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A note from Dan Connelly.

Shortly after I posted that Dan Connelly would be leaving Princeton for a position at Memphis, I received a note from Dan that he said I could share with readers of this site.

It was a very tough decision to leave Princeton because I worked with a great staff, they were great basketball coaches and even better people.

I will be handling all the recruiting correspondence for Memphis, helping to coach individuals and run practices among many other tasks.

I will be able to get on the floor to help the coaches out at Memphis which I was unable to do under my job title at Princeton, which was tough because we had some amazing guys on our team on and off the court.

Princeton will always be a special place for me because of the family atmosphere created through former players, coaches and people around campus who are always there to help out. I will always remember the help and assistance that I received from Lawrence Schuler, Stu Orefice (pictured to Dan's left in the above photograph - ed.), Larry Perks, Coach Carril and the other countless people like yourself who are always there to help out and give kind words.

I wouldn't have left Princeton unless I thought it was a perfect opportunity. Coach Johnson and staff have done an incredible job and I will be playing close attention to scores throughout the year because of the great people involved with one of the most historic programs in college basketball.

Dan Connelly

While serving a graduate assistant at Memphis, Dan will be enrolled in the school's Health and Sport Sciences Department, working towards a Sports and Leisure Commerce degree.



Dan Connelly leaves Princeton for Memphis.

Princeton's former Director of Basketball Operations, Dan Connelly (pictured above holding a clipboard), has left the school to take a graduate assistant position at the University of Memphis. Connelly had been a part of the Princeton staff since July 2007.

This opening at Princeton has yet to be officially filled, but an announcement may be forthcoming shortly. While the 2009-10 coaching staff page on the athletic department's web site does not include a Director of Basketball Operations, the classified ads listing this position on jobcircle.com, insidehighered.com and similar web sites have all been removed.

I am aware of the tireless work Dan put in behind the scenes to help keep the Princeton basketball office organized and the coaches well-prepared. Personally, he always had a kind word for me when we would cross paths and I wish him the best as he moves on to a new batch of Tigers.



Saturday News:

Chris Young will have an arthroscopic debridement procedure on his right shoulder on Monday. He will not pitch again in 2009.

Will Venable drove in two runs for the Padres on Wednesday. Here's video of his RBI single to right that opened the scoring. Venable picked up two more base hits last night in San Diego's 9-2 loss at St. Louis.

Northwestern forward John Shurna talks about his time with the USA U-19 team, who won the gold medal at the Under-19 World Championships in New Zealand.

Sports Illustrated has a piece about three different top 100 prospects who are showing a strong interest in playing basketball at Harvard.



Moving on up (a folder).

warning: tech talk to follow

For a number of months, I've wanted to shift this site's architecture from building off of www.princetonbasketball.com/blog/ up a folder to princetonbasketball.com.

Tonight I finally finished the move, so please bookmark princetonbasketball.com going forward.

There's still a mirror of the site in the /blog/ folder, but I don't know how long that will remain active.

Why this tweak? Well, the old address - with such weight on the word "blog" - was somewhat pejorative and took away in my opinion from the validity of the site.

The RSS feed, Comment RSS feed and subscription portal addresses are not moving, so there should be few (if any) hiccups due to this change.

If you notice an old link that doesn't work, please let me know!

Might as well use this missive to remind those reading that you can follow the site on Twitter and become a fan of the site on Facebook.

Best,

Jon Solomon
princetonbasketball.com



Sean Gregory vs. The Today Show.

Former Princeton basketball player and current Time Magazine scribe Sean Gregory was on The Today Show this morning talking about haggling at retail stores. Gregory's article for Time, "In the Recession, Shoppers Are Becoming Hagglers" can be found here.



New Recruit - T.J. Bray.

Princeton's first publicly-revealed member of the 2010 recruiting class is 6'4", 185 lb combo guard T.J. Bray from Catholic Memorial School in Waukesha, Wisconsin. According to the Wisconsin Sports Network, Bray chose Princeton over offers from Brown, Bucknell, Dartmouth, Florida Gulf Coast, Hillsdale, Lehigh and North Dakota.

