For all of you in the Northeast, TigerBlog says "you're welcome."
For what? For bringing back the weather from Florida, of course.
If you were anywhere from Washington, D.C., to Boston this weekend, you may have noticed that it was hovering around 70 degrees. On January 11th and 12th.
As TB rode his bike this weekend, he was struck by two things: 1) there were a lot of people out riding as opposed to a normal mid-January day, when he'd be the only one out and 2) the weather was so much nicer than it will be more the majority of the spring seasons, but oh well.
In fact, it was so much better than the weather for last year's Ivy League lacrosse tournament, which was played in rain and temps that were maybe touching 50.
Oh well. It'll be winter at some point.
In the meantime, it's always good to be outside in shorts in January in the Princeton area, if only for a weekend.
For those inside in shorts this weekend, it couldn't have gone much better for those wearing the shorts of Princeton basketball. Both the men and the women had big wins, both defeating Penn and both making statements along the way.
It started Friday afternoon, when the men's team defeated the Quakers 63-58. The win was the second in six days for Princeton over its arch-rival, after the Tigers won 78-64 at the Palestra.
As TB said Friday, Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson has an extraordinary record against Penn, as both a player and coach. In fact, the win Friday was his 20th against the Quakers, against eight losses.
That's a winning percentage of .714 in games in which he has either played or coached. If you take the rest of the series, all of the games without Mitch Henderson, then Penn leads 122-97, or a winning percentage for Princeton of .443.
Henderson's record got TB thinking that the only person who could possibly approach his win total against Penn is obviously Pete Carril.
And so he looked it up.
Carril's record against Penn was 27-34. It was 26-26 before Penn went on an eight-game streak from 1993-96, and then Carril won his last game against the Quakers, during that incredible few days of 1996, when he led his team past Penn in the Ivy playoff to snap an eight-game losing streak to the Quakers and then followed it up five days later with the win over UCLA in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
Carril's 27 wins are obviously more than Henderson's. He did it in 29 seasons, whereas Henderson has his 20 wins in four as a player and now nine as a head coach.
That record is extraordinary. It's even more extraordinary when you consider that he started out 0-4, playing in the last four of that eight-game streak. That makes him 20-4 since.
The more TB thinks about it, the more impressive it becomes.
The game Friday night was closer than the one at the Palestra, and the Tigers didn't go wire to wire like they did in Philly. They did, though, lead for the last 29:16, and playing with some margin for error is always a huge thing.
That's exactly what happened at the end, as Penn got within three before Jose Morales sealed it with a driving layup with 10 seconds left in the game and one second left on the shot clock. The Tigers got 38 points from Ryan Schwieger, Jaelin Llewellyn and Richmond Aririguzoh.
Suddenly the Tigers have won five of six and are 2-0 in the league heading into first semester exams. The next league game isn't until Jan. 31, so there's a long way to until then.
As for the women, they only played one game in January last year and had to stew over a loss to Penn for four weeks. This time, there's another game Jan. 31 - also Dartmouth - and this time there will be no stewing, not after the 75-55 win Saturday at the Palestra in the Ivy opener for both.
For the record, Carla Berube is now 19 wins away from Henderson, though she does have a 1.000 winning percentage after getting to 1-0 in the rivalry.
The Tigers and Quakers came into the game at 22-2 between them. They were also both ranked in the top five in scoring defense in the country, allowing fewer than 100 points combined.
They're still in the top five, separated only by 0.4 points per game, with Penn at 50.2 and Princeton at 50.6 (fourth and fifth in Division I). Princeton, though, scored 75 against a Quaker team that had allowed only one team (Duke, with 66) to score more than 55 all season.
There are obviously 13 more league games to go, including a stretch of five in eight days that will include the Penn rematch. And this is a pretty impressive Ivy League in women's basketball right now.
Still, the win sent Princeton off on a high note into exam break. Actually, the wins, plural, as the men and women both had themselves a very good weekend.
Monday, January 13, 2020
Friday, January 10, 2020
Princeton-Penn, Twice
TigerBlog has had a rental car during his time in Florida that has the most unique way of shifting gears he's ever seen.
If you can imagine where the radio is supposed to be, that's where there are five buttons. They're labeled "P," "R," "N," "D" and "L." The "L" is actually not next to the others; it's slightly above, and directly above and below it is what appears to be the volume up and volume down buttons.
When TB first got in the car, he went to shift into gear and instead found nothing to shift with. It took him a good five minutes to figure out what to do.
Ever since, anytime he's wanted to shift, he's instinctively gone to where he would go in his car. Only in the rental, pretty much every time he's attempted to get going, he's tried to move the car into reverse or drive via the water bottle that is usually found in the cup holder in the middle, exactly where the shifter is on his car.
Here, see for yourself:
TigerBlog is concluding his time down here meeting with Merrily Dean Baker, who started women's athletics Princeton in 1970. It's been a fascinating first three days with her, and he's learned a ton about how women's athletics began here and about the woman responsible.
Like he said yesterday, there's a lot more coming on the subject in the next few weeks and months. What his basic takeaway is from his conversations, though, is that the overwhelming success that Princeton women's athletes have had through the years has all grown out of the amazing fortune the school had to have Baker and the first group of athletes all converge at the same time in the same place.
Of course, it certainly didn't come easy, but the story includes some very forward thinking on the part of several of the men who were involved with Princeton at the time, a group of men who were accepting and encouraging and a huge part of the story.
The break for first semester exams is coming up, so there will be time for much more on all this.
In the meantime, one more story about Baker: When she was in her 20s, she made a bucket list, as it were, of 80 sporting events she wanted to see in her lifetime - and she made it to all 80. The 80th one? The Masters.
It got TB to thinking about what events he would include. He's not sure he can get to 80.
He's already crossed off a lot of the ones he'd want to see live anyway. One of them he's seen more than 50 times - Princeton vs. Penn men's basketball.
The number of games he's seen in the rivalry, dating back to when he was a student at Penn in the early 1980s, isn't even a quarter of the matchups in the series. The teams have met 242 times - at least twice a year, every year, since they first played on Valentine's Day 1903 - and the Quakers hold a small lead of 126-116.
It was 126-115 before last weekend's 78-64 Princeton win at the Palestra. And now the teams will play again tonight at 5 at Jadwin Gym in a game that can be seen on ESPNU.
Princeton is trying to do it what it did last year, which is sweep the series to start the Ivy season and use that as a springboard into the Ivy League tournament.
The big difference is the game last week was Princeton's Big Three of Richmond Arirguzoh, Jaelin Llewellyn and Ryan Schwieger - who combined for 60 of those 78 points. Both teams are aware of the success that those three had and the success that Princeton had getting points in the paint - 52 of them - in the first game.
Mitch Henderson, by the way, has an extraordinary record against Penn. He's now 19-8 overall against the Quakers, with a 5-4 record as a player and a 14-4 record as head coach - and this after starting out 0-4 as a player, which leaves him 19-4 since.
He's also won the two must-win games out of those - the 1996 Ivy playoff game as a player and the 2017 Ivy tournament semifinal.
The men's game is not the only Princeton-Penn game of the weekend. The women's teams meet tomorrow at 1 at the Palestra in the first meeting between the teams that have dominated the past decade. In fact, they've won every Ivy title in the last 10 years - seven for Princeton and four for Penn.
The teams were co-champs a year ago. They've also met in the final of each of the first three Ivy tournaments, and this year they are a combined 22-2, as well as both ranked in the top five nationally in scoring defense.
As TB said before, Henderson is 19-8 against Penn, making the game today the 28th in the series for him. Princeton's first-year head coach Carla Berube is 0-0 against the Quakers, so this will be her Princeton-Penn debut.
The basketball games are not the only events this weekend. In fact, there are 12 teams who will be competing. You can see the whole schedule HERE.
And then it goes dark for first semester exams, which, for the last time, are being held in January.
Thursday, January 9, 2020
Meeting With Merrily
TigerBlog walked on the campus of Florida Atlantic University yesterday morning and and was struck by something fascinating.
People were wearing sweatshirts. And coats. Seriously. They were sort of bundled up.
TB? He was wearing shorts, a t-shirt and his lightest Princeton Athletics windbreaker - with the sleeves rolled up. And sunscreen.
It was around 10 am, and it was already warm. Maybe not quite hot yet, but certainly warm.
