When A Win Is More Than Just A Win...

Over the last couple of weeks, the win-or-else nature of big-time college athletics has been on display. Longtime Tennessee head coach Phil Fulmer brought a national title to the Volunteer State, developed a quarterback named Peyton Manning (you might have heard of him) and posted only two losing seasons since 1992. He's looking for work.

He's not the only big-time coach in American collegiate athletics who has been fired for a bad season -- or pressured to resign -- nor will he be the last. If any B.C.S. football coach ever went his first two seasons without a win, he'd probably want to keep his resumé updated.

That brings us to Chris Ayres, head coach of Princeton wrestling. Over the weekend, his Tigers picked up a 25-14 EIWA win over Franklin & Marshall. It didn't exactly shake up the national landscape of college wrestling, but it matters here. It was Ayres' first win since taking over in the summer of 2006, and it's something the program has been building towards since he came here.

It didn't have to be this long. It wouldn't have been outrageous to schedule a couple of Division III opponents just to get a win on his record. But Ayres felt that his kids knew it wouldn't be the same as defeating a true Division I opponent, and he kept that as the goal. He stuck to his guns this year. Part of that security comes from the administration's belief in Ayres and his staff. If AD Gary Walters and his staff wasn't on board with the direction of the program, there might have been a bit more pushing to change the schedule a bit. But everybody was united in the belief that a win was less important than a sturdy foundation.

If you aren't a big fan of college wrestling, you might not be fully aware of the individual/team dynamic of the sport. One top recruit won't make you great overnight. A star running back, an ace pitcher and a hot goaltender can win games on their own. A superb wrestler can make sure you lose 54-6 instead of 60-0. However, bringing in one or two top competitors each year will draw others, and a once-stagnant program starts to gain momentum. Last year, 125-pound freshman Tony Comunale was an EIWA placewinner and stood about a minute away from NCAAs. Classmate Travis Erdman earned All-Ivy honors, the first for a Princeton wrestler in years.

On Saturday, two more freshmen picked up key wins. 141-pounder Daniel Kolodzik, who was hurt in the offseason and made his debut that day, picked up a technical fall victory. He was a two-time state champion in Ohio, a terrific area for high school wrestling, and was a nationally-ranked recruit. Classmate Kurt Brendel won both matches at 184 pounds, including a major decision at 184 pounds.

There are other talented competitors, but this is just an example of a group of underclassmen who could be legitimate scorers for Princeton over the next three years in 40% of the team's matches (a college wrestling match has 10 weight classes). Then you try to get a couple more freshmen who are immediately ready to compete, and you find a couple of upperclassmen who have figured it out and reached their potential... and you've found yourself a foundation to build upon. And win upon.

(One more thing about the F&M win. Wrestlers like Nikhil Pereira, Danny Scotton, Mike Alvarez and senior captain Marty Everin -- athletes not recruited Ayres -- picked up big wins. They have bought into the program, even though the better days will likely come after they graduate. That kind of character and leadership will only benefit the rest of the locker room and is to their credit.)

Winning simply hasn't been an option for Princeton. First of all, without enough wrestlers to fill all 10 weight classes, Princeton has been starting matches down 12-0 over the last two seasons. Unless you're loaded with All-Americas the rest of the way (and we're not), you aren't coming back. Princeton forfeited one match this weekend because heavyweight Stephen Turner was injured, but the Tigers overcame it. When Turner returns, and assuming (hoping?) the rest of the lineup stays healthy, Princeton will have a full 10 starters when it gets into the heart of the Ivy League season.

By no means is this team ready to challenge the likes of Cornell and Lehigh just yet. But maybe this year Princeton adds an Ivy League win. Maybe it will come next year. But TigerBlog was impressed with Ayres in 2006, and nothing has changed.

One win does not a program make, but it is another step forward. Not the only step forward in two and a half years. Just another one.

For more on Chris Ayres, Daily Princetonian writer Vikram Rao did a nice piece on the Tiger head coach last week. You can read it here.

