018. 

The Ivy League is still working out all of the tiebreakers to determine who would get its automatic bid in the event of multiple champions. The last two years have seen back-to-back tri-champions; there have been five teams who have won at least a share of the title in the last four years (including Princeton in 2021). 

In other words, it's obviously a league of great balance and competitiveness. Having its champion advance to the NCAA playoffs will make it even more so, with so much to play for each week. You don't want to leave things up to the tiebreakers, right? 

The biggest part of the story to TB, though, goes beyond anything that happens on the football field. It's that the Ivy League allowed its Student Athlete Advisory Committee to initiate a major policy change. 

It's a sign that the league puts on the value of intercollegiate athletics and how they are an important part of the experience — and the education — of those who compete here.

This was extraordinarily good news on so many levels.

First-Team All-American

Beth Yeager began her season as an American Olympian and ended it as a first-team All-American. 

When the NFHCA announced its All-American teams yesterday, there was Yeager, not shockingly as a first-team selection. TigerBlog then went to make a graphic for the honor, his original version brought back a suggestion from Gracie McGowan, Yeager's teammate and the Princeton field hockey social media leader: Why not use a picture of Beth with an American flag?

Now that was a great idea. 

There have been 28 Ivy League field hockey players who have earned first-team All-American honors at least once. 

Of those 28, how many played at Princeton? The answer is 23. That's pretty impressive. 

In other words, Princeton field hockey has produced 82 percent of the Ivy League's first-team All-Americans. It's fitting for a program that has won more than half of the league's championships, including the most recent one, in which Princeton went 7-0 to win the title for the 28th time. 

Are there any other sports in which one school has produced 82 percent of the Ivy League's first-team All-Americans? For that matter, how many teams in any league have done so.

TigerBlog would ask ChatGPT, except the last time he did, the answer was "Jarron Rosa," a reference that would make you chuckle if you'd read what TB wrote about it last week. In fact, he'd like to see ChatGPT answer "Jarron Rosa" to every question he ever asks it. 

The list of those 28 first-team All-Americans in Ivy field hockey history consists of anyone who has been honored even once. There are only three Ivy players who have been first-team All-American three times, and all three of those are Princetonians. 

That list would be four, all Princetonians, had Martha Russo not destroyed her knee twice in the early 1980s. She'd already been a two-time first-team All-American by that point and would have been a lock for her senior year, which would have been after she played in the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. 

Instead she'd never play an organized sport again. Her "replacement sport" became art, and today is she is a well-respected and well-known sculptor in Colorado. 

The first two who did in fact earn three first-team All-American honors were Katie Reinprect and Kat Sharkey, teammates on Princeton's 2012 NCAA championship team. Yeager became the third with yesterday's announcement.

Should Yeager repeat the honor next year, she would become the first ever four-time Ivy League first-team All-American in field hockey. It got TB to thinking about any Princeton athletes who would have been named first-team All-American four times. 

He limited this to sports where the honor is voted on, not won by finishes in what could be considered individual sports — such as in swimming and driving, track and field, fencing, golf and squash. 

So is there anyone in "team" sports (understanding that the individual sports are very much team sports on the collegiate level)? If there is someone, TB didn't find that person.

If Yeager does manage to be a four-time first-team All-American, she will be truly deserving. You only need to watch her for a few seconds to see just how skilled she is, and if you watch her for 60 minutes, you'll see how fit she is. She elevates everyone around her, even as she is the focal point of every opponent. 

If you've never seen field hockey, you need to see her play next year. She will give you a quick education on what a fairly perfect player in the sport looks like. 

When TB first saw the All-American list, he was confident that Yeager would be first team after the season she had. It wasn't a lock just because she was an Olympian though — there were five U.S. Olympians who played college field hockey this year and not all of them were first-team All-American. 

At the same time, TB was disappointed that Princeton sophomore Ella Cashman was not named to any of the three teams. Cashman played at an All-American level all season, and even with Yeager's greatness, Princeton would not have had the season it did had Cashman not made the jump she did from freshman year to this year. 

Cashman has two more chances to be honored. Yeager has one more to make history.

Playing Foosball With Momo

TigerBlog has a Foosball strategy: Always keep your left hand on the back line.

Use your right hand for the other three lines. Just keep your left hand on your goalie. That way, no matter what happens you're always ready for wherever the ball comes from as you defend your net. 

It had been a very, very long time since TB had actually had to use that strategy. He can't remember the last time he played the game — until yesterday, that is.

He found himself in Yeh College for the first time, the guest of Momo Wolapaye, the Director of Student Life for Whitman College. Momo had invited TB to join him for lunch one day, and "one day" became yesterday.

There aren't many bigger Princeton sports fans than Momo Wolapaye. He's a Princeton Athletic Fellow for the football and men's basketball teams, and he's probably at some point seen every team play. 

TB and Momo ate in the Yeh cafeteria. TB has always loved eating in dining halls, where 1) there is a huge selection, 2) you can eat as much as you like, 3) you don't have to make it and 4) you don't have to clean it up. 