And people were dressed like it was, well, winter. Or at least late fall.
It's all about perspective, TB supposes.
He stood in the courtyard between the recreational facility and the alumni center, across the street from the football stadium, and took in the morning sunshine. It felt pretty good.
At one point, two FAU students walked towards him, on their way to the rec building. TB asked them if they were cold, and they said it was a chilly morning.
Perspective, right?
One thing TB has seen a lot of in Florida is cars with New York and New Jersey license plates. There are a lot of "snow birds" in this area at this time of year. They are the bane of the locals.
They come in November and leave in March. And they just make parking around here awful.
TB went to college in Philadelphia. He wonders what it would have been like to go to school in South Florida, where it is always warm. Would he have gotten anything done?
He's always said that he's a big fan of the change of seasons, and he supposes he still thinks that way. It's just that for someone who hasn't spent a lot of time in Florida in the winter in his life, it's still been pretty good to be here for a few days.
Of course this is a business trip for him. And the business is the beginning of the project on the history of women's athletics at Princeton as the 50th anniversary of coeducation approaches.
The purpose of coming to Florida was to meet with the woman who started women's athletics at Princeton, a woman named Merrily Dean Baker.
It was 50 years ago that she took a position at Princeton as the first female athletic administrator and one two female administrators at the school, along with one in the Dean of the College's office. It was the two of them, and the first 250 female students.
And that was it.
From that beginning grew a model women's athletic program, one that has been a source of incredible pride for the University. And it all started with Baker, who is now retired and leaving in Florida.
When TB first talked to Peter Farrell, the longtime women's track and field coach, about the project, Peter's first words were "find Merrily Dean Baker and talk to her. You can't write about the history of women's athletics at Princeton without starting with her."
TigerBlog knows a lot about Princeton Athletics history. He knows a lot about Princeton women's athletics history. He'd heard a lot about Merrily Dean Baker through the years, but he'd never met her or spoken to her until he was able to track her down in early December.
The last TB knew of her, she had been the Director of Athletics at Michigan State. In fact, she was the one who hired Tom Izzo to coach the Spartans' men's basketball team (and a coach in whom she saw promise to coach the football team, one who didn't quite last long in East Lansing but went on to bigger things later on; his name is Nick Saban).
He figured she might still be in Michigan, but instead it turned out she had retired to Florida. The two spoke a few times on the phone, and TB was very much looking forward to coming here and hearing what she had to say (and no, not just because of the weather).
It's because she is what Peter Farrell said she is, which is the starting point for women's athletics at Princeton. For two days, she and TB have spoken for several hours about her, her background, how she came to Princeton, the challenges she faced, the plans she made and in short the entire story of how Princeton's women's athletics were born. Included in these conversations was the pride that she felt when Princeton selected a woman, Mollie Marcoux Samaan, as its current Ford Family Director of Athletics six years ago.
In addition, they spent time yesterday at Florida Atlantic, near her house, getting a lot of her story on video (with a special thank you to FAU's Ryan Moran for agreeing to take the video).
It's been a fascinating story to hear, and TB is very much looking forward to putting it together for you. And to telling the entire story of Princeton women's athletics history.
Anyway, all of that is coming soon.
For today, there are several more hours with Merrily Dean Baker and a chance to fill in the blanks that exist in the story. And to hear more of her stories.
They've certainly been more than worth the trip.
People were wearing sweatshirts. And coats. Seriously. They were sort of bundled up.
TB? He was wearing shorts, a t-shirt and his lightest Princeton Athletics windbreaker - with the sleeves rolled up. And sunscreen.
It was around 10 am, and it was already warm. Maybe not quite hot yet, but certainly warm.
And people were dressed like it was, well, winter. Or at least late fall.
It's all about perspective, TB supposes.
He stood in the courtyard between the recreational facility and the alumni center, across the street from the football stadium, and took in the morning sunshine. It felt pretty good.
At one point, two FAU students walked towards him, on their way to the rec building. TB asked them if they were cold, and they said it was a chilly morning.
Perspective, right?
One thing TB has seen a lot of in Florida is cars with New York and New Jersey license plates. There are a lot of "snow birds" in this area at this time of year. They are the bane of the locals.
They come in November and leave in March. And they just make parking around here awful.
TB went to college in Philadelphia. He wonders what it would have been like to go to school in South Florida, where it is always warm. Would he have gotten anything done?
He's always said that he's a big fan of the change of seasons, and he supposes he still thinks that way. It's just that for someone who hasn't spent a lot of time in Florida in the winter in his life, it's still been pretty good to be here for a few days.
Of course this is a business trip for him. And the business is the beginning of the project on the history of women's athletics at Princeton as the 50th anniversary of coeducation approaches.
The purpose of coming to Florida was to meet with the woman who started women's athletics at Princeton, a woman named Merrily Dean Baker.
It was 50 years ago that she took a position at Princeton as the first female athletic administrator and one two female administrators at the school, along with one in the Dean of the College's office. It was the two of them, and the first 250 female students.
And that was it.
From that beginning grew a model women's athletic program, one that has been a source of incredible pride for the University. And it all started with Baker, who is now retired and leaving in Florida.
When TB first talked to Peter Farrell, the longtime women's track and field coach, about the project, Peter's first words were "find Merrily Dean Baker and talk to her. You can't write about the history of women's athletics at Princeton without starting with her."
TigerBlog knows a lot about Princeton Athletics history. He knows a lot about Princeton women's athletics history. He'd heard a lot about Merrily Dean Baker through the years, but he'd never met her or spoken to her until he was able to track her down in early December.
The last TB knew of her, she had been the Director of Athletics at Michigan State. In fact, she was the one who hired Tom Izzo to coach the Spartans' men's basketball team (and a coach in whom she saw promise to coach the football team, one who didn't quite last long in East Lansing but went on to bigger things later on; his name is Nick Saban).
He figured she might still be in Michigan, but instead it turned out she had retired to Florida. The two spoke a few times on the phone, and TB was very much looking forward to coming here and hearing what she had to say (and no, not just because of the weather).
It's because she is what Peter Farrell said she is, which is the starting point for women's athletics at Princeton. For two days, she and TB have spoken for several hours about her, her background, how she came to Princeton, the challenges she faced, the plans she made and in short the entire story of how Princeton's women's athletics were born. Included in these conversations was the pride that she felt when Princeton selected a woman, Mollie Marcoux Samaan, as its current Ford Family Director of Athletics six years ago.
In addition, they spent time yesterday at Florida Atlantic, near her house, getting a lot of her story on video (with a special thank you to FAU's Ryan Moran for agreeing to take the video).
It's been a fascinating story to hear, and TB is very much looking forward to putting it together for you. And to telling the entire story of Princeton women's athletics history.
Anyway, all of that is coming soon.
For today, there are several more hours with Merrily Dean Baker and a chance to fill in the blanks that exist in the story. And to hear more of her stories.
They've certainly been more than worth the trip.
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Celebrating 50
TigerBlog is sitting outside as he writes this.
It's 75 degrees and sunny, and he's on a park bench, looking out over a lake. He's in South Florida, a place he has spent next to no time in his life, and he has to say, he's sort of enjoying the weather.
At the same time, it dawns on him that perhaps he should be worried about alligators in the lake? He's about 20 feet from the water, which for about the first 15 feet into the lake is covered with green lily pads.
It's really quite peaceful. Perhaps TB should take a nap in the grass.
Then again, if he did that and there really were alligators here, then he'd be in real trouble. And he couldn't really fall asleep, because there are people on jet skis who are keep disturbing the quiet.
When TB stepped off the plane, he was wearing, predictably, a sweatshirt that said "Princeton Lacrosse" on it. What is the proper way of dressing on a flight from winter to summer, for winter when you left or summer when you arrived?
TB was in Indianapolis two Januarys ago for the NCAA awards celebration, and the temperature never got above 10 the whole time he was out there. He got to the airport to find someone who had gotten off of a few flights, starting in Brazil, and he was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.
What TB did not expect when he stepped off the plane was to immediately see a tall, athletic looking young man who was wearing a t shirt that had a crimson "H" on it. And another one whose shirt said "Harvard Lacrosse" on it.
It turns out that they are brothers, both of whom are current Harvard men's lacrosse players. TB introduced himself and explained what he did, and they talked very briefly - and very pleasantly.