Hello From Sunny California! Part II

Princeton vs. St. Louis
Updated End of Game
SLU wins 53-51. Lauren woods hits a jumper and is fouled. She lands her free throw to give SLU a 51-49 lead. Cheryl Stevens ties it at 51. With 16 seconds left Alisha Goodwin puts one in to regain the lead. Berry had 10 seconds to bring the ball down and make something happen. She takes the ball into the paint but her shot doesn't drop. Micir takes a foul sending a Billiken to the line but she misses her shot.

Updated 1:18
Princeton leads 49-48. This is gonna be a nail biter!

Updated 3:58
Last media timeout of the half. Just a note: Princeton has nailed all of its free throws this half, 8-8, while SLU is 0-2.

Updated 4:34
Princeton sets up a great play and Berry records a layup to give Princeton a one-point lead, 45-44.

Updated 7:37
It looks like this game will definitely be decided in the final seconds. There have been eight lead changes during the half. SLU leads 42-41.

Updated 11:47
Tied score at 35-35. Downs has scored the last six points for the Tigers.

Updated 15:31
St. Louis drains a three to retake the lead, 33-31.

Updated 17:00
Princeton has earned its first lead of the game, 31-30, after Downs took the ball down the lane.

Updated Halftime
SLU leads 27-25. Sophomore Addie Micir has 10 points and Whitney Downs has added seven as Princeton shot 37.9 percent in the half. The Bilikens are shooting 37.5 percent with Theresa Lisch and Amanda Kemezys each with six points.

Updated :54
SLU leads 25-23. Princeton has started to play stronger. Sophomore Krystal Hill and freshman Lauren Edwards have been making some key plays to the Tigers success.

Updated 3:26
SLU leads 25-18. The Tigers will have possession after the final media timeout of the half.

Updated 8:18
SLU leads 20-11. The Tigers still are having trouble finding its offensive rhythm. TigerBlog imagines Coach Banghart is looking forward to halftime.

Updated 11:43
SLU leads 11-8. Micir just dropped a bucket and will be shooting a free throw following the media timeout.

Updated 12:48
The Tigers don't seem like themselves today. A couple jumbles with the ball has resulted in turnovers.

Updated 14:59
Finally the streak has ended - Micir hits a jumper!

Updated 15:56.
SLU leads 2-0. The teams are both shooting cold. Princeton is 0-for-7, and SLU is 1-for-5. It really is a case of being unlucky for the Tigers. They are getting good lucks but the ball is either bouncing off the rim or rimming out.

Updated 18:21
Princeton is having a hard time finding the basket, shooting 0-for-4, but St. Louis isn't having much luck either. SLU leads 2-0.

Updated 20:00
And here we go...Cheryl Stevens wins the tip for the Tigers.

Sunday
It's the final day of the women's basketball trip to California. After a terrific performance last night versus No. 3 Cal, the team stuck around to watch some of the St. Louis/TCU game. Dinner followed at Pyramid, where coincidentally, members of the Cal team were seated right next to the Princeton tables. The athletes settled into bed early to rest up for Sunday's game. The team met for film and shoot-around this morning and are now warming up for its game with St. Louis. TigerBlog has been getting a hard time from the team for wearing a blue shirt to today's game. Not only is it blue, but the exact blue of the St. Louis Bilikens. An error in judgement on TigerBlog's part when packing on Wednesday night. After the game the team will head to an alumni reception, where at least 20 Princeton alums will get to meet the players and coaching staff. The Tigers will take the red eye out of San Francisco tonight, leaving at 10:30 p.m., and will arrive in Newark at 6:30 a.m., with an arrival back at Jadwin at 8:30 a.m.

Princeton-St. Bonaventure Men's Basketball

Final, St. Bonaventure 60, Princeton 53

:05.3 2nd: St. Bonaventure 60, Princeton 53
Princeton's possession following the final timeout comes up empty, and St. Bonaventure's Ray Blackburn will ice it at the line by hitting both. So much for the free throw struggles.