As TB sat there, it dawned on him that, while he has lived his entire life in a 50 mile or so radius of the Princeton campus, it was a much different road for Momo. How many Princeton sports fans grew up in Liberia, left the country and was a refugee around Africa during the Liberian civil war, went to college in Iowa, went to grad school in Ohio and worked at Dartmouth before he came to Princeton?

This week is, of course, final exam week at Princeton. The cafeteria was filled with students who were studying, eating, preparing. 

TigerBlog saw a lot of familiar faces. There were two groups of men's lacrosse players. There were athletes from many other teams, identifiable by their shirts, coats or backpacks. It's always good to see them on the "student" side of "student-athlete," since it reinforces that Princeton Athletics is first and foremost and educational venture.

He also saw Keyan Vojdani, a freshman who covered field hockey for the Daily Princetonian and is now covering men's hockey. This was one of those situations where it takes a second to realize who that person is because you're seeing that person completely out of any context you've ever had. 

TB wished Keyan luck on his finals. When you first go through it, as he is as a freshman, it can be a bit overwhleming, though he seemed fine. In fact, he seemed fine even though he said he had one in three hours. 

TB also saw Claire Pinciaro, Assistant Dean of Student Life at Yeh. Claire was also a second-team All-Ivy League goalkeeper for Princeton in 2012, when she helped the women's soccer team to the Ivy title and an NCAA tournament win.

Mostly, though, he spoke with Momo, someone he's seen at countless games but never really had a chance to really get to know. TB can tell you that Momo is exactly the kind of person you want in his role. He's someone who is definitely committed to the student experience and to doing whatever he can to make that experience the best it can be. 

Momo gave TB a tour of the new buildings, since it was TB's first time inside them. When they finished eating, TB asked if he had to get back to work immediately, and TB then asked him if he wanted to play Foosball, after they had walked past the table on their way towards the cafeteria. 

And so, for the first time in who knows how long, TB has his left hand on the goalie and moved his right hand to the other three positions. The game was played to three, and, well, TB won 3-0. 

In the interest of full disclosure, all three of his goals were just luck. 

Anyway, this wasn't about winning or losing. This was about spending an hour or so with one of the brightest stars on the Princeton campus (Momo, not TB). 

Princeton is a very big place. There are a lot of different departments and offices and silos. The chance to reach out and connect outside of your building and your silo should always be taken advantage of if possible. 

TB enjoyed his lunch yesterday, and for more reasons than he didn't have to make it or clean it up. When he left, he thanked his host, wished him a happy holiday season — and told him that they should have lunch again. 

He'll make sure he follows up on that.

A Weekend Off

Remember last week, when TigerBlog mentioned the billboard he saw from the law firm, saying to call them if "Grandma got run over by a reindeer?"

Well, this week on 295 TB saw another holiday-themed message. This wasn't a billboard but one of those messages that implores you to drive safely.

This one said: "Texting and Driving? That automatically puts you on the naughty list."

That's not bad. This is, after all the time of year when parents can get little kids to do almost anything by simply pointing out that "Santa is watching" and that they're going to end up on the naughty list. 

Anyway, so what did you do this weekend? 

TigerBlog knows what you didn't do. You didn't watch any Princeton teams play.

Because of first semester exams, this is essentially the midpoint of a 10-day stretch with no Princeton Athletic events. This past weekend was, in fact, the first weekend since Aug. 23 without any Princeton team who was competing. 

There were teams who are going to be playing against Princeton soon who did compete.

One of those was the Rutgers men's basketball team, who beat Seton Hall 66-63 on freshman Dylan Harper's buzzer-beating three-pointer. Harper and fellow five-star Ace Bailey combined for 45 of Rutgers' 66 points. 

For the season, those two are averaging 41.4 points per game, so the game Saturday against the Pirates wasn't all that out of the ordinary. The two are both projected as top five NBA draft picks this coming year, if they leave after one year.

Their next game will be Saturday at noon at the Prudential Center in Newark. The opponent? Princeton.

Tickets can be purchased HERE.

Of course, if you're a Princeton fan, you're as interested in seeing No. 99 for the Scarlet Knights play as much as you are the two freshmen. That No. 99 is Zach Martini, the Princeton alum and a key figure on the Tigers' 2023 Sweet 16 team. 

Martini is averaging 4.5 points per game for Rutgers. He is 16 for 32 from the field, of which 10 of 24 is from three-point range, which makes Martini 6 for 8 on two-point shots. 

Rutgers is currently 3-0 against New Jersey opponents, having defeated St. Peter's and Monmouth in addition to Seton Hall. Princeton is 1-0 against the Garden State, with a win of its own over Monmouth.

By the way, Harper was named the MVP of the game against Seton Hall and as such was given the Joe Calabrese Trophy. Joe Calabrese was a longtime New Jersey sportswriter who covered a lot of college sports, including at Princeton.

TigerBlog spent quite a few hours driving to and from Princeton games with Joe Calabrese when he'd cover the Tigers on the road. He was part of something of a golden age in New Jersey college sportswriting, not to mention an extraordinarily nice person. He'd be thrilled to know that his name is on a trophy for that game.

Princeton and Rutgers first played basketball against each other in 1917, and Princeton holds a 76-45 edge in the series. That first game, by the way, was 48 years after Rutgers and Princeton played in the first college football game ever. 