This isn't the first time that TB has had this experience, and it's always like that. He sees someone wearing another Ivy League school's athletic gear, or they see his, and it's always a very nice hello between people who have a common bond.
Yes, it's an ultra-competitive bond. But it's a common bond too. TB left the conversation by saying that he'd see them up in Cambridge in Apri, and they shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. They were thinking the same thing TB was: "we want nothing more than to beat you guys in April in Cambridge."
But in January in a random airport in Florida? It was a nice meeting that left TB impressed with the two Harvard athletes - and wondering if this is something unique to the Ivy League, or is it the same when someone wearing a Purdue baseball shirt meets someone wearing an Illinois baseball shirt?
Anyway, that was the airport. And why is he here?
It's part of the upcoming celebration of 50 years of women's athletics at Princeton. It's his first stop as part of a project that will chronicle the amazing history of the program that has gone from non-existent to a total model of what an intercollegiate athletic experience can be.
Princeton women's athletics teams have combined to win 209 Ivy League championships in their first 49-plus years of existence. to put that in some perspective, there are four Ivy schools who do not have that many total championships between men and women and two of the other three - Penn and Cornell - have 218 and 234 total between men and women.
Princeton has 209 women's championships all by itself.
In addition, Princeton's women have won team and individual national championships, Olympic medals of every metal, played professionally in multiple sports - and are also some of the most impressive people you'd ever want to meet anywhere. They have gone on to do great things in every area of postgraduate life, and they have stayed extraordinarily loyal to the University.
And the program had to be built from the ground up, starting with nothing.
If you're looking for a great example of a Princeton women's athlete, how about field hockey goalie Grace Baylis, a current senior?
Grace has played in three NCAA Final Fours and one NCAA championship game. She's been a part of two Ivy League championship teams. She is a tough, hard-nosed competitor.
And away from the field? She's the embodiment of "Achieve, Serve, Lead."
Baylis yesterday was named the NJAIAW Woman of the Year. From the release:
This prestigious award is given to a female collegiate student-athlete for her outstanding achievements in athletics, academics, leadership and service.
Baylis, a goalkeeper, earned All-Ivy Honorable Mention the last three years. She is an exceptional student who serves on the Executive Leadership Team of the Student-Athlete Wellness Leadership program. She had devoted countless hours to improving the lives of her fellow student-athletes through mental health initiatives and support. The Department of Athletics is tremendously proud of Grace and extremely grateful for all she has achieved.
Yes, that's exactly what you want from your athletes. And what you've gotten from Princeton women since they first arrived on campus.
The trip here is the first step in chronicling that amazing history. TigerBlog will have a lot more on the subject in the coming months, as the University celebrates 50 years of coeducation.
He's excited to share the athletics piece of that with you.
It's 75 degrees and sunny, and he's on a park bench, looking out over a lake. He's in South Florida, a place he has spent next to no time in his life, and he has to say, he's sort of enjoying the weather.
At the same time, it dawns on him that perhaps he should be worried about alligators in the lake? He's about 20 feet from the water, which for about the first 15 feet into the lake is covered with green lily pads.
It's really quite peaceful. Perhaps TB should take a nap in the grass.
Then again, if he did that and there really were alligators here, then he'd be in real trouble. And he couldn't really fall asleep, because there are people on jet skis who are keep disturbing the quiet.
When TB stepped off the plane, he was wearing, predictably, a sweatshirt that said "Princeton Lacrosse" on it. What is the proper way of dressing on a flight from winter to summer, for winter when you left or summer when you arrived?
TB was in Indianapolis two Januarys ago for the NCAA awards celebration, and the temperature never got above 10 the whole time he was out there. He got to the airport to find someone who had gotten off of a few flights, starting in Brazil, and he was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.
What TB did not expect when he stepped off the plane was to immediately see a tall, athletic looking young man who was wearing a t shirt that had a crimson "H" on it. And another one whose shirt said "Harvard Lacrosse" on it.
It turns out that they are brothers, both of whom are current Harvard men's lacrosse players. TB introduced himself and explained what he did, and they talked very briefly - and very pleasantly.
This isn't the first time that TB has had this experience, and it's always like that. He sees someone wearing another Ivy League school's athletic gear, or they see his, and it's always a very nice hello between people who have a common bond.
Yes, it's an ultra-competitive bond. But it's a common bond too. TB left the conversation by saying that he'd see them up in Cambridge in Apri, and they shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. They were thinking the same thing TB was: "we want nothing more than to beat you guys in April in Cambridge."
But in January in a random airport in Florida? It was a nice meeting that left TB impressed with the two Harvard athletes - and wondering if this is something unique to the Ivy League, or is it the same when someone wearing a Purdue baseball shirt meets someone wearing an Illinois baseball shirt?
Anyway, that was the airport. And why is he here?
It's part of the upcoming celebration of 50 years of women's athletics at Princeton. It's his first stop as part of a project that will chronicle the amazing history of the program that has gone from non-existent to a total model of what an intercollegiate athletic experience can be.
Princeton women's athletics teams have combined to win 209 Ivy League championships in their first 49-plus years of existence. to put that in some perspective, there are four Ivy schools who do not have that many total championships between men and women and two of the other three - Penn and Cornell - have 218 and 234 total between men and women.
Princeton has 209 women's championships all by itself.
In addition, Princeton's women have won team and individual national championships, Olympic medals of every metal, played professionally in multiple sports - and are also some of the most impressive people you'd ever want to meet anywhere. They have gone on to do great things in every area of postgraduate life, and they have stayed extraordinarily loyal to the University.
And the program had to be built from the ground up, starting with nothing.
If you're looking for a great example of a Princeton women's athlete, how about field hockey goalie Grace Baylis, a current senior?
Grace has played in three NCAA Final Fours and one NCAA championship game. She's been a part of two Ivy League championship teams. She is a tough, hard-nosed competitor.
And away from the field? She's the embodiment of "Achieve, Serve, Lead."
Baylis yesterday was named the NJAIAW Woman of the Year. From the release:
This prestigious award is given to a female collegiate student-athlete for her outstanding achievements in athletics, academics, leadership and service.
Baylis, a goalkeeper, earned All-Ivy Honorable Mention the last three years. She is an exceptional student who serves on the Executive Leadership Team of the Student-Athlete Wellness Leadership program. She had devoted countless hours to improving the lives of her fellow student-athletes through mental health initiatives and support. The Department of Athletics is tremendously proud of Grace and extremely grateful for all she has achieved.
Yes, that's exactly what you want from your athletes. And what you've gotten from Princeton women since they first arrived on campus.
The trip here is the first step in chronicling that amazing history. TigerBlog will have a lot more on the subject in the coming months, as the University celebrates 50 years of coeducation.
He's excited to share the athletics piece of that with you.
Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Monday News
TigerBlog had a busy Monday.
He'll tell you more about it later this week. In the meantime, the part that applies right now is that it was around 4 before he got a chance to check on the men's volleyball match against UCLA.
The match began at 2, so he figured when he looked at the live stats that it would probably be over by then. Instead, he saw it was tied at 2-2.
This wasn't just another match. This was No. 10 Princeton against No. 2 UCLA, in Dillon Gym. Princeton, by the way, is the defending EIVA champion and the preseason favorite to win another one.
UCLA is, well, UCLA, the winner of 19 NCAA men's volleyball championships, which just happens to be 14 more than any other team has ever won.
And here they were, headed to Game 5.
TB immediately stopped what he was doing - which was starting to write this - and watched the last set on ESPN+. Yes, UCLA won, but hey, Princeton had to earn itself a lot of national respect with that performance.
The other thing that was obvious from watching is that volleyball in Dillon Gym is quite an event. Even University president Christopher Eisgruber was there.
On the other hand if you want to see the men's volleyball team at home for one of those events, you're going to have to wait a little while. Actually, a long while.
Princeton's next nine matches are all away, and it won't be until Feb. 28 until the Tigers are back in Dillon Gym. That match will be against Sacred Heart.
The Tigers are at Charleston (the one in West Virginia) this weekend for two matches. Then it's first semester exam break, followed by a second trip to California at the end of this month, including a rematch against UCLA.
There was a lot of Princeton Athletics news for your Monday, by the way, besides just a great men's volleyball match.
Jaelin Llewellyn was named the Ivy League men's basketball Player of the Week after his 18-point, 14-round performance in Princeton's 78-64 win over Penn. You can read the whole story HERE.