:38 2nd: St. Bonaventure 58, Princeton 53
The Reilly Center gets as loud as it has been all night, as a Pawel Buczak turnaround jumper in the lane misses and Doug Davis commits a foul to lengthen the game. Nicholson hits both, bucking the team's free throw trend, and Princeton is down by five.

1:45 2nd: St. Bonaventure 54, Princeton 53
Let's hope its not the TigerBlog jinx, as SBU's Andrew Nicholson hits both following a Patrick Saunders foul, his fourth. Sydney Johnson uses his full timeout, and Princeton has one 30-second timeout left.

2:08 2nd: Princeton 53, St. Bonaventure 52
Speaking of free throws, the man who made the last two for Princeton, Pawel Buczak, isn't as fortunate this time as he missed both. The rebound ended up as a jump ball even though Princeton appeared to have it and attempt to call time out. It might have turned out better than if Princeton had gotten the time out called, as the Tigers only have two left. SBU calls one anyway, and the Bonnies now have three left.

3:27 2nd: St. Bonaventure 52, Princeton 51
If it's a free-throw shooting contest, Princeton might get the upper hand. The Tigers are 14 for 20 from the line tonight, while SBU is 15 of 27, just below their 57% average entering the night.

3:41 2nd: St. Bonaventure 51, Princeton 49
Reilly Center isn't a place for the faint of heart tonight. Pawel Buczak will go to the line to try and tie it up. The game's last 221 seconds will last a lot longer than that.

4:14 2nd: St. Bonaventure 49, Princeton 49
Nick Lake fouls out for the second time this season, not long after hitting the game-tying three. It could be a free-throw shooting contest down the stretch, as Princeton now has 10 team fouls to SBU's 9.

5:06 2nd: St. Bonaventure 49, Princeton 49
As the saying goes, two out of three isn't bad, though the Tigers would have preferred all three go down as SBU gets a layup at the other end. Nick Lake buries a huge three-pointer to tie it.

5:18 2nd: St. Bonaventure 47, Princeton 44
Three points is St. Bonaventure's largest lead of the game, but Doug Davis, who hasn't yet scored, will get three free throws after being fouled on a trey attempt.

6:07 2nd: St. Bonaventure 45, Princeton 44
Is it 2008? There's a crowd-surfing wolf mascot as the SBU student section sings Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer.

6:07 2nd: St. Bonaventure 45, Princeton 44
St. Bonaventure missed, but a lane violation gives SBU's Ray Blackburn another chance and he hits to re-take the lead. Sydney Johnson calls timeout and has a full and a 30 left in what looks like it'll be a tight game the rest of the way.

6:37 2nd: Princeton 44, St. Bonaventure 43
It's become a free-throw contest lately, and St. Bonaventure, which entered the night shooting 57% from the line, has hit its last five after starting the night cold. SBU is now 11 for 20 from the line tonight.

7:20 2nd: Princeton 42, St. Bonaventure 41
It's a 5-0 run for St. Bonaventure, aided by three straight free throws and a running layup. The Tigers need a bucket.

9:44 2nd: Princeton 42, St. Bonaventure 36
Pawel Buczak's and-one conversion nets the Tigers a six-point lead. He picks up his fourth foul at the other end, however. Buczak has yet to foul out of a game this season.

11:25 2nd: Princeton 39, St. Bonaventure 35
St. Bonaventure's Jonathan Hall throws down SBU's second dunk of the game, while Princeton hasn't thrown one down yet this game. Kareem Maddox is the likeliest to do that. The Bonnies can have their dunks, says Nick Lake as he hits a more Princeton-esque shot, the three-pointer.

11:51 2nd: Princeton 34, St. Bonaventure 33
Jason Briggs' three-point attempt gets the dreaded wedge between the rim and backboard, resulting in a media timeout.