The game Saturday will be the fifth between the teams to be played at a neutral site. One of those was last year, when Princeton defeated Rutgers at the Cure Arena in Trenton. Another was the heartbreaking 54-53 Tiger loss in the 1976 NCAA tournament in Providence, in a year when the Scarlet Knights were unbeaten and reached the Final Four. 

The teams also played at Madison Square Garden in 1972 and 2000. 

And then there will be the game Saturday in Newark. It's a chance to see an old friend and the two new superstars — and to do so in a beautiful arena. What could be better than that, especially after all this time away?

Until then, it's still first semester exams. 

From there, it'll be June before there's another Tiger-less weekend.

The Great Jarron Rosa And More

So what would you like to talk about today, with first semester exams underway and no games for more than a week? 

*

What was the response of Jon Mozes to TigerBlog's mentioning the line that Mozes used after Parker Hill's late blocked shot against Rhode Island Wednesday night? 

If you forgot, Mozes said "Usually rams are good at climbing hills." The timing was perfect. 

With a day to consider the comment, Mozes had this to say:

Honestly, it was some of my best work. Ever.

By the way, Jon Mozes is a very humble person, so don't ascribe anything boastful to what he said. He also has a very good sense of humor. 

*

Xaivian Lee's triple-double against Saint Joseph's included the 16th time a Princeton player has reached double figures in assists (Lee had 10 in that game). Those first 15 double-figure assist nights were accomplished by only six players. Can you name them? The answer is below.

*

Bill Belichick, as you may have heard, is now the head football coach at the University of North Carolina. While it may seem like an odd move for the longtime NFL coach, it certainly will be shining a spotlight on Tar Heel football as it moves forward.

Before the story became official, TigerBlog saw a headline in the New York Post sports section that said: "Bill Belichick would be the 'worst college coach I could imagine': ex-NFLer Ross Tucker."

Here is a quote from Tucker, who was speaking on a radio station:

“I mean the idea of the guy that I was around, recruiting, or like going into the living room of a 17-year-old — I want this to happen so bad I can taste it. I mean, if they do it, they’ve gotta have cameras everywhere. The guy, when I was in New England, was like 100 percent negative reinforcement. I would love to just see how quickly those kids go into the transfer portal.”

Ross Tucker, of course, is a Princeton alum, Class of 2001, who then played seven seasons in the National Football League as an offensive lineman. Today he is a hugely successful sports media personality, and he is a huge presence in any room he is in, literally and figuratively. 

*

Speaking of Xaivian Lee, he is currently averaging 15.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game. Who was the last Princeton men's basketball player to achieve those numbers? 

It wasn't Jarron Rosa, TB is pretty sure. For starters, Princeton has never had a Jarron Rosa. So who is he? Well, ol' Jarron is the person that ChatGPT suggested is the answer to TB's question. Here is what it had to say:

The last Princeton University men's basketball player to average at least 15.8 points, 5.6 assists, and 6.0 rebounds per game was Jarron Rosa. He accomplished this remarkable feat during the 2000-2001 season. Rosa was known for his all-around game, combining scoring, playmaking, and rebounding to make a significant impact on the court. He was one of the best players in the Ivy League during his time at Princeton and remains one of the program's standout performers in terms of versatility and production.

TB even did a search for "Jarron Rosa Basketball" and it turned up nothing. If you go back to the 2001-01 Princeton season, you'll find that — despite the fact that the Tigers won the Ivy title — that no player averaged 15.8 points OR 5.6 assists OR 6.0 rebounds. Oh well.

The actual answer is "nobody." Who came closest? Tosan Evbuomwan, who averaged 15.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists for the Sweet Sixteen team of two years ago.

*

And the answer is: Billy Ryan (five), Kit Mueller (four), John Thompson III (two), T.J. Bray (two), Spencer Weisz (one), John Lewis (one).  

*

Have a great weekend — and if you're a Princeton student, study well.

Usually Rams Are Good At Climbing Hills

TigerBlog is glad he left the ESPN+ broadcast of the women's basketball game against Rhode Island on until the final buzzer last night.

Why's that? Well, had he turned it off before the final minute, he would have missed this gem by play-by-play man Jon Mozes, after Parker Hill emphatically blocked a shot:

"Usually Rams are good at climbing hills." 

TB will have to ask Mozes if he had that planned the whole time or if that just came out, spur of the moment. Dei Lynam, who was doing the game with Mozes, sighed and said "oh, if only I had thought of that."

Hmmm. TigerBlog has done hundreds of games on the radio in his career. He's trying to remember if he ever said anything like that. He must have, maybe even accidentally.

Oh, it was the perfect delivery. Great work, Jon.  

By the way, TigerBlog went onto youtube to try to find a video of a ram as it ran up a hill. Guess what he found instead? Yup, videos of pickup trucks that were driving up steep hills.

Like the Princeton men the night before against Monmouth, the Princeton women bounced back from some well-played, hard-fought but ultimately unsuccessful outings over the weekend to get a 66-54 win over Rhode Island. 