I had the chance to speak with Bray's AAU coach, Ritchie Davis of Wisconsin Playground Warriors and Bray's high school coach Dean Bellanti. Both shared their thoughts with me about the newest Tiger.

Exclusive quotes and links to articles and evaluations about Bray can be found after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »



Wednesday News:

The relationship between Will Venable and his parents is the focus of an article on padres.com.

Venable's recent surge also earned him a profile in the San Diego Union Tribune.

Last night Venable hit a long home run to right field (video) as San Diego pasted Milwaukee 13-6. Venable added a two run single in the Padres' six run sixth inning.

It isn't all baseball news around these parts though. Word has broken on Princeton's first 2010 commitment. I spoke with his AAU coach last night for a profile that I hope to publish today. Just need to get a few quotes from his high school coach and you'll learn all about the first publicly-announced name of next year's freshman class.



Orange Jumpsuits.

They arrived shortly before tipoff at the Frank Erwin Center, claiming they had driven straight from Princeton to Austin, Texas without stopping, save for essential gas station pitstops and a quick Taco Bell drive-through.

Just outside of their destination these seven Princeton undergraduates quickly switched into their outfits for Princeton's 1990 NCAA Tournament game versus Arkansas - seven identical orange jumpsuits.

The above photograph ran on the back page of the Austin American-Stateman on Sunday, March 18, 1990 as part of a larger photo essay capturing the flavor of the weekend's games.

The caption reads:

"Nah, can't be...or can it? These Princeton students - yes, Ivy Leaguers - suited up in hunter fluorescent orange, hoping for a big kill."

The accompanying article quotes a Princeton student named Rob English clocking his just-completed NJ to TX drive in a 1983 Ford pickup as "Twenty-six hours, 43 minutes and six seconds" door-to-door, with a stop 10 minutes away from the arena to crack a champagne bottle over the vehicle's hood when it passed 100,000 miles.

Pictured in the second row - Steve and Pam from The 14 Club wearing headbands and a 16 year old me just to their left sporting my tried and true baseball cap. Click to enlarge.



Monday News:

Inside The Padres reports that Chris Young's season is likely over.

Will Venable drove in a run with a single to center field (video) as San Diego won its third straight over the Mets on Saturday night.

For those of you who play rotisserie baseball, ESPN and Yahoo! Sports debate picking up Venable for your league's stretch run.

Did you know that legendary civil rights attorney John Doar played basketball at Princeton? The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tells his story.



Saturday News:

Will Venable drove in the game-tying run with a double in the bottom of the ninth (video), then scored the winning run on Everth Cabrera's grand slam as San Diego scored five times in the final frame to beat the Mets 6-2.

The Harvard basketball schedule has been released. The Crimson host Princeton on February 5th at 7:00 pm ET.



Thursday News:

Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson was a guest on the radio show Wheels at Work. Listen to the interview here (.mp3).

I read on CAAZone that incoming Princeton freshman Ian Hummer was playing for the Clyde's team in the Kenner League at Georgetown with Hoyas Jason Clark and Henry Sims, so I asked some regulars on the HoyaTalk message board to share their impressions of Hummer's game. Click on Hummer's name to see what they have to say.

Kareem Maddox scored eight points on 4-8 shooting in the final Hank's Big Time game of the Say No Classic's season. The team finished with a 4-4 record.

Former Israeli team star / Rutgers player Steve Kaplan tells the Sacramento Bee how he regrets not going to Princeton to play for Pete Carril.

Chris Young may have missed 46 consecutive games due to his shoulder injury, but Padres manager Bud Black does not think surgery will be necessary.

Will Venable hit an opposite field solo home run (video) on Tuesday and followed that up with a two run shot to right (video) yesterday afternoon. Venable has gone deep five times in the last seven games and is hitting .481 during that stretch.

The good fortune continued for another member of Venable's family, as his younger brother Winston, who was frequently at Jadwin when his older brother was playing basketball, transferred to Boise State, where he hopes to succeed as a safety/linebacker hybrid.



Thomforde, Barres, Carril.

Moravian College president Dr. Christopher M. Thomforde, Bishop John O. Barres and Peter J. Carril. Picture courtesy the Diocese of Allentown.



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