Iowa vs. Northwestern - 9:00 pm ET - Big Ten Network
Nick Lake represents Princeton in the latest Ivy Weekly Men's Basketball Awards.
The Daily Princetonian talks to Noah Savage about the Tigers' weekend at Brown and Yale.
Today's Craig Robinson feature comes from the Chicago Tribune.
Northwestern hosts Iowa this evening.
Plenty of labor jokes as Chris Young pitched two innings the day before his wife was scheduled to give birth to the couple's first child.
Jon--I think it is time to go back to the old format and let us debate each other on line. We all read the newspapers and do not need this as a place to read who won. What was good about the past was the easy ability to post and respond to comments. I know that this is a more professional look, but not as much fun. Thanks.
Stephen,
You're more than welcome to join the members who use the comments to post their thoughts. If you have something to say about a specific game, post after that game's recap is on-line. If you have something to say about a specific article, post under that day's news.
The Comments RSS feed (located in the bottom right of every page) makes it very easy to see who is saying what and respond.
Jon
Recent news articles and comments of fellow Tiger fans raise questions about
recruiting athletes at academically demanding schools. Boy,is this a tricky subject. Any sort of loose statement and you have caused unintended collateral damage to athletes coaches or admissions departments.
Anyone who was following Ivy football and basketball in the late '80's can remember the flap over the waiver granted Columbia to admit football players who did not meet minimum academic standards. The players admitted did well in their studies and I hope to some degree punctured the dumb jock myth.
I am wondering if within the level playing field of the Ivy League, Princeton is not at a disadvantage in not accepting transfers. Also based on reading programs
at games the last couple of years I do not find Princeton players from outside the U.S . For example, Columbia recently has had two or three foreign players.
I think Canada would be a country where Princeton with its Canadian ties
would have an advantage recruiting.
Joseph,
Have you looked at the hockey team roster recently? I don't think Princeton shies away from Canadian recruits. I also don't know if lowering academic standards is necessary. The problem is that the Tigers are not getting the scholar athletes in basketball that they got in the past. What is Princeton doing differently now that they didn't do ten years ago? The only things that I can think of is that they have changed the early admission policy and have made a conscious effort to place less emphasis on athletics. I read an article a few years back (I think in Sports Illustrated) that pointed out to my surprise the large percentage of Princeton students who play D-I sports and compete on a very national high level. Princeton was clearly getting a reputation for being the jock school in the Ivy League. I think there has been a conscious effort in the past five years by the administration to change this perception. If I were a parent of a prospective or attending Princeton student I would probably applaud this move. Unfortunately, as a die hard Tiger basketball fan, I hate it.
David,
Your statement, "The problem is that the Tigers are not getting the scholar athletes in basketball that they got in the past. " is spot on but I'm not so sure that you can jump to the conclusion that there is a "conscious effort in the past five years by the administration to change this perception." In the past five years, most of our sports teams are surging with national caliber talent. In the last five years, Princeton has added a new director of admissions and President Tilghman has come down squarely in favor of broadening the Arts, but our athletic success in most of our other sports points toward a more narrowly focused, basketball-specific problem than a general trend. I believe the problem with basketball is two-fold: first, you have to find qualified students who are good basketball players and want to come to Princeton and second; over the last four years, our program has not been very appealing.
As to the first, Princeton has a peculiar personality and that its appeal is not as universal to the outside world as it is to those of us who type here. Some kids see the value, like the vibe and want to come here; others are more comfortable in other Ivy settings. As to the second, we've not jad much to show in the past four years that is attractive and tradition can only carry you so far (See Notre Dame football). A smart basketball player knows up front that the academics are going to be challenging, so he's looking at that part of the college experience where he's going to spend a whole lot of his waking hours; he wants to play and have fun. The fun is starting to come back and I believe the players will also.
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