Go Kaitlyn

Do you enjoy TigerBlog every day? 

If so, then you, a Princeton fan, have to give at least some credit to the new head coach of men's basketball at Penn. Ironic, no? 

When TigerBlog was a freshman at Penn, he had a work-study job in the psychology department. So did the new Penn coach, Fran McCaffery. 

Through the hours and hours the two spent making photocopies of readings for professors — without a copy machine that could collate and staple, mind you — TB and Fran became friends. TigerBlog met his parents, including his father, who was a longtime usher at the Palestra. 

He also met Fran's brother Jack, who back then was a sportswriter at the Trenton Times and who went from there to a long career at the Delaware County Times. It was Jack who first suggested to TB that he might want to try his hand at sportswriting.

In fact, Jack took TB to his first writing assignment, a high school football game between two local prep schools, Pennington Prep and the Academy of the New Church. TB will never forget what Jack said to him on that ride: "Once you get the ink in your blood, you never get it out."

That's about as true as anything anyone has ever said to him. And while the ink eventually gave way to whatever it is that fuels this every day, Jack continues to be correct.

If you look at it from 10,000 feet, TB never would have met Jack had he not met Fran first, and if he hadn't met Jack, then he wouldn't be writing a blog for Princeton every day. 

What would he have been instead? TB has wondered that often. He's glad the way it works out, and he's never forgotten how much of that he owes to the McCaffery family. 

Of course, he'll still root against Fran when he plays against Princeton and all. But he's still grateful.

On the other hand, TB will definitely be rooting for Kaitlyn Chen this weekend for the womens Final Four. 

Chen, as you know, is a Princeton alum. She's also the only player in any sport to be a three-time Most Outstanding Player at an Ivy League tournament. 

She's done a lot of winning in her career, first at Princeton, where she played in three NCAA tournaments in three years, winning two games, and now in her graduate year at UConn.

Kaitlyn went 22-3 during the month of March in her career.

She is the definition of a winner. 🧡🖤💙 https://t.co/wZgGo4vWRV

— Princeton WBB (@PrincetonWBB) April 2, 2025

That 22-3 record in March is crazy. Maybe the most impressive is that she's played 25 games in the month of March in the first place. 

Next up for her will be her first game in April. Chen and the Huskies are in the Final Four in Tampa, where they will play UCLA at 9:30 tomorrow night in the second semifinal. The first game matches South Carolina and Texas at 7.

TigerBlog isn't the only one who is rooting for Chen. The same is true for pretty much every Princeton fan, especially women's basketball head coach Carla Berube, herself a UConn alum. She has been a frequent visitor to her alma mater to watch her former star play this season, in addition to leading the Tigers to a sixth-straight NCAA appearance.

Chen is a big reason why the Huskies are still playing. No, she hasn't made Paige Bueckers (71 points in the last two games) level contributions, but Chen did put up 15 against USC in a 78-64 win in the Elite Eight, shooting 6 for 9 from the field. 

For the season, Chen has started every game, all 38 of them. She averages 7.1 points per game and is third on the team with 126 assists, with only 64 turnovers. 

The UConn women, by the way, are the only non-No. 1 seed in either the men's or women's Final Four. The other seven teams are all No. 1s, which has made for a rather dull tournament but perhaps will end up with a great final weekend. 

The best ending, for Princeton fans, is a championship for the UConn women. 

And no matter what happens, Chen will always be a huge part of Princeton women's basketball history. 

Hopefully it ends up win-win.