TigerBlog has two takeaways from that story. First, that's a great picture - photo by Gavin Baker, by the way.
Second, the winner could have been any of Princeton's big three of Llewellyn, Richmond Aririguzoh or Ryan Schwieger could have won the award.
It won't take Princeton long to see Penn again either, as the teams meet again Friday at Jadwin Gym (tip at 5). Remember, a year ago Princeton swept Princeton in the first two Ivy League games, and the Tigers are trying to match that this time around as well.
You actually have to go back to the 2013-14 season to find a year when the team that won the first Princeton-Penn game didn't win the second. What does that mean Friday night? Nothing.
In other news, the women's basketball team moved into the top 25 in the AP poll (HERE) and Bella Alarie was named to the Her Hoops State mid-major Player of the Year watchlist (HERE).
Like the men, the women's next game is also against Penn. That one is Saturday at 1 at the Palestra.
Princeton and Penn have dominated Ivy League women's basketball for the last 10 years, and they will enter their Ivy opener against each other with a combined record of 22-2.
The teams are definitely getting it done defensively, as they both rank in the top five in Division I in fewest points allowed. Penn is third at 47.9; Princeton is fifth at 50.3.
That's in the country, not in the Ivy League.
That's out of 348 teams, by the way.
Oh, and if you think Princeton and Penn are going to roll through the Ivy League, they might - but it certainly will not be easy. The league is greatly improved across the board, and every game will be a major challenge.
And in other news?
Ashleigh Johnson was named the top women's water polo player in the world again.
You can read all about that HERE.
Then again, that's not really news, is it?
Not after how many times it's happened before.
He'll tell you more about it later this week. In the meantime, the part that applies right now is that it was around 4 before he got a chance to check on the men's volleyball match against UCLA.
The match began at 2, so he figured when he looked at the live stats that it would probably be over by then. Instead, he saw it was tied at 2-2.
This wasn't just another match. This was No. 10 Princeton against No. 2 UCLA, in Dillon Gym. Princeton, by the way, is the defending EIVA champion and the preseason favorite to win another one.
UCLA is, well, UCLA, the winner of 19 NCAA men's volleyball championships, which just happens to be 14 more than any other team has ever won.
And here they were, headed to Game 5.
TB immediately stopped what he was doing - which was starting to write this - and watched the last set on ESPN+. Yes, UCLA won, but hey, Princeton had to earn itself a lot of national respect with that performance.
The other thing that was obvious from watching is that volleyball in Dillon Gym is quite an event. Even University president Christopher Eisgruber was there.
On the other hand if you want to see the men's volleyball team at home for one of those events, you're going to have to wait a little while. Actually, a long while.
Princeton's next nine matches are all away, and it won't be until Feb. 28 until the Tigers are back in Dillon Gym. That match will be against Sacred Heart.
The Tigers are at Charleston (the one in West Virginia) this weekend for two matches. Then it's first semester exam break, followed by a second trip to California at the end of this month, including a rematch against UCLA.
There was a lot of Princeton Athletics news for your Monday, by the way, besides just a great men's volleyball match.
Jaelin Llewellyn was named the Ivy League men's basketball Player of the Week after his 18-point, 14-round performance in Princeton's 78-64 win over Penn. You can read the whole story HERE.
TigerBlog has two takeaways from that story. First, that's a great picture - photo by Gavin Baker, by the way.
Second, the winner could have been any of Princeton's big three of Llewellyn, Richmond Aririguzoh or Ryan Schwieger could have won the award.
It won't take Princeton long to see Penn again either, as the teams meet again Friday at Jadwin Gym (tip at 5). Remember, a year ago Princeton swept Princeton in the first two Ivy League games, and the Tigers are trying to match that this time around as well.
You actually have to go back to the 2013-14 season to find a year when the team that won the first Princeton-Penn game didn't win the second. What does that mean Friday night? Nothing.
In other news, the women's basketball team moved into the top 25 in the AP poll (HERE) and Bella Alarie was named to the Her Hoops State mid-major Player of the Year watchlist (HERE).
Like the men, the women's next game is also against Penn. That one is Saturday at 1 at the Palestra.
Princeton and Penn have dominated Ivy League women's basketball for the last 10 years, and they will enter their Ivy opener against each other with a combined record of 22-2.
The teams are definitely getting it done defensively, as they both rank in the top five in Division I in fewest points allowed. Penn is third at 47.9; Princeton is fifth at 50.3.
That's in the country, not in the Ivy League.
That's out of 348 teams, by the way.
Oh, and if you think Princeton and Penn are going to roll through the Ivy League, they might - but it certainly will not be easy. The league is greatly improved across the board, and every game will be a major challenge.
And in other news?
Ashleigh Johnson was named the top women's water polo player in the world again.
You can read all about that HERE.
Then again, that's not really news, is it?
Not after how many times it's happened before.
Monday, January 6, 2020
A Weekend Behind The Computer
TigerBlog spent most of his weekend in Hobey Baker Rink.
He did the statcrew entry for all four hockey games this weekend, the two the women played against St. Anselm (combined final score, 15-0 Tigers) and the two the men played in the ECAC (an 0-1-1 weekend that showed the Tigers can compete with anyone in the league).
The women won 5-0 Friday afternoon and 10-0 Saturday afternoon. It was a big weekend for, among others, the Fillier sisters: Sarah had four goals and three assists and Kayla had her first career goal.
As for the men, they lost to Dartmouth 4-3 in overtime after tying the game with 16 seconds left Friday night and then tied No. 15 Harvard 3-3 Saturday night.
Princeton has gotten off to a slow start on the men's side in the ECAC race, though Ron Fogarty has clearly shown that he knows how to turn seasons around on a dime. The Tigers are at Clarkson and St. Lawrence this weekend and then have first semester exams, and after that it'll be the February run up to the ECAC playoffs.
Doing stats for hockey isn't that much different than doing stats for lacrosse. The program is very similar - at least now, though there's a potentially big shift in the world of college athletic statkeeping coming with a new competitor to the long-established StatCrew brand - and the stats themselves are also somewhat alike, with shots, saves, face-offs, goals, penalties.
There are two big difference between the two though.
First, there are a lot of stats in lacrosse that aren't kept in hockey, such as ground balls, turnovers, caused turnovers. TB has much more experience with lacrosse stats than hockey stats, and his instinct was to constantly add the ground ball to the face-off win or the turnover when the puck changed sides.
The second difference is plus/minus. After each goal in hockey, you need to account for everyone who was on the ice for both teams, and this can be tougher than you think.
TB entered 28 goals this weekend, and on 27 of them he was still entering plus/minus after play had restarted. The only time he didn't was on the OT goal in the men's game Friday, since play never restarted.
It was during Saturday's game against Harvard that TB had one screen open to do stats and another screen open to watch the ESPN+ broadcast of the Princeton-Penn men's basketball game.
For most of the basketball game, the two screens overlapped so that TB couldn't see the basket at the left side of the court.
Also, at one point, Richmond Aririguzoh made a free throw, and TB started out to enter it in the stat program, only to realize that he wasn't actually doing stats for that game.
The Tigers looked very good against their arch-rival, leading wire-to-wire for a 78-64 win. If your goals are to win the league or finish in the top four to make the Ivy League tournament, having a win over Penn on its home court is a good starting point.
Princeton scored 78 points in the game, and 60 of those came from three players - Arirugzoh (15), Jaelin Llewellyn (18) and Ryan Schwieger (27). Between them they shot 21 for 35 from the field, and almost all of that was inside the three-point arc, as those three were a combined 2 for 5 from distance.
If you want to win big games in your league on the road, you need performances like that from your stars.
Each time that it looked like Penn was going to make a run at the Tigers, Princeton answered. That's another good way to win a big league game on the road.
The Tigers had tremendous success inside the arc, with a season-best 52 points in the point against the Quakers.
Next up for Princeton is another game against Penn, Friday evening (5 pm tip) at Jadwin Gym. After that is first semester exam break.
Oh, and one more thing for today: If you're in the Princeton area this afternoon looking for something to do, go over to Dillon Gym at 2 for the men's volleyball match between No. 10 Princeton and No. 2 UCLA. It'll be great entertainment.
He did the statcrew entry for all four hockey games this weekend, the two the women played against St. Anselm (combined final score, 15-0 Tigers) and the two the men played in the ECAC (an 0-1-1 weekend that showed the Tigers can compete with anyone in the league).