Also like the Princeton men, the Princeton women can take the momentum of a win into what is now a long break due to first semester exams. Next up for both teams will be games Dec. 21, which is a week from Saturday, when the women will be at Jadwin against Vermont and the men will be at the Prudential Center in Newark against Rutgers. 

Fadima Tall was the ESPN+ Player of the Game last night, after she had a 13-point, seven-rebound, five-assist effort. For Tall, the 13 points tied her career high, something she's now done three times, including in back-to-back games. 

The sophomore averaged 3.3 points per game in the first 18 games of her career, which consisted of 15 games last year and the first three this year. Since then? She has put up 72 more points in the last seven games. That's an average of 10.3 per game.

Ashley Chea also continues to make a jump in her own sophomore year. Chea, who had an 18-point, six-assist night against the Rams, has 80 points in the six games since Madison St. Rose was injured, an average of 13.3 per game. She also had her first 20-point game in the win over Rutgers.

Chea averaged six points per game a year ago, when she played in all 30 games. She averaged 11.3 per game for the first four this season. 

Another sophomore is Skye Belker, who averaged 8.5 per game last year and who is now averaging 13.5 per game this year. Belker shot just under 30 percent from three-point range last year; she's at 43.5 percent so far this season. 

Tabitha Amanze is a junior, but her entire freshman season was wiped out by injury. She didn't have any double figure scoring games a year ago or in the first four games this year. 

Since then? She's had four double figure games in the last six, including a career-high 14 last night. Those 14 points came in only 14 minutes.

It's great to see progress like that. 

And with the final buzzer came the start of exam break. If you look at the composite schedule on the webpage, you'll see that there are a lot of empty boxes in the coming days. 

It's fascinating to TB that there are no longer any students at Princeton who ever had first semester exams in the New Year. After all, that was the University policy for, well, TB has no idea how long. 

Relegated to the history of Princeton University is the post-holiday exam period. It was always a long two weeks in January with no sports, and now it feels like nostalgia. 

At least both basketball teams went into exams with wins. It certainly makes the studying easier. 

An NCAA Title, A Home WBB Game — And Bones Writes Another Great Story

There have been 43 NCAA women's soccer tournaments to date. The University of North Carolina has won 22 of them. 

TigerBlog, being the math guy he is, knew instantly that such numbers mean that the Tar Heels have won more than half of the titles. The most recent one came Monday night, when UNC beat Wake Forest in the championship game, 1-0.

You have to feel for Wake. The Demon Deacons were making their second appearance in the NCAA final, and who was waiting there for them? Their biggest nemesis. 

The win improved UNC to 36-2-3 all-time in the series, outscoring Wake 121-15 in that time. That's a rough one. 

UNC is now 153-18-5 in the NCAA tournament (if you're wondering about the five ties, NCAA games that go to penalty kicks are entered as ties officially in the all-time records). Of course, one of those 18 losses came in 2017 to your very own Princeton Tigers, who knocked off UNC 2-1 in overtime on an Abby Givens goal.

Princeton was represented on the current UNC team, as Tiger alum Aria Nagai started all 27 games this year for the Heels as a grad student, finishing with three goals and three assists. She was a three-time All-Ivy League selection at Princeton, including a first-team honor as a senior in 2023. She was also a two-time CSC Academic All-District selection.

Her Princeton coaches were there Monday night to cheer her on:

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Another current Princeton alum who is in her grad season is Kaitlyn Chen, who has started all eight games for UConn as its point guard. Chen, who was the Ivy League tournament Most Outstanding Player three times, is second on the team in assists as the Huskies have won all eight games. 

Could she make it a second Princeton alum with an NCAA title this academic year? 

Chen's former team is home tonight at 7 against Rhode Island. The Rams are an uncharacteristic 4-7 on the year, though they are one year removed from a 21-14 season that took them to the Atlantic 10 final, with a win at home against Princeton early that season. 

Princeton is back on Carril Court after a western swing that saw the Tigers lose at Portland and Utah, though both games could have gone either way. Those two teams, by the way, are now 17-2 between them on the year. 

Today is Dec. 11. When is the next time Princeton will play an away game?

That would be Jan. 20, when the Tigers are at Columbia. 

Between now and then, there will be seven straight home games, beginning with the game tonight and continuing after exams with games against Vermont (Dec. 21) and Middle Tennessee (Dec. 29) before the New Year. After that will be the first three Ivy games, against Cornell, Harvard and Dartmouth. 

Meanwhile, speaking of women's basketball, there is the matter of the Time Magazine story for its 2024 Athlete of the Year. The winner? Who else could it have been other than Caitlin Clark. 

You can read the story HERE.

TigerBlog would have read the story no matter what. When he saw that it was written by Sean Gregory, he was definitely going to read every word — which he did.

Sean Gregory — "Bones," as he was known as a Princeton basketball player on the great teams of the mid- to late-1990s — is a phenomenal writer. 

As you probably know, TigerBlog likes to write long feature pieces. In an impatient world like this one, the audience of readers who have the attention span to go through the whole story can be somewhat limited, though it is definitely worth it.

The story that Sean has written has a notation that it would take 34 minutes to read. It's time well spent. 