12:33 2nd: Princeton 34, St. Bonaventure 31
Offensive rebounds are key, and Patrick Saunders swoops in for a big one that he converts for a layup to give Princeton a three-point lead again. However, SBU gets its own layup on the other end, and it's 34-33.

13:37 2nd: Princeton 32, St. Bonaventure 31
St. Bonaventure's Andrew Nicholson must have been able to clean the blood from his shirt, as he's back in with the No. 44 jersey. Meanwhile, Zach Finley makes one of two from the line to help Princeton grab a one-point lead.

14:18 2nd: Princeton 31, St. Bonaventure 29
The students have nothing between them and the court, as a security guard has to hold them back from Doug Davis inbounding the ball in front of them. Nick Lake gets an offensive rebound off Davis' miss, but the Tigers can't convert and St. Bonaventure will try to tie with two free throw attempts.

15:02 2nd: Princeton 31, St. Bonaventure 29
Jason Briggs hits a badly needed three-pointer to re-take the lead for Princeton after it changed hands a couple times since St. Bonaventure closed the deficit. It's a hard-fought game, alright, as St. Bonaventure's Andrew Nicholson has to use the media timeout to change jerseys into one that doesn't have blood on it.

18:21 2nd: Princeton 26, St. Bonaventure 25
The Tigers' lead dwindles to one as St. Bonaventure starts the half on a 5-0 run. Princeton needs another run like the 10-0 streak that gave the Tigers a 13-point lead in the first half. Sydney Johnson calls time out to try and spark one. The Tigers have two 30s and a full remaining.

Halftime
What has made the difference in a six-point game? Princeton has hit a couple more three-pointers and a couple more free throws than St. Bonaventure, which is 2 for 8 from the line in the first half. Princeton is 4 of 7 and 4 of 9 from three-point range.

<1:00 1st: Princeton 24, SBU 20
Princeton hasn't scored since the 5:20 mark of the half, but Zach Finley ends that drought with :31.1 seconds to go with an and-one opportunity. Finley can't convert, however, and the Tigers will take a six-point lead into the break at 26-20.

5:20 1st: Princeton 24, SBU 13
Doug Davis checks back in the game. He has been scoreless so far, which threatens his double-digit scoring streak to start the season.

6:48 1st: Princeton 22, SBU 11
After a Jason Briggs three-pointer, his third of the season, SBU gets a one-and-one free-throw shooting situation and capitalizes, breaking its 0 for 5 string to start the night.

10:28 1st: Princeton 15, SBU 9
The struggles continue for St. Bonaventure at the line, as the Bonnies aren't able to capitalize on a Zach Finley shooting foul. SBU is 0 for 4 from the line so far as the half nears the midway point.

11:51 1st: Princeton 12, SBU 7
The friendly PA announcer pointed out to TigerBlog that Richmond, in the Atlantic 10 with St. Bonaventure, runs the same offense as Princeton. Not a coincidence of course, as Richmond coach Chris Mooney is a 1994 Princeton alumnus and a one-season teammate of Princeton's coach, Sydney Johnson '97.

12:o0 1st: Princeton 12, SBU 7
Jason Briggs' almost no-look pass to Kareem Maddox nets the Tigers an and-one opportunity. Maddox takes advantage.

14:34 1st: Princeton 8, SBU 5
Princeton play-by-play man John Sadak pointed out to TigerBlog before the game that St. Bonaventure wasn't a strong free-throw shooting team at 57%, and it hurts them in their first attempts from the line tonight following a Kareem Maddox foul, Princeton's third of the half. Still 8-5, and Jason Briggs will go to the line at the other end.

15:36 1st: Princeton 8, SBU 5
It's been a couple scoreless minutes for the Tigers, while St. Bonaventure has hit a three and a layup to cut the 8-0 Princeton run to start the game to 8-5.