The women won 5-0 Friday afternoon and 10-0 Saturday afternoon. It was a big weekend for, among others, the Fillier sisters: Sarah had four goals and three assists and Kayla had her first career goal.
As for the men, they lost to Dartmouth 4-3 in overtime after tying the game with 16 seconds left Friday night and then tied No. 15 Harvard 3-3 Saturday night.
Princeton has gotten off to a slow start on the men's side in the ECAC race, though Ron Fogarty has clearly shown that he knows how to turn seasons around on a dime. The Tigers are at Clarkson and St. Lawrence this weekend and then have first semester exams, and after that it'll be the February run up to the ECAC playoffs.
Doing stats for hockey isn't that much different than doing stats for lacrosse. The program is very similar - at least now, though there's a potentially big shift in the world of college athletic statkeeping coming with a new competitor to the long-established StatCrew brand - and the stats themselves are also somewhat alike, with shots, saves, face-offs, goals, penalties.
There are two big difference between the two though.
First, there are a lot of stats in lacrosse that aren't kept in hockey, such as ground balls, turnovers, caused turnovers. TB has much more experience with lacrosse stats than hockey stats, and his instinct was to constantly add the ground ball to the face-off win or the turnover when the puck changed sides.
The second difference is plus/minus. After each goal in hockey, you need to account for everyone who was on the ice for both teams, and this can be tougher than you think.
TB entered 28 goals this weekend, and on 27 of them he was still entering plus/minus after play had restarted. The only time he didn't was on the OT goal in the men's game Friday, since play never restarted.
It was during Saturday's game against Harvard that TB had one screen open to do stats and another screen open to watch the ESPN+ broadcast of the Princeton-Penn men's basketball game.
For most of the basketball game, the two screens overlapped so that TB couldn't see the basket at the left side of the court.
Also, at one point, Richmond Aririguzoh made a free throw, and TB started out to enter it in the stat program, only to realize that he wasn't actually doing stats for that game.
The Tigers looked very good against their arch-rival, leading wire-to-wire for a 78-64 win. If your goals are to win the league or finish in the top four to make the Ivy League tournament, having a win over Penn on its home court is a good starting point.
Princeton scored 78 points in the game, and 60 of those came from three players - Arirugzoh (15), Jaelin Llewellyn (18) and Ryan Schwieger (27). Between them they shot 21 for 35 from the field, and almost all of that was inside the three-point arc, as those three were a combined 2 for 5 from distance.
If you want to win big games in your league on the road, you need performances like that from your stars.
Each time that it looked like Penn was going to make a run at the Tigers, Princeton answered. That's another good way to win a big league game on the road.
The Tigers had tremendous success inside the arc, with a season-best 52 points in the point against the Quakers.
Next up for Princeton is another game against Penn, Friday evening (5 pm tip) at Jadwin Gym. After that is first semester exam break.
Oh, and one more thing for today: If you're in the Princeton area this afternoon looking for something to do, go over to Dillon Gym at 2 for the men's volleyball match between No. 10 Princeton and No. 2 UCLA. It'll be great entertainment.
Friday, January 3, 2020
The First Busy Weekend Of 2020
This is the last of the decade review stuff for you, TigerBlog promises.
He has three last things.
First, it dawns on him that the list of top women's athletes in the last 10 years was so strong that the top 10 TB came up with didn't even include others who were either 1) NCAA individual champions, 2) Olympians or 3) professional athletes.
Second, he had the wrong class year for one of the top athletes, which got him to thinking about which class years were most represented. If you were keeping score, the class with the most top athletes of the decade was the Class of 2013.
Third, he gave you his top 10 athletes for men and women but not the top events of the last decade. There were certainly a lot of them, and he'd probably have to go with:
10. The women's basketball win over Green Bay in the 2015 NCAA tournament to improve to 31-0
9. The men's track and field team got a win in the final event to edge Cornell in the 2015 Ivy Heps outdoor championships, the closest one in history
8. The men's hockey win over Colgate in Game 2 of the 2017 ECAC opening round playoff series, where Princeton tied the game with one second left in regulation and won in OT while facing elimination
7. The 63-62 win over Harvard in the 2011 Ivy men's basketball playoff (the Doug Davis shot)
6. Princeton's 14-9 win over Dartmouth in football in 2018, en route to a perfect season
5. Princeton's 51-48 win over Harvard in 2013 in football (three OTs)
4. Princeton defeats Clarkson in OT to win the 2018 ECAC men's hockey championship
3. Princeton wins the 2012 national men's squash championship, ending Trinity's 13-year title run
2. Princeton wins the 2012 NCAA field hockey championship game
1. Princeton defeats North Carolina in NCAA women's soccer tournament
Okay.
Is that enough decade review stuff?
The interesting thing about all of the end-of-decade lists and such that you've seen here and everywhere else is that there's nothing that actually makes this week different than last week, other than the number of the year.
On the other hand, it was a fun exercise.
Who will get a jump on being the top athletes of the coming decade?
Well, it's a pretty good weekend for Princeton Athletics, so there will be a few chances to jump out of the gate here.
Actually, if you think about it, Ashleigh Johnson, who was TB's pick for the top female athlete of the last decade, was a sophomore in high school at this time 10 years ago. But that's more decade in review stuff, so forget that.
There are seven teams who will be competing from today through Monday (including men's volleyball, who also competed last night in California at USC).
The men's swimming and diving team is at Navy tomorrow, and the women are at Tennessee's invitational starting today and running through Sunday.
The wrestling team is at F&M tomorrow. The men's volleyball team is bringing second-ranked UCLA to Dillon Gym Monday afternoon (2), after the defending EIVA champion Tigers played in California to start the season.
If you're looking for home events this weekend, you have four chances to watch hockey at Hobey Baker Rink. There will be doubleheaders this weekend, with the women against St. Anselm today and tomorrow at 3 and then the men against Dartmouth and Harvard at 7 tonight and tomorrow.
St. Anselm women, by the way, are 10-4 on the season. Of its 10 wins, there have been five by shutout and two others in which the Hawks allowed one goal.
Lastly, there is the men's basketball game at Penn in the Ivy League opener for both.
Princeton comes in having won three of its last four.
The Princeton-Penn men's basketball rivalry is the best in Ivy League history, in any sport. The teams first met on Valentine's Day 1903 and have since met at least twice every year since.
The teams between them have completely dominated Ivy League men's basketball, combining to win 53 of the 75 championships won. The Ivy men's basketball championship leaderboard looks like this:
1. Princeton 27
2. Penn 26
3. Harvard/Yale 7
That's a lot of dominance.
There's always something very, very special about a Princeton-Penn men's basketball game. Add in that it's the league opener for both and that it's Princeton's only Ivy game until Jan. 31 due to first semester exams, and this one has a lot going for it.
Tip at the Palestra is at 7.
He has three last things.
First, it dawns on him that the list of top women's athletes in the last 10 years was so strong that the top 10 TB came up with didn't even include others who were either 1) NCAA individual champions, 2) Olympians or 3) professional athletes.
Second, he had the wrong class year for one of the top athletes, which got him to thinking about which class years were most represented. If you were keeping score, the class with the most top athletes of the decade was the Class of 2013.
Third, he gave you his top 10 athletes for men and women but not the top events of the last decade. There were certainly a lot of them, and he'd probably have to go with:
10. The women's basketball win over Green Bay in the 2015 NCAA tournament to improve to 31-0
9. The men's track and field team got a win in the final event to edge Cornell in the 2015 Ivy Heps outdoor championships, the closest one in history
8. The men's hockey win over Colgate in Game 2 of the 2017 ECAC opening round playoff series, where Princeton tied the game with one second left in regulation and won in OT while facing elimination
7. The 63-62 win over Harvard in the 2011 Ivy men's basketball playoff (the Doug Davis shot)
6. Princeton's 14-9 win over Dartmouth in football in 2018, en route to a perfect season
5. Princeton's 51-48 win over Harvard in 2013 in football (three OTs)
4. Princeton defeats Clarkson in OT to win the 2018 ECAC men's hockey championship
3. Princeton wins the 2012 national men's squash championship, ending Trinity's 13-year title run
2. Princeton wins the 2012 NCAA field hockey championship game
1. Princeton defeats North Carolina in NCAA women's soccer tournament
Okay.