Tackling the Caitlin Clark subject is not easy, because of all of the obvious storylines that followed her around during her last two years at Iowa and then her rookie year with the Indiana Fever in the WNBA. Gregory does a great job of presenting all of the sides to her story, without pushing an agenda in any way. 

TB was in Indianapolis in the summer, and he bought a Caitlin Clark jersey in the team store in the Gainbridge Fieldhouse. He wrote about this earlier, but the saleswoman said that upwards of 80 percent of everything sold in that store, which includes the NBA's Indiana Pacers as well as the Fever, was Caitlin Clark stuff.

TB also wrote that the only athlete he can think of who transcended their sport the way that Clark did was Tiger Woods. It is incredible what she has done. It's also a statement on contemporary society the reactions she's drawn. 

And so, to sum up for your Wednesday: 

* congratulations to Aria Nagai
* go UConn
* check out the women's basketball game tonight at 7
* read Sean's story

And there you have it.

Hi Rip

Remember Nutmeg, the dog TigerBlog saw in the lobby of the hotel before the Princeton field hockey team played at Harvard this past season? 

Here he is. What a great face, right? TB doesn't need that good of a reason to bring back Nutmeg.

What did people do before they could simply take a picture on a phone and have it immediately? Or a video for that matter? 

For those too young to know this, there was a time when you had to have an actual camera and load it with actual film and then take it to an actual photo shop (not PhotoShop). They used to have one-hour photo places, though the majority of places you'd take your film to be processed used to take a few days. 

Can you imagine that, young people? You'd take a picture and then you couldn't see it for several days? Or longer, actually, since there were 24 or 36 pictures on a roll of film and you had to take all the pictures before any could be developed.

On the one hand, it's been a great addition to life to be able to immediately document moments that are gone in a blink. On the other hand, how many times do you see something interesting happening and instead of enjoying the moment, every observer has a phone out, filming?

TB will leave it to the philosophers and poets to decipher that.

Meanwhile, TB offers you a picture of another dog, one he saw yesterday: 

And what is this guy's name? It's "Rip." This was the conversation that TB and the owner had:

The Owner: "This is Rip."
TigerBlog: "Rip? Like the guy ..."
The Owner: "... the guy from Yellowstone, yes."

If you have watched the show, then you can understand why someone would want to name a dog Rip. TB did suggest to the woman who was walking the dog that her Rip needed to get a doggie-sized cowboy hat and dark shades to complete the look.

If you haven't been watching Yellowstone, you need to go back and binge. And, if you didn't already know, the character of Beth is played by Kelly Reilly, who is married to former Princeton men's lacrosse player Kyle Baugher, Class of 2002. 

And, given that tonight is the last night in the calendar year of 2024 that there are two home Princeton events and that after tonight there will only be three more events in the next 19 days, you'll have plenty of time to catch up on Yellowstone.

There are two games tonight at Princeton, as the women's hockey team hosts LIU at 6 and the men's basketball team hosts Monmouth at 7. 

As TB wrote yesterday, the two Princeton hockey teams are on a good roll. So too is the women's team at LIU.

The Princeton women have won four straight and seven of eight. The LIU women are 10-5-2 and are 5-0-1 in their last six and 7-1-1 in their last nine, with the only loss during that time a 1-0 setback to the same Quinnipiac team Princeton beat 2-1 in overtime this weekend. 

Monmouth comes to Jadwin Gym tonight with a record of 1-9. Against whom is the lone win? How about Seton Hall? 

The Princeton men's basketball team is back from South Carolina after its 69-63 loss at Furman Saturday. Despite the loss, it was still a big week for Xaivian Lee, who had the first official triple-double in Princeton men's basketball history in the win over Saint Joseph's a week ago tonight with an 18-point, 13-rebound 10-assist outing and who averaged 17.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1.5 steals for the two games. 

As a result? He was the Ivy League Player of the Week. 

TB's natural curiosity led him to wonder who the last Princeton player was to average those numbers across two games. For the first time in his entire life, therefore, he consulted ChatGPT, and this is what he found out:

The last time a Princeton men's basketball player averaged 17.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 7.5 assists, and 1.5 steals across two games was Tosan Evbuomwan during the 2022-2023 season. In back-to-back games on March 18 and 19, 2023, in the NIT Tournament, Evbuomwan put up impressive all-around numbers in wins over Kent State and UNC Greensboro.

This performance helped highlight Evbuomwan's versatility and his pivotal role in Princeton's success that season. He was a dynamic force, contributing not just as a scorer, but also as a playmaker and defender. Would you like to dive deeper into those games or discuss another player from Princeton's history?

Well, that's certainly not what TB was expecting. He really, really, really doesn't want to get too into the AI world and would never use it to write anything, but maybe, just maybe, this will help with research. Hey, it took TB a long time until he got his own smartphone — and now he's going around taking pictures of dogs.

Is that progress?

Tis The Princeton Hockey Season

Your week on TigerBlog starts with great moments in advertising.

TigerBlog was driving down the highway the other day when he saw an epic billboard. It had a picture of a guy dressed up like Santa Claus, with huge letters that spelled out the following: 

"Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer? Call The Law Office Of So-and-So and So-and-So." 