17:33 1st: Princeton 8, SBU 3
TigerBlog has to give the St. Bonaventure student section credit. The whole lot of them has sardined into their half of the lower level, and all of them, at least in the front row, seem to be wearing blue jeans with their brown Wolf Pack t-shirts. No word if the denim is part of the official Wolf Pack uniform.

18:44 1st
Back-to-back threes, with a nice swat of a pass in the lane by Pawel Buczak in between, lead the Tigers to a quick 6-0 lead and a timeout by the Bonnies. It's a matchup of head coaches in their second seasons at their current schools, as St. Bonaventure's Mark Schmidt was previously the head man at Robert Morris near Pittsburgh.

Almost tip-off
Though Christmas is still 19 days away, TigerBlog spots at least one red Santa hat and a fellow in full Santa costume under the basket near the Princeton bench. In a pre-game stunt TigerBlog has never seen anything quite like, the campus ROTC delivers the game ball by sending about a half-dozen camouflaged "snipers" (dummy weapons, of course) to secure the court, while another slides down a rope from the ceiling with the game ball. It must be a lucky game ball, because St. Bonaventure wins the tip before giving it away on a travel.

2 minutes to tip-off
Quite an entrance for St. Bonaventure's players, through a tunnel of cheerleaders and dance team members, led by their wolf mascot.

6 minutes to tip-off
St. Bonaventure's court is named for its most famous basketball alumnus, Bob Lanier, who played most of his NBA career for the Detroit Pistons in the 1970s. Since that was before TigerBlog's time, TigerBlog best remembers Bob Lanier from his mention in the movie Airplane when a defensive Kareem Abdul-Jabbar asks the youngster in the cockpit if he thinks it's easy to drag (Bill) Walton and (Bob) Lanier up and down the court. Walton, of course, is the proud parent of Princeton grad Nate Walton '01.

8 minutes to tip-off
The arena is beginning to fill in. The students appear to have their run of half the lower level... coincidentally or not, the half opposite the Princeton bench.

10 minutes to tip-off
Princeton's five starters are the same for the sixth straight game to start the season, with Pawel Buczak, Doug Davis, Kareem Maddox, Patrick Saunders and Jason Briggs. Princeton also started last season with the same five in 12 straight games.

28 minutes to tip-off
The Tigers re-take the floor for some shooting and passing warmups, drawing mild jeers from the Wolf Pack. A 15-piece band, all of whom look to be alumni age, begins to play.

40 minutes to tip-off
TigerBlog zips back across the continent to Olean, N.Y., where the Tiger men's basketball team will meet the St. Bonaventure Bonnies on their home floor for the first time. While it was sunny in California, flurries are the order of the day in western New York. St. Bonaventure has averaged 5,000 fans for its first two games of the season in its home arena, the Reilly Center, which should feel like a sellout if a similar crowd shows today. About 50 "Wolf Pack" members are already in the student section, which runs the length of the floor opposite the benches.

Hello From Sunny California!

Princeton at Cal
Updated End of Game
Cal's wireless internet has been going in and out during the second half. The Golden Bears earn a 75-53 win.

Updated 15:25
Cal leads 45-20. Ashley Walker has scored all of Cal's points in the second half, six. While Princeton's Downs has scored five, Berry has two and Cheryl Stevens one.

Updated Halftime
Cal leads 39-22 at halftime, shooting over 58 percent. At the buzzer Natasha Vital hit a halfcourt shot to put the fans on their feet.

Updated 3:08
It's 33-20 Cal after a 13-5 run.

Updated 7:26
Cal leads 20-15. Princeton mirrored Cal since the last media timeout and now has nine points off of turnovers. The Golden Bears went up by 10, 20-10, but the a steal by Downs resulted in two points and Jessica Berry drained a three to make it 20-15.

Updated 11:19
Cal has taken a 13-8 lead, getting five points off of two turnovers.