Is that enough decade review stuff?
The interesting thing about all of the end-of-decade lists and such that you've seen here and everywhere else is that there's nothing that actually makes this week different than last week, other than the number of the year.
On the other hand, it was a fun exercise.
Who will get a jump on being the top athletes of the coming decade?
Well, it's a pretty good weekend for Princeton Athletics, so there will be a few chances to jump out of the gate here.
Actually, if you think about it, Ashleigh Johnson, who was TB's pick for the top female athlete of the last decade, was a sophomore in high school at this time 10 years ago. But that's more decade in review stuff, so forget that.
There are seven teams who will be competing from today through Monday (including men's volleyball, who also competed last night in California at USC).
The men's swimming and diving team is at Navy tomorrow, and the women are at Tennessee's invitational starting today and running through Sunday.
The wrestling team is at F&M tomorrow. The men's volleyball team is bringing second-ranked UCLA to Dillon Gym Monday afternoon (2), after the defending EIVA champion Tigers played in California to start the season.
If you're looking for home events this weekend, you have four chances to watch hockey at Hobey Baker Rink. There will be doubleheaders this weekend, with the women against St. Anselm today and tomorrow at 3 and then the men against Dartmouth and Harvard at 7 tonight and tomorrow.
St. Anselm women, by the way, are 10-4 on the season. Of its 10 wins, there have been five by shutout and two others in which the Hawks allowed one goal.
Lastly, there is the men's basketball game at Penn in the Ivy League opener for both.
Princeton comes in having won three of its last four.
The Princeton-Penn men's basketball rivalry is the best in Ivy League history, in any sport. The teams first met on Valentine's Day 1903 and have since met at least twice every year since.
The teams between them have completely dominated Ivy League men's basketball, combining to win 53 of the 75 championships won. The Ivy men's basketball championship leaderboard looks like this:
1. Princeton 27
2. Penn 26
3. Harvard/Yale 7
That's a lot of dominance.
There's always something very, very special about a Princeton-Penn men's basketball game. Add in that it's the league opener for both and that it's Princeton's only Ivy game until Jan. 31 due to first semester exams, and this one has a lot going for it.
Tip at the Palestra is at 7.
Thursday, January 2, 2020
Happy 2020
Happy New Year.
Welcome to 2020. Did you have a good New Years?
It's been 20 years since the year 2000 (the math wasn't too hard on that one). When TigerBlog was a kid, he used to look ahead to the year 2000 as some time that was so distant in the future that it couldn't even be processed.
As it got closer, there was a fear that Y2K would lead to meltdowns all over the world as software hadn't been programmed beyond 99 and computers wouldn't know the difference between 1900 and 2000 and therefore everything involved in computers would come to a disastrous halt. That, of course, never happened.
And now that was 20 years ago already. Instead of being futuristic, the year 2000 seems almost nostalgic at this point.
The current year of 2020 takes the world into a new decade. TB hopes that you checked out the Princeton Athletics decade review stories from way back in 2019.
If you missed those, you can see them HERE and HERE.
Those two stories feature what was selected as the top event and top athlete for every team for the past decade. They also included an opportunity for fans to email in their thoughts and offer up alternative answers.
Since TB received not a single email of a differing opinion, he'll assume that the two lists are met with 100 percent universal approval. Or that he hasn't gotten any emails yet.
He did receive feedback from several people asking what in his opinion the No. 1 event and who the top athletes were overall for the decade.
The answer, again, is that it's up to everyone to make their own decisions.
One thing TB insisted on for the top athlete story was that only one athlete per sport be chosen. There were some sports were that was simple to do. There were others were it was almost impossible - but it was done anyway.
If you're asking him to name the top athletes of the last decade, though, he's going to have to include multiple athletes from several sports.
Take the top women's athletes.
The toughest choice was probably in women's basketball, where a strong case could be made for both Niveen Rasheed and Bella Alarie. In the end Niveen was the choice (because one of them had to be), but TB would put both of them in the top five female athletes at Princeton this past decade.
Niveen was the cornerstone of the women's basketball dynasty that saw a program that had never been the NCAA tournament before her arrival go all four of her years and then four more times for the rest of the decade. If you didn't get to see her play, you missed on someone very special.
If Bella Alarie can be described as "dominant," then Niveen was best described as "ferocious." However you describe them, they are two of the best athletes ever to play in the Ivy League, let alone for Princeton in the last 10 years.
Where would TB rank them?
Well, two and three actually.
Who's No. 1? That would have to be Ashleigh Johnson in TB's opinion.
Johnson has spent much of the last five years as the best women's water polo player in the world. She's an Olympic gold medalist, and she joined Bill Bradley as the only Princeton athletes ever to win Olympic gold and then come back to play for Princeton.
If you never saw her play, she was jaw-droppingly impressive. Even if, like TB, you knew little about water polo, it was obvious you were watching someone who does not come along very often, if ever again.
The rest of the top 10? How about Julia Ratcliffe at No. 4 (she had the 134 best hammer throws in Ivy history and won an NCAA championship) and Kathleen Sharkey at No. 5 (NCAA field hockey champion and then U.S. Olympian).
The rest of the top 10:
10. Eliza Stone, women's fencing
9. Olivia Hompe, women's lacrosse
8. Kelly Shon, women's golf
7. Kelsey Koelzer, women's hockey
6. Julia Reinprecht, field hockey
And the men?
The two toughest selections here were men's hockey (Ryan Kuffner by the slightest edge of Max Veronneau) and men's lacrosse (Michael Sowers similarly over Tom Schreiber).
Where do those four rank? Definitely in the top 10. So does Jesper Horsted, who wasn't the top baseball or football player but was close on both counts.
What is that top 10?
Hmmm.
How about:
10. Mike Ford, baseball
9. Thomas Sanner, men's soccer
8. Max Veronneau, men's hockey
7. Matthew Kolodzik, wrestling
6. Ryan Kuffner, men's hockey
5. Tom Schreiber, men's lacrosse
4. Jesper Horsted, football/baseball
3. Michael Sowers, men's lacrosse
2. John Lovett, football
And No. 1?
That would be NCAA steeplechase champion and two-time Olympic finalist Donn Cabral.
Again, according to TB at least. Feel free to disagree.
Welcome to 2020. Did you have a good New Years?
It's been 20 years since the year 2000 (the math wasn't too hard on that one). When TigerBlog was a kid, he used to look ahead to the year 2000 as some time that was so distant in the future that it couldn't even be processed.
As it got closer, there was a fear that Y2K would lead to meltdowns all over the world as software hadn't been programmed beyond 99 and computers wouldn't know the difference between 1900 and 2000 and therefore everything involved in computers would come to a disastrous halt. That, of course, never happened.
And now that was 20 years ago already. Instead of being futuristic, the year 2000 seems almost nostalgic at this point.
The current year of 2020 takes the world into a new decade. TB hopes that you checked out the Princeton Athletics decade review stories from way back in 2019.
If you missed those, you can see them HERE and HERE.
Those two stories feature what was selected as the top event and top athlete for every team for the past decade. They also included an opportunity for fans to email in their thoughts and offer up alternative answers.
Since TB received not a single email of a differing opinion, he'll assume that the two lists are met with 100 percent universal approval. Or that he hasn't gotten any emails yet.
He did receive feedback from several people asking what in his opinion the No. 1 event and who the top athletes were overall for the decade.
The answer, again, is that it's up to everyone to make their own decisions.
One thing TB insisted on for the top athlete story was that only one athlete per sport be chosen. There were some sports were that was simple to do. There were others were it was almost impossible - but it was done anyway.
If you're asking him to name the top athletes of the last decade, though, he's going to have to include multiple athletes from several sports.
Take the top women's athletes.
The toughest choice was probably in women's basketball, where a strong case could be made for both Niveen Rasheed and Bella Alarie. In the end Niveen was the choice (because one of them had to be), but TB would put both of them in the top five female athletes at Princeton this past decade.
Niveen was the cornerstone of the women's basketball dynasty that saw a program that had never been the NCAA tournament before her arrival go all four of her years and then four more times for the rest of the decade. If you didn't get to see her play, you missed on someone very special.
If Bella Alarie can be described as "dominant," then Niveen was best described as "ferocious." However you describe them, they are two of the best athletes ever to play in the Ivy League, let alone for Princeton in the last 10 years.
Where would TB rank them?