Now that's funny. 

Tis the season and all. What kind of season will this end up being for Princeton Hockey? Well, it was a pretty good weekend for the Tiger men and women.

The two combined for a 3-0 weekend, with a huge overtime win for the women over No. 7 Quinnipiac and a sweep of Union and RPI for the men. 

How did the game against Quinnipiac go? Here's the first sentence from the story on goprincetontigers.com, by TB's colleague Chas Dorman:

The nation's No. 2-ranked offense (Princeton) and No. 2-ranked defense (Quinnipiac) did battle at Hobey Baker Rink in a crucial ECAC contest, and ultimately Princeton had Sarah Paul and the Bobcats didn't in a 2-1 overtime win for the Tigers.

Paul, if you haven't figured it out, scored both Princeton goals in the game. 

Princeton has the nation's top power play unit, and Paul's first goal of the game added to that. It came with 13:33 left in the third period, after Quinnipiac had gone up 1-0 with a goal in the second. 

Paul's second won it 2:06 into the overtime, with her goal set up beautifully by Jane Kuehl, who pounced on a loose puck, carried it around the goalie and fed it to the backside to a wide-open Paul.

2:54 (OT) TIGERS WIN!

Sarah Paul Times Two!

Her 2nd of the day picks up another Top-10 win for Princeton!@ecachockey | @NCAAIceHockey | @IvyLeague pic.twitter.com/jAMB4QQojq

— Princeton Women's Ice Hockey (@PWIH) December 7, 2024

The women have now won four straight and seven of their last eight. In addition to the win over Quinnipiac, Princeton also owns an 8-1 win over Boston University, who was ranked No. 13 at the time, and a 4-3 win over No. 5 Colgate.

Princeton has one more game left in the calendar year, and that's tomorrow at 6 against LIU at Hobey Baker Rink, before first semester exams begin. After that, the next game isn't until Jan. 4 — and the next home game isn't until Jan. 24. 

As for the men, it was only 10 days ago that Princeton was 1-4-1 after being swept at Colgate and Cornell. Since then? Princeton is 4-0, first with a sweep of then-No. 12 Ohio State last weekend and then an ECAC sweep of Union (2-1) and RPI (6-2) this past weekend.

All four games were at Baker Rink.

TB wrote this last Thursday: 

It'll be interesting to see how much momentum and confidence the Tigers take into those games after taking down the Buckeyes. 

As it turned out, the answer was "a lot."

All three goals Friday night came in the second period, the two from Princeton by Luc Pelletier and Noah de la Durantaye. Arthur Smith did the rest, making 27 saves. 

He made 24 more Saturday night, when Princeton found itself with much more margin of error, as five different Tigers had multiple-point nights. 

Getting back to Smith, he has been in goal for all four Princeton wins in a nine-day stretch. His numbers for those games? How about 118 saves and four goals against?

Is that good? It certainly sounds good. 

Suddenly, Princeton finds itself in fifth place in the ECAC standings, tied with Cornell and just two points out of fourth.

Like the women, the men now have a big break, first for exams and then for Christmas. In fact, it'll be 21 days between games for the men, who play again at Army on Dec. 28.

Hey, if you're not going to play for three weeks — if you're studying for exams for the first half of that time — you might as well be able to enjoy how things went going to the break. 

For Princeton's two hockey teams, that's certainly the case. 

And if Grandma got run over by a reindeer? You know whom to call. 

West Coast Weekend

Apparently, people seemed to enjoy the Fun Fact Thursday that TigerBlog presented yesterday.

He'll have to do it again at some point. Here's another fact, though it's not quite as much fun as the ones yesterday, which is why TB held it until today:

The Ivy League held four conference tournaments this fall, in field hockey, men's soccer, women's soccer and women's volleyball. Princeton won two of them (men's soccer, women's soccer) and was the runner-up in the other two. 

The fun fact is this: Only one other Ivy school qualified for all four tournaments. Can you name the school? 

TB will give you a few paragraphs to do so. 

In the meantime, it's the dawn for a busy weekend, especially for Princeton teams on the West Coast.

*

The men's water polo team is at No. 4 Stanford today at 5 Eastern in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals. The entire quarterfinal round will be held there today, beginning with No. 1 UCLA and Salem (W.Va.) and followed by No. 2 Southern Cal and California Baptist and No. 3 Fordham and Long Beach State. 

The semifinals are tomorrow, with the winner of the Princeton-Stanford game to take on the UCLA-Salem winner at 5 Eastern. The final will be Sunday at 6 Eastern.

Stanford is led by Riley Pittman and Soren Jensen, who are tied for the team lead with 87 points each. Princeton's leading scorer is senior Roko Pozaric, who has 115 points on 73 goals and 42 assists. 

Pittman, by the way, appears to be a fairly menacing-looking player, at least according to the first action picture on his bio page, which you can see HERE.

Pozaric (from Croatia) and Pittman and Jensen (both from California) will meet in the same pool after growing up about 7,000 miles apart. That's a fun fact, actually. TB should have thought of that yesterday. 

Stanford allows only 8.84 goals per game. Princeton averages better than 16. In fact, Princeton is 23-5 when reaching double figures and 0-3 when it does not. 