Updated 12:57
Tied 8-8. Wow TigerBlog is impressed, this is the best Princeton has looked all season. Julia Berger looks fantastic hustling all over the court and Whitney Downs has two steals already. Addie Micir is having one of those games, running cold, shooting 0-for-3.

Updated 15:26
Cal leads 3-2. Both teams are having trouble finding the basket, with Princeton going 0-2 and Cal 1-5 in the first four minutes.

Updated 18:00
So far the Tigers are looking good. The Tiger defense wasn't giving the Golden Bears any good looks on its first two possessions and Cal drew an offensive foul to send the ball the other way.

Saturday, Dec. 5
It's 12:45 p.m. (PT) and the women's basketball team is warming up for the first of two games at the Collier's International Classic versus No. 3-ranked California. It's a busy day on the Cal campus. The final regular season football game got underway at noon versus Washington and the first and second rounds of the NCAA volleyball tournament are being held here this weekend as well.

The team arrived in San Francisco at around 9 p.m., (PT) on Thursday and went directly to dinner. The seven hour flight and realizing it was really 1 a.m., back in New Jersey, when we arrived at the hotel at the Berkeley Marina was obvious on the faces of the players. The team however was up at 8:30 a.m., on Friday, for breakfast followed by film and practice at Cal. In the evening the team visited Pier 39 - highlighted by a magic show - and had dinner at the Hard Rock.

This morning, the team was up at 6:30 a.m., and headed to Hass Pavilion to practice and familarize themselves with the main court. Pre-game meal followed and then some studying/relaxation before heading back to Hass.

Check back in for game updates and check back tomorrow to find out what the Tigers were up to on Saturday night.

365 Days and Counting Down

This weekend at Stanford, the NCAA men's water polo championship will be contested between USC, Navy, Loyola Marymount and Stanford, which reminded TigerBlog that exactly a year from now, Princeton's DeNunzio Pool will play host to the championship event.

Princeton has appeared in two NCAA tournaments, most recently in 2004 when the championship was also held at Stanford. That year Princeton dropped a pair of heartbreakers, losing to UCLA in overtime in the first game and dropping a one-goal decision to Loyola Marymount in the third-place game. Princeton came within a half of representing the CWPA in this season's tournament, before Navy rallied in the second half of the Eastern championship game.

DeNunzio Pool will become the third Princeton facility to host an NCAA championship event. The 1975 and 1981 NCAA wrestling championships were hosted at Jadwin Gymnasium and were both won by Iowa. Princeton also hosted the NCAA women's lacrosse championship at Princeton Stadium in 2004, which was won by Virginia. Several other facilities at Princeton have hosted early round NCAA tournament events in sports including field hockey, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, softball and cross country. Already this year, Princeton has hosted an NCAA Play-In Game in field hockey and the Mid-Atlantic Regionals for cross country.

Lights, Camera, Carmody

While TigerBlog was supporting its Ivy League counterpart over the weekend by watching the Cornell-Indiana men's basketball game on the Big Ten Network, on came a commercial from the network featuring all 11 Big Ten men's basketball coaches encouraging fans to watch the league's hoops on its home channel in the way coaches best know how: a pep talk.

Appearing four times in the spot was former Princeton coach Bill Carmody, who spent 18 seasons in Jadwin Gym.

You can watch the spot here. Unfortunately, the former Tiger mentor didn't get the exclamation point scene in the ad. That went to the Big Ten's rookie coach, Tom Crean of Indiana, who made it impossible for the Big Ten to say that no clipboards were harmed in the making of that commercial.

Carmody's first 14 seasons were as an assistant coach under Pete Carril, and the last four were as Princeton's head coach. He had a 92-25 record as the lead man from 1996-2000, including 50-6 in the Ivy League with two league-undefeated seasons and an NCAA Tournament first-round win in 1998, the last time the league won in the big dance.

Following the 1999-2000 season, Carmody went to Northwestern, where he remains today and has had a pair of Princeton alums on his staff. One was Craig Robinson '83, who then went on to become the head coach at Brown and is now at Oregon State, and Mitch Henderson '98, who remains in Evanston with Carmody.