Well, two and three actually.
Who's No. 1? That would have to be Ashleigh Johnson in TB's opinion.
Johnson has spent much of the last five years as the best women's water polo player in the world. She's an Olympic gold medalist, and she joined Bill Bradley as the only Princeton athletes ever to win Olympic gold and then come back to play for Princeton.
If you never saw her play, she was jaw-droppingly impressive. Even if, like TB, you knew little about water polo, it was obvious you were watching someone who does not come along very often, if ever again.
The rest of the top 10? How about Julia Ratcliffe at No. 4 (she had the 134 best hammer throws in Ivy history and won an NCAA championship) and Kathleen Sharkey at No. 5 (NCAA field hockey champion and then U.S. Olympian).
The rest of the top 10:
10. Eliza Stone, women's fencing
9. Olivia Hompe, women's lacrosse
8. Kelly Shon, women's golf
7. Kelsey Koelzer, women's hockey
6. Julia Reinprecht, field hockey
And the men?
The two toughest selections here were men's hockey (Ryan Kuffner by the slightest edge of Max Veronneau) and men's lacrosse (Michael Sowers similarly over Tom Schreiber).
Where do those four rank? Definitely in the top 10. So does Jesper Horsted, who wasn't the top baseball or football player but was close on both counts.
What is that top 10?
Hmmm.
How about:
10. Mike Ford, baseball
9. Thomas Sanner, men's soccer
8. Max Veronneau, men's hockey
7. Matthew Kolodzik, wrestling
6. Ryan Kuffner, men's hockey
5. Tom Schreiber, men's lacrosse
4. Jesper Horsted, football/baseball
3. Michael Sowers, men's lacrosse
2. John Lovett, football
And No. 1?
That would be NCAA steeplechase champion and two-time Olympic finalist Donn Cabral.
Again, according to TB at least. Feel free to disagree.
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
The Decade In Review
Well, it's the last day of 2019, which makes it the last day of the decade.
This means that tomorrow starts TigerBlog's fifth decade of covering Princeton sports.
The first four have all been really good ones. Princeton teams have won a lot of championships. There have been epic wins. There have been great players. There have been Princeton athletes with great stories to tell.
It's been more than anyone who works in college athletics can ever hope to experience. TB says this a lot, that he's been fortunate to have been at Princeton all these years, seeing first-hand all of these amazing young people compete, understanding that the core values of the athletic department go beyond just that success, that he's really always been in the business of education and not just athletics.
He's always loved the fact that Princeton's athletes have the other sides to them, the sides of service and academic pursuits. He equally loves the fact that Princeton doesn't use that as way of lowering its athletic standards or as an excuse. That is a major part of what makes this place so special.
Princeton won 117 Ivy titles in the first 10 years of this century. It won 116 in the next 10. What's in store for the 10 about to begin? There's no way to be sure, but the facts are 1) no other league school has come close to the number of championships that Princeton has won and 2) the next Ivy title will be the 500th all-time.
TB received an email yesterday from a member of the Class of 1991 who asked about the 1991 NCAA men's basketball game between Princeton and Villanova, which was as crushing a loss as TB has been around in his time here. That email got TB thinking about how the athletes back then weren't that much younger than he was and how today they're younger than his son and peers of his daughter.
In between, he used to marvel at the idea of how the athletes were born shortly after he was, and then born when he was in high school and then college and then already working at Princeton and so on.
To recap the last decade, goprincetontigers.com did a countdown of the top 10 athletes from 2000-2009. Any guesses as to who the top male and female athletes were in that list?
TB will give you a few paragraphs on that one.
For the decade that ends today, the good people at GPT decided to do something a little different. This time, there are two stories, one from yesterday and one that will be up today.
The first listed the top event for each of Princeton's teams, with 35 events listed (indoor and outdoor track and field counted as one each). Today's list will feature the top athlete for each of the 35 programs.
Here is the link to the first one.
The choices were made by the Office of Athletic Communications staff, which means that they're subjective. Any Princeton fan is entitled to a different opinion, and in fact, the OAC encourages you to share your opinions by emailing them to jprice@princeton.edu.
There are some teams whose top event was fairly obvious (the 2012 NCAA field hockey championship game win is one), but most of them had several that could have been considered. Also, it was impossible not to take into account historical significance.
For instance, which was a better men's hockey game, the 2017 ECAC opening round playoff series Game 2 against Colgate, when Princeton tied it with one second left in regulation and then won it in overtime, or the 2018 ECAC championship game, when Princeton allowed a goal with six seconds left in regulation and then won in overtime?
It's hard to have a better game than that Colgate game, but the championship game was 1) close, 2) accompanied by a league title and NCAA tournament trip and 3) the pick in the story.
There are some easy picks for the top athlete (Ashleigh Johnson in women's water polo should be no surprise) and then others that are brutal. The toughest ones were in sports like men's hockey (Max Veronneau or Ryan Kuffner (or even Eric Robinson), women's basketball (Niveen Rasheed or Bella Alarie, with Blake Dietrick not that far behind), men's lacrosse (Michael Sowers, Tom Schreiber or Zach Currier) and some others.
You'll have to go to GPT today and see for yourself.
As for the last decade, the two No. 1s were Alicia Aemisegger of the women's swim team and Yasser El Halaby of the men's squash team. The top 10 from that decade is listed HERE.
There was no picking of the top event or the two top athletes of this decade. Maybe TB will give you his thoughts on that after the new year.
In the meantime, email your opinions.
And have a great, happy - and very, very safe - New Year's Eve.
This means that tomorrow starts TigerBlog's fifth decade of covering Princeton sports.
The first four have all been really good ones. Princeton teams have won a lot of championships. There have been epic wins. There have been great players. There have been Princeton athletes with great stories to tell.
It's been more than anyone who works in college athletics can ever hope to experience. TB says this a lot, that he's been fortunate to have been at Princeton all these years, seeing first-hand all of these amazing young people compete, understanding that the core values of the athletic department go beyond just that success, that he's really always been in the business of education and not just athletics.
He's always loved the fact that Princeton's athletes have the other sides to them, the sides of service and academic pursuits. He equally loves the fact that Princeton doesn't use that as way of lowering its athletic standards or as an excuse. That is a major part of what makes this place so special.
Princeton won 117 Ivy titles in the first 10 years of this century. It won 116 in the next 10. What's in store for the 10 about to begin? There's no way to be sure, but the facts are 1) no other league school has come close to the number of championships that Princeton has won and 2) the next Ivy title will be the 500th all-time.
TB received an email yesterday from a member of the Class of 1991 who asked about the 1991 NCAA men's basketball game between Princeton and Villanova, which was as crushing a loss as TB has been around in his time here. That email got TB thinking about how the athletes back then weren't that much younger than he was and how today they're younger than his son and peers of his daughter.
In between, he used to marvel at the idea of how the athletes were born shortly after he was, and then born when he was in high school and then college and then already working at Princeton and so on.
To recap the last decade, goprincetontigers.com did a countdown of the top 10 athletes from 2000-2009. Any guesses as to who the top male and female athletes were in that list?
TB will give you a few paragraphs on that one.
For the decade that ends today, the good people at GPT decided to do something a little different. This time, there are two stories, one from yesterday and one that will be up today.
The first listed the top event for each of Princeton's teams, with 35 events listed (indoor and outdoor track and field counted as one each). Today's list will feature the top athlete for each of the 35 programs.
Here is the link to the first one.
The choices were made by the Office of Athletic Communications staff, which means that they're subjective. Any Princeton fan is entitled to a different opinion, and in fact, the OAC encourages you to share your opinions by emailing them to jprice@princeton.edu.
There are some teams whose top event was fairly obvious (the 2012 NCAA field hockey championship game win is one), but most of them had several that could have been considered. Also, it was impossible not to take into account historical significance.
For instance, which was a better men's hockey game, the 2017 ECAC opening round playoff series Game 2 against Colgate, when Princeton tied it with one second left in regulation and then won it in overtime, or the 2018 ECAC championship game, when Princeton allowed a goal with six seconds left in regulation and then won in overtime?
It's hard to have a better game than that Colgate game, but the championship game was 1) close, 2) accompanied by a league title and NCAA tournament trip and 3) the pick in the story.