*

If you're on the West Coast but a bit too far north to see the water polo tournament, then you can go see Princeton at Portland women's basketball game, with tip-off at 9 Eastern. 

Princeton and Portland have never met — though Sandi Leland, Princeton's second all-time leading scorer does live in Portland. The Tigers have won three straight games, defeating Rutgers, Seton Hall and Temple since the wildly unfortunate injury to leading scorer Madison St. Rose. 

How is Portland doing? Well, the Pilots, who have played in the last two NCAA tournaments, are currently 8-0, with all eight wins by double figures. That's impressive stuff. 

Princeton is at Utah at 4 Sunday. That's Mountain Time, so not quite West Coast. Utah is 7-2 entering the weekend, with losses to Northwestern and Mississippi State.

*

What else is going on this weekend? All kinds of things, including on the Princeton campus, where there are men's hockey games against Union tonight and RPI tomorrow (both at 7), as well as the Big Al Invitational men's and women's swimming and diving meet. 

The Big Al Invitational continues to honor the memory of Alan Ebersole, a Princeton swimmer who passed away in an accident in Florida in October 2004. TB never met Ebersole, but he remembers the outpouring of grief at his loss and the way the Princeton swimming community rallied around the Ebersole family. Having this event, which has grown into one of the best early-season meets in the country, has to be very special to everyone who knew him. 

HERE is the complete Princeton Athletics schedule for the weekend.

*

The answer to TB's question? It's Brown, who qualified for all four Ivy tournaments this fall. While TB is on the subject of Ivy fall tournaments, he'd like to give a shoutout to the league staff for undertaking all of these events and having them be so well done. 

Here's a picture of Rachel Schermick of the Ivy office at the women's volleyball tournament with TB. For whatever reason, Rachel is the Ivy contact for the sports TB covers, and TB can vouch for what a good job she does, especially with social media content around the tournaments that the athletes really enjoy.

The entire Ivy communications and event staff has made these tournaments what they have quickly become. It reminds TB of when the Office of Athletic Communications consisted of people hired mostly for their ability to do publications and then quickly had shift to learn social media when it first came around. 

Well done, Ivy office. 

Fun Fact Thursday

In honor of Xaivian Lee's triple-double against Saint Joseph's Tuesday night, welcome to TigerBlog's Thursday of Fun Facts.

Lee's triple-double consisted of 18 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. As TB watched the end of the game on TV, knowing how close Lee was to the triple-double, he kept audibly groaning when Lee would go to the basket rather than dish. 

He does acknowledge, of course, that Lee needed to do that to win the game, which is what Princeton did, by a 77-69 count. In fact, it ended up being the best of all worlds: Lee got his history-making achievement and Princeton got a big win. 

Lee was extraordinary all night. He is an amazing player, one who obviously makes everyone around him better — and that is the best thing you can say about any player in any sport. He also has an innate ability to take over games at crunch time, which is what he did against the Hawks.  

It really was inevitable that he'd get one at some point of his career. In fact, if you had to guess, do you think he'll have one for his career or he'll get at least one more? 

TB would go with the latter.

Fun Fact No. 1 for today: It is the first documented triple-double ever by a Princeton men's basketball player. As TB wrote yesterday, assists were not kept as an official stat until 1974, which means that there were some great Princeton players who never really had a chance at the achievement. 

And so that brings TB to the second Fun Fact for today.

Bill Bradley played in 83 basketball games at Princeton. Do you know how many times he had a double-double? The answer is 60. 

That equates to a double-double in 72 percent of the games he played as a Tiger. Perhaps one day TB will go back and watch the video of all 83 of those games and see how many triple-doubles, if any, Bradley would have had.

Shifting gears, here is Fun Fact No. 3 for today: Princeton has 38 varsity teams, and exactly half of them — 19 — have won their most recent conference title. 

Think about that. Let that sink in. TB's thought when he first saw that was "yikes."

Fun Fact No. 4: Princeton won five Ivy League championships (field hockey, women's soccer, men's and women's cross country, women's volleyball) and one non-Ivy title (men's water polo) this fall. No other league school won more than one. 

That total of six championships, by the way, doesn't include the Ivy League tournament championship won by the men's soccer team. 

Fun Fact No. 5: Messages from the human brain travel on nerves at speeds up to 200 miles per hour. That has nothing to do with Princeton Athletics — or does it? Remember when Pete Carril always said the biggest thing a player needs to do is "see it." 

Seeing it is a direct result of messages from the human brain. And they need to move at that speed, or faster, to make a player pass like current head coach Mitch Henderson did. 

Also, it reminds TB of something he heard Carril once yell in a practice at one of his best players when that player was a freshman: "Ya gotta see it. What's that matter? Can't see it? I had a guy once who couldn't see it. Had to get rid of him. Couldn't do much with him."

TB will not be revealing the identity of the player at whom Carril yelled. Just know that yes, he could definitely see it.

What's the next fun fact. Hmmmm. 

Fun Fact No. 6: The men's water polo team is in California now getting ready for its NCAA quarterfinal matchup tomorrow against fourth-seeded Stanford, the host school for the tournament. Princeton and Stanford will play in the second match of the day in Palo Alto, with start time at 5 pm Eastern. 