Last night in the final game of the Big Ten/ACC challenge, Carmody achieved a milestone that was helped in large part by his days at Princeton. In defeating Florida State, Carmody won his 200th career game, 92 of which came with the Tigers. Of those, 159 came with Henderson, including all 108 as an assistant at Northwestern and 51 as a player at Princeton.

Carmody will be able to celebrate both a professional and personal milestone, as his 200th career win came on the eve of his 57th birthday today.

Princeton-Quinnipiac Part III

Tonight, the Princeton men's hockey team plays its third game of the season against its travel-partner Quinnipiac. Typically, each team in the ECAC plays each opponent twice, but for the second straight season, the Tigers will play a third "non-league" game against the Bobcats, which has gotten TigerBlog wondering why?

Well, the simple answer is that non-conference scheduling is not easy, while adding a third game against Quinnipiac was easy. Typically schedules are finalized two or so years ahead. When these past two seasons schedules were put together, it was assumed that Princeton would play two games its opening weekend of the season as part of an inseason tournament.

Last season it was the "Shootout at Ignalls" and this year the "Shootout at Brown." A fourth team had agreed to play in the tournament, but later pulled out and by that point the only replacement was a Canadian team, and games against that opponent, the Ontario Institute of Technology, are considered exhibition games. Each season the home team played the other two Ivy teams, and the visiting teams played the host and the exhibition team.

While this solved the problem for that weekend, it left Princeton with a hole in the schedule for one more game, but it happened after most teams had their schedules finalized. One team that had an opening was Quinnipiac, and it made sense. The teams are separated by only two hours, they play the same league schedule and have many of the same openings for non-league games.

Last season the teams played three straight games, alternating between Hamden, Princeton and Hamden. The first game was the non-league one and it was won by Quinnipiac, as was the first of the league contests before Princeton won in Hamden. This year the first two were the league games, both won by the Tigers, and the third will take place tonight but have no effect on the ECAC standings. If you're interested though, Princeton is currently first, while Quinnipiac is fifth

Men's Basketball vs. South Carolina

A final, 84-58 South Carolina. The Tigers will be home again Wednesday, Dec. 10 against Rutgers.

3:29 to go
At the last media timeout, South Carolina holds an 80-49 lead. The opposite of last season, when Princeton had all six of its wins at home, the Tigers are 0-3 at home this season and 2-0 on the road. Fortunately, going by that stat, Princeton's next game is on the road at St. Bonaventure Saturday. South Carolina will extend the SEC's record in Jadwin Gym to 2-0, following up on Vanderbilt's win here in 1985.

5:12 to go
As South Carolina extends its lead to 30 at 75-45, turnovers are the stat of the game. Princeton has a season-high 26 to South Carolina's 14.

5:54 to go
While Davis is still on 13 and Finley on 8, the Gamecocks have run their lead to 26 points at 71-45. Princeton's previous high for points allowed on the season was 61 last Wednesday to Fordham, but the Tigers won 73-61.

9:42 to go
A fancy move for Davis down the lane brings him to 13 points, but the Tigers are still down by 20, 61-41.

12:10 to go
Max Huc makes his first appearance, and Zach Finley re-enters the game, looking for a possible season-high point total with another bucket. For the team, however, it's South Carolina 55, Princeton 36.

13:24 to go
And there it is, a fallaway jumper for Davis, who now has 11 points. South Carolina 53, Princeton 34.

15:25 to go
Doug Davis banks in a bucket for his ninth point, just one away from reaching double digits once again. South Carolina 47, Princeton 32.

18:18 to go
Nick Lake's three-pointer ends a 17-0 run for South Carolina. South Carolina 40, Princeton 27.