There are some easy picks for the top athlete (Ashleigh Johnson in women's water polo should be no surprise) and then others that are brutal. The toughest ones were in sports like men's hockey (Max Veronneau or Ryan Kuffner (or even Eric Robinson), women's basketball (Niveen Rasheed or Bella Alarie, with Blake Dietrick not that far behind), men's lacrosse (Michael Sowers, Tom Schreiber or Zach Currier) and some others.
You'll have to go to GPT today and see for yourself.
As for the last decade, the two No. 1s were Alicia Aemisegger of the women's swim team and Yasser El Halaby of the men's squash team. The top 10 from that decade is listed HERE.
There was no picking of the top event or the two top athletes of this decade. Maybe TB will give you his thoughts on that after the new year.
In the meantime, email your opinions.
And have a great, happy - and very, very safe - New Year's Eve.
Monday, December 30, 2019
The Year In Review
There are only two days left in this decade, and once Wednesday rolls around, bringing with it the year 2020, then for the first time in 20 years TigerBlog will know exactly what to call the decade he is in.
It'll be "the 20s" again.
This decade? What was it? The 10s? That never sounded right. The last one? TB has no idea. The aughts?
The last 20s weren't just "the 20s." They were "The Roaring 20s," complete with prohibition, flappers, gangsters, Babe Ruth, cars and talkies.
Hey, there's even a Wikipedia page devoted to it.
The last year of the 2010s, if that's what they were, saw Princeton teams win 12 championships, with 10 Ivy titles and two non-Ivy titles. For the record, the winners were: men's indoor track and field, women's basketball, women's hockey, women's open rowing, women's lacrosse, men's golf, men's outdoor track and field, women's tennis, men's volleyball, women's lightweight rowing, field hockey and women's volleyball.
As TigerBlog has said many times before, Princeton Athletics has been fortunate to have so many highlights every year, and even better is that you never know which teams are going to be the ones that rise up in any given year. Also as TB has said, none of this is ever taken for granted by anyone at Princeton Athletics.
What was the biggest highlight of 2019?
That's always a fun exercise. And of course there is no single right answer.
For 2019, you'd have to put the field hockey team's run to the NCAA championship game as No. 1. Well, you wouldn't have to, but TigerBlog will.
What else?
The men's volleyball team's run to the EIVA regular season championship gave Princeton the host role in the EIVA tournament, which the Tigers won with a dramatic five-set win over Penn State. That put Princeton into the NCAA tournament, where the Tigers won their first round match before falling to Pepperdine. That would be No. 2.
The men's golf team won what had to be the most amazing Ivy League tournament ever, as the top five teams were separated by 10 shots. It was even tighter at the very top, where Princeton, Columbia and Yale finished 1-2-3, with Princeton at 875, Columbia at 876 and Yale at 877. That's three teams, with two strokes between first and third.
Call that three.
Next up? The men's track and field team won the indoor and outdoor Heps titles, giving the Tigers another "triple-crown," the ninth in program history. That's fourth.
Fifth? Michael Sowers erased the 25-year-old school record for career points in men's lacrosse in the final game of his junior year. He enters his senior year with 255, after Kevin Lowe held the record of 247 since 1994. Sowers also has the first, second and third best single-season totals in program history, including his record of 90 in 2019.
Sixth? The football team stretched its winning streak to 17 straight games, which made it the fourth-longest streak in program history and second longest since the start of the 1900s. Also in 2019, Kevin Davidson set the Ivy League record for touchdown passes in a game with seven against Bucknell, and Andrew Griffin tied the league record with four TD receptions in the same game.
Seventh? The women's lacrosse team won its sixth straight Ivy League title and fifth Ivy tournament title before reaching the NCAA quarterfinals.
Eighth? The women's basketball team went 26-4 in the calendar year of 2019. The Tigers lost their Ivy opener against Penn in early January and tied the Quakers at 12-2 for the league title before winning the Ivy tournament. This season Princeton is 12-1 and ranked in the top 25 nationally, as well as in the top 10 in RPI.
Ninth? The women's tennis team was a perfect 7-0 in the Ivy League for the second straight year, and the Tigers then won their second-ever NCAA tournament match, defeating Northwestern.
Tenth? The women's hockey team won the Ivy title and received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
That's a pretty strong top 10 (with apologies to the other championship teams, all of whom could have been in the top 10).
There will be more in the way of "a look back" today and tomorrow on goprincetontigers.com and here tomorrow.
Finally, TB would be remiss if he mentioned the greatest moments in Princeton Athletics in 2019 and didn't mention what was actually his No. 1 moment. It came back on March 2, on a day when TB got to see something that, after 30 years of watching other people's kids wear these uniforms, still amazes him that he got to see - his daughter play lacrosse for Princeton.
With apologies, that's his No. 1, of this year or any other.
It'll be "the 20s" again.
This decade? What was it? The 10s? That never sounded right. The last one? TB has no idea. The aughts?
The last 20s weren't just "the 20s." They were "The Roaring 20s," complete with prohibition, flappers, gangsters, Babe Ruth, cars and talkies.
Hey, there's even a Wikipedia page devoted to it.
The last year of the 2010s, if that's what they were, saw Princeton teams win 12 championships, with 10 Ivy titles and two non-Ivy titles. For the record, the winners were: men's indoor track and field, women's basketball, women's hockey, women's open rowing, women's lacrosse, men's golf, men's outdoor track and field, women's tennis, men's volleyball, women's lightweight rowing, field hockey and women's volleyball.
As TigerBlog has said many times before, Princeton Athletics has been fortunate to have so many highlights every year, and even better is that you never know which teams are going to be the ones that rise up in any given year. Also as TB has said, none of this is ever taken for granted by anyone at Princeton Athletics.
What was the biggest highlight of 2019?
That's always a fun exercise. And of course there is no single right answer.
For 2019, you'd have to put the field hockey team's run to the NCAA championship game as No. 1. Well, you wouldn't have to, but TigerBlog will.
What else?
The men's volleyball team's run to the EIVA regular season championship gave Princeton the host role in the EIVA tournament, which the Tigers won with a dramatic five-set win over Penn State. That put Princeton into the NCAA tournament, where the Tigers won their first round match before falling to Pepperdine. That would be No. 2.
The men's golf team won what had to be the most amazing Ivy League tournament ever, as the top five teams were separated by 10 shots. It was even tighter at the very top, where Princeton, Columbia and Yale finished 1-2-3, with Princeton at 875, Columbia at 876 and Yale at 877. That's three teams, with two strokes between first and third.
Call that three.
Next up? The men's track and field team won the indoor and outdoor Heps titles, giving the Tigers another "triple-crown," the ninth in program history. That's fourth.
Fifth? Michael Sowers erased the 25-year-old school record for career points in men's lacrosse in the final game of his junior year. He enters his senior year with 255, after Kevin Lowe held the record of 247 since 1994. Sowers also has the first, second and third best single-season totals in program history, including his record of 90 in 2019.
Sixth? The football team stretched its winning streak to 17 straight games, which made it the fourth-longest streak in program history and second longest since the start of the 1900s. Also in 2019, Kevin Davidson set the Ivy League record for touchdown passes in a game with seven against Bucknell, and Andrew Griffin tied the league record with four TD receptions in the same game.
Seventh? The women's lacrosse team won its sixth straight Ivy League title and fifth Ivy tournament title before reaching the NCAA quarterfinals.
Eighth? The women's basketball team went 26-4 in the calendar year of 2019. The Tigers lost their Ivy opener against Penn in early January and tied the Quakers at 12-2 for the league title before winning the Ivy tournament. This season Princeton is 12-1 and ranked in the top 25 nationally, as well as in the top 10 in RPI.
Ninth? The women's tennis team was a perfect 7-0 in the Ivy League for the second straight year, and the Tigers then won their second-ever NCAA tournament match, defeating Northwestern.
Tenth? The women's hockey team won the Ivy title and received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
That's a pretty strong top 10 (with apologies to the other championship teams, all of whom could have been in the top 10).
There will be more in the way of "a look back" today and tomorrow on goprincetontigers.com and here tomorrow.
Finally, TB would be remiss if he mentioned the greatest moments in Princeton Athletics in 2019 and didn't mention what was actually his No. 1 moment. It came back on March 2, on a day when TB got to see something that, after 30 years of watching other people's kids wear these uniforms, still amazes him that he got to see - his daughter play lacrosse for Princeton.
With apologies, that's his No. 1, of this year or any other.
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