Statistical Anomaly Alert

Did you see the video of the new men's basketball uniforms? 

It's pretty cool stuff.

Old school vibe. New school look.

New threads for the Tigers debuting 1.20.25.#MakeShots 🐯🏀 pic.twitter.com/HTXML2KPrb

— Princeton Men’s Basketball (@PrincetonMBB) January 16, 2025

As TigerBlog said, that's pretty cool stuff. 

Meanwhile, if Harvard men's basketball player Robert Hinton had scored two more points at any point of his team's first 14 games, or if Brown men's basketball player Landon Lewis had scored one point fewer in any of his team's first 13 games, then a fascinating statistical anomaly would have occurred. 

Or at least, TigerBlog thinks it's an anomaly. 

If either of those things had happened, then the top eight scorers in Ivy League men's basketball would represent the eight schools. 

Has that ever happened for a full season? TigerBlog went back on the league website as far as stats are listed and didn't see a time that this had occurred. 

The same is true on the women's side. It definitely won't happen this year either. 

What does the fact that, for the men, each team could have one player in the top eight in points per game? TB isn't sure it means anything. He's just a fan of statistical anomalies.

Of greater importance would the standings, which are super early in the Ivy League but which will move along quickly now. The two Ivy tournaments will be held at Brown the weekend of March 14-16, which isn't around the corner but soon will be. 

This weekend, or at least extended weekend, will see all eight men's teams and all eight women's teams play twice, once Saturday and once on Martin Luther King Jr. Day Monday. 

For Princeton, this means a women's game at Jadwin tomorrow at 2 against Dartmouth and a game at Columbia Monday at 7, while the men are at Dartmouth tomorrow at 2 and then home against Columbia Monday at 2.

Both Princeton teams are unbeaten in the league, with the women at 2-0 with wins over Cornell and Harvard and the men 1-0 with a win over Harvard. 

There is one other Ivy League school whose basketball teams are a combined 3-0 in the early going. You know who that is? 

That would be Dartmouth. 

The Big Green are 3-0 between the two teams today. What were those two teams combined a year ago? 

That would be 3-25. 

Princeton is heading to Hanover to take on a Dartmouth team that has followed a four-game losing streak with a three-game winning streak, with its most recent win over Penn 73-70 last weekend. The Big Green are 7-7 overall (including a win at Boston College) after going 6-21 last season.

The basketball games are one of the highlights of the weekend in Princeton Athletics, though not the only one. 

The men's hockey team is home for games against Cornell (tonight at 7) and Colgate (tomorrow at 7). By the way, Sacred Heart swept Cornell last weekend. TB is always happy to pump up his son's alma mater.

Only one ECAC Hockey team — Quinnipiac — is currently in the top 22. This weekend's opponents at Hobey Baker Rink are tied at No. 28.

Princeton and Cornell are in a three-way tie for eighth place in the current ECAC standings, along with Yale. Like basketball, the hockey races have a long way to go until playoff time, but eighth place does bring with it home ice for the first round playoff game. 

No game between Cornell and Princeton will ever be routine, especially now that Ben Syer is the Tiger head coach. Syer spent the last 13 years at Cornell, which means that he recruited every current Big Red player. 

TigerBlog remembered that he wrote about this six months ago, exactly six months ago, for that matter, how special a day it would be for Syer to have his old team come to play at his new team. And what did TB start out with back on July 17?

The high temperature in Princeton yesterday was 99 degrees.

TB couldn't help but laugh out loud at that, what with snow flurries and a windchill of 16 degrees. The forecast, by the way, is for the coldest weather so far in Princeton this winter for next week. 

Oh well. Are there really people who like winter more than summer? TB would take the 99 degrees any day.

In the meantime, HERE is the rest of the weekend schedule.

Have a great weekend everyone.