Tigers In The Playoffs

TigerBlog doesn't want to talk about field hockey shootouts anymore, and he's pretty sure you don't want to read about them anymore. 

All he'll say about yesterdays' 4-3 Princeton loss to Maryland — a third straight shootout loss to a top eight team, as well as a fourth shootout loss in eight games this season so far — is that he stands by everything he's said about them, that they are not a part of how field hockey is played and that there is nothing wrong with a tie after 75 minutes. 

And that's all he'll say about it today, especially since he wants to talk about chocolate milk. 

TB was driving yesterday morning when a Cream-O-Land dairy truck came up next to him one lane over. And what was TB drinking at the time? Cream-O-Land chocolate milk. So what did he do? He held up the plastic bottle as a salute. 

And what did the driver do? Gave TB a thumbs up. 

So that was a good start to the day. 

As an aside, TB would recommend the Cream-O-Land chocolate milk. And the Fairlife one, which is higher in protein and tastes surprisingly good. 

Perhaps one day, TB's second career could be as a chocolate milk reviewer. Would Yoo-Hoo count? There's no milk in it, of course. 

That will be his first exclusive. Is Yoo-Hoo chocolate milk? 

Yes, but that will have to wait. For today, there's the matter of these two former Princeton men's basketball players. 

One of them scored 1,044 career points and once made 11 straight three-pointers, a record that still stands nearly 30 years later. His 280 career assists rank 12th in program history; his 162 career three-pointers made rank ninth. 

The other scored 1,010 points, with 253 assists that rank 16th. 

Also, neither of these two were defined by their offense. They are possibly the two best defensive players Princeton has had in the last the 30 years, or top three along with Myles Stephens. 

If you're a longtime fan, you'll know that Player A is Sydney Johnson and Player B is Will Venable. 

Both of them were first-team All-Ivy League selections, and Sydney was the 1997 Ivy Player of the Year. They were both big-time clutch players who won league championships and played in the NCAA tournament. 

In Johnson's case, he hit some of the biggest shots in program history, including a three-pointer from the corner as the shot clock expired with less than a minute to play in overtime to give Princeton the lead for good in the 1996 Ivy playoff game against Penn at Lehigh and then a Caitlin Clark-range three in the NCAA tournament win over UCLA five days later. That shot came with Princeton down 41-34 with four minutes down and started the game-winning 9-0 run. 

Venable? He was at his best in the biggest games and often was the best player on the court, including when Princeton played Duke at Cameron. 

So you have two former players with similar playing histories. Really, really good offensive players, and great defensive players. 

Is that the prescription for being a good coach? It seems like they're both on top of their games now. 

Johnson, who has spent most of his post-Princeton career in coaching, has led a great turnaround for the WNBA's Washington Mystics, taking them from 16-28 and out of the playoffs a year ago to 28-16 and the fifth-seed in the playoffs this year. That's a literal turnaround, and an improvement of 12 games. 

Johnson's team has made a big name for itself with its social media feeds, which show a team of young players who are having a great time and a coach who clearly loves leading them. The season might end tonight, though, after Washington lost Game 1 of its series to the Atlanta Dream 92-77. Game 2 of the best-of-three series is tonight at 7.

Meanwhile, what Venable has done is even more impressive. A longtime Major League veteran after playing baseball and basketball at Princeton, Venalbe is in Year 2 as the manager of the Chicago White Sox, a team that was 41-121 the season before he arrived. That's one of the worst records in Major League history. 

A year ago he led the team to a 19-game improvement but still lost 102 games (winning 60). This year's team wasn't much thought of in the preseason, and yet here Venable is, in the American League Wild Card playoffs after an 84-78 season (a 24-game improvement). The White Sox defeated Houston 6-3 yesterday in Game 1 of a best-of-three; Game 2 is today at 5.

That's a pretty good doubleheader. Venable's team at 5. Sydney's team at 7. 

Maybe there is something to this great defense, very, very good offense thing. What they've both done is extraordinary.