2 minutes until start of the second half.
TigerBlog apologizes for technical difficulties during the first half, but we should be up and running again. The Tigers led briefly at 24-23, but South Carolina ended the half on a 15-0 run. Doug Davis needs a three for his fifth straight double-digit scoring game to start his career, and Zach Finley needs two points to finally break through to double-digits for the first time this season. Finley has scored eight or nine points in three of the four games so far this season.

TigerBlog says hello from courtside at Jadwin Gym, where the Princeton men's basketball team will host South Carolina. It is the Southeastern Conference's first visit to Jadwin Gym in 23 years, since Vanderbilt stopped by in 1985, and just the second visit all-time.

Princeton (2-2) will start the same five players for the fifth straight game, including Pawel Buczak, Patrick Saunders, Kareem Maddox, Doug Davis and Jason Briggs. South Carolina enters at 4-1 after losing 82-80 at College of Charleston in overtime last Friday night.

The Team Photo

Princeton hosts South Carolina in men's basketball tonight (7, WPRB FM 103.3, goprincetontigers.com) in an interesting matchup. The much-improved Tigers played in Columbia against the Gamecocks two seasons ago and dropped a 54-48 decision; this year's game is one of the highlights of the schedule.

South Carolina shipped a box of media guides up in advance of the contest, and TigerBlog was impressed with the publication. At the same time, TigerBlog couldn't help but chuckle at the team picture on page 3.

There are 11 players in the picture - including the explosive Devan Downey, a first-team All-SEC player a year ago who averages nearly 20 points per game.

At the same time, there are 13 non-players in the picture. In other words, there are more people wearing suits and ties than a basketball uniform.

The titles of the non-players are: head coach, video coordinator, strength and conditioning coach, director of player development, equipment manager, Fellowship of Christian Athletes representative, co-head manager, co-head manager, athletic trainer, coordinator of basketball operations, assistant coach, assistant coach and assistant coach.

TigerBlog couldn't find the current Princeton team photo but did happen to have the 1997-98 team photo nearby. That picture has 15 players and eight non-players; the non-players are the head coach, three assistant coaches, athletic trainer, equipment manager and two student managers.

Contrast this with the annual Princeton men's lacrosse team photo, which consists only of the players. Bill Tierney has never included anyone other than the players, not even coaches.

TigerBlog is looking forward to seeing the game tonight, and to see how the Tigers handle Downey and a team that likes to get up into the 80s. At the same time, TigerBlog has one question: Would it have been the end of the world to include the sports information person in the team photo as well?

The All-Time Men's Basketball Team

TigerBlog was watching the Georgetown-Maryland game Sunday night when ESPN's Len Elmore put his all-time Georgetown and Maryland lineups on the screen. It left TigerBlog wondering what the all-time Princeton team would be.

Elmore's teams had two guards, two forwards, a center and a sixth man on them. So, here goes, keeping in mind that this is simply the thoughts of TigerBlog and do not represent any official designation. Feel free to supply your own in reponse:

Obviously, it starts with Bill Bradley at one of the forward spots. Brian Taylor would be one of the guards. TigerBlog isn't 100% sure if Geoff Petrie should count as a guard or forward, so he'll fill in at one of the spots.

After those three, it's a little hard to pick just one other non-center. There are probably 20 solid contenders, including Craig Robinson, Brian Earl, Armond Hill, Frank Sowinski, Bob Scrabis and others from the 1940s through the 2000s. TigerBlog is biased towards Earl.

That leaves the center and the sixth man. The top centers is school history are probably Kit Mueller, Steve Goodrich, Chris Young and Chris Thomforde. Young would probably have become indisputably the best, but he left after two years to play professional baseball (in fairness, Taylor also left after two seasons). It's hard to choose against Mueller, who ranks second all-time in scoring and assists at Princeton and who was the keystone of the Tiger basketball resurgence beginning with arrival in the 1987-88 season.

That leaves a team of Bradley and Petrie at forwards, Earl and Taylor as guards and Mueller at center. Throw in Hill as the sixth man, and there you have it.

Alternate opinions are welcome.