The winner of that match gets the winner of No. 1 UCLA and Salem (from West Virginia) in Saturday's semifinals. The final will be Sunday. 

Fun Fact No. 7: The Princeton men's hockey team was the College Hockey News Team of the Week this week after its 3-1, 3-1 sweep of then-No. 12 Ohio State last weekend. 

The Tigers are back on the ice at Hobey Baker Rink this weekend against Union and RPI, with face-off both nights at 7. It'll be interesting to see how much momentum and confidence the Tigers take into those games after taking down the Buckeyes. 

Fun Fact No. 8: Victor Hugo’s novel Les Miserable contains a sentence that is 823 words long.

Do you hear the people sing? 

Hey, this was fun. 

A Lot Can Happen In A Day

OFFICIAL TAGD WEBSITE

And that's a wrap for TAGD 2024.

The 11th annual Tiger Athletics Give Day went on for 24 hours yesterday. Once again, the support given to Princeton Athletics and its 38 varsity teams was overwhelming, and TigerBlog joins all of his colleagues to offer his thanks. 

It was a day of celebration and a day of outreach. TAGD, as it always does, showcased the great loyalty that defines Princeton Athletics and the unbreakable connection that exists between those who coach and play here now and those who have done so in the past. 

If you followed the day on social media, you saw what an amazing day it was. Did you see this video, produced by Drew Miller of the multimedia team?

A Lot Can Happen In 24 Hours.

The generous support of @PVCTIGERS on #TAGD is what makes the memories and moments possible for our Tigers.

Thank You, Tiger Nation!

🔗: https://t.co/PAecT8sMit pic.twitter.com/skATBgmq0w

— Princeton Tigers (@PUTIGERS) December 3, 2024

That was a lot for one day, right? If you recall that day, it was well-chronicled as one of the busiest Princeton Athletics has ever had, especially with hosting two Ivy League tournaments. The way that Drew captured it gives a pretty good idea of everything that can happen in a day.

It was entitled "A Lot Can Happen In A Day." The same was true of yesterday. A lot happened in one day.

There were all kinds of posts yesterday, from professionally produced videos to others that were filmed on iPhones. There were pictures of all kinds, some with the Tiger himself as he made an appearance at Cannon Club during lunch. 

One of the people who took a lead in churning out content was Gracie McGowan, a senior who just completed her field hockey career. Gracie, who is a veteran in social media in addition to her sport, sent TB a schedule of what to post and when, along with what caption was necessary. 

Gracie produced video salutes from many of her teammates, all of which spoke to a different part of the TFH experience. Here's an example, with senior Lily Webb:

Our next Golden Moment is our Senior Day win against Dartmouth that secured us the Ivy League Regular Season Title! #tfh #TAGD

More info: https://t.co/MPfUEyMAH5 pic.twitter.com/qaJZoctuII

— Princeton FH (@TigerFH) December 3, 2024

TB could offer up all kinds of examples across every sport. The theme was "Golden Moments," and TB even included the Ithaca hotel "Cayuga Blu" as part of the men's lacrosse moments, in conjunction with last year's second-straight Ivy League tournament championship (by the way, the 2025 Princeton men's lacrosse schedule has been released).

There will be follow ups as well, with thank yous and final totals and the winners of each bracket. There have already been thank-yous, including from the athletes, many of whom reached out directly to existing members of the Friends' Groups.

It was, after all, a day of celebration — and again, to everyone who generously donated, know that your kindness is greatly appreciated. 

Of course, since a lot can happen in a day, TAGD was not the only news of the day in Princeton Athletics. There was also Xaivian Lee. 

The Princeton men's basketball team played at Saint Joseph's last night, and it was clear early on that Lee, the junior guard, was chasing history. What kind? In the entire history of Princeton men's basketball, there had never been a triple-double. 

Would Lee change that last night? 

By halftime he had six points, seven assists and eight rebounds. He reached double figures in points and rebounds early in the second half. All that was left was assists. He had eight of them with 17:33 left. 

So now there were two pieces of drama. Would Princeton pull out what was a back-and-forth game down the stretch? And would Lee get his two assists?

For 15 minutes or so, he was stuck on eight assists. Oh sure, he started scoring, hitting a big three, getting free in the lane, helping Princeton build a slight lead. But the assists. Would they happen?

Well, with just over two minutes to go, Lee picked up assist No. 9, on Philip Byriel's sixth three-pointer of the night, making it 71-65 Tigers. 

After the Hawks answered to make it 71-67, Lee brought the ball into the lane, looked all the world like he was going to the hoop and instead found Caden Pierce, whose reverse layup did indeed go down. Assist No. 10.

History.

Okay, it's very likely that there would have been a triple-double had assists been officially kept before 1974. Bill Bradley probably would have a bunch by himself. 

But the reality is that no Tiger man had done so since 1974, and that's 50 years — and a ton of great players. 

In the end, Princeton got itself a huge win, taking down the Hawks 77-69. 

Lee finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds and the 10 assists. 

Yup. A lot happened yesterday.