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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Will Venable hit his second opposite field home run (video) in as many days, helping San Diego rally past Milwaukee 11-7.
A sacrilegious quote from Pete Carril, yelled at some point during Bishop John Barres' playing days brought down the house when Barres recalled it during his ordination ceremony.
The New York Times profiles the new Director of the Ivy League, Robin Harris.
Yale has released its 2009-10 basketball schedule. The Bulldogs' game versus the Tigers in New Haven is scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm ET.
A big afternoon for Will Venable - Four hits, a three run home run and four runs batted in as San Diego defeated Cincinnati 7-4. It was Venable's second four hit game of the season. Watch highlights here.
Andy Katz talks with Georgetown coach John Thompson III about the Hoyas' 2009-10 schedule and the team's struggles last season.
Princeton junior forward Kareem Maddox is playing in LA's Say No Classic Summer League. Maddox had 13 points and six rebounds for Hank's Big Time on the 17th.
At the ceremony yesterday where John Barres became the new Bishop of Allentown, Barres addressed Chris Thomforde and Coach Carril in his remarks.
I had a chance to speak with Princeton assistant coach Scott Greenman yesterday afternoon about his experiences as head coach of the Junior USA men's basketball team during the 18th Maccabiah Games earlier this month.
Greenman was happy to go into detail about his return to Israel and to discuss his team's loss at the buzzer versus Israel in the gold medal game. This Q&A is 15:00+ in length.
I received the surprising news today that Jim Lane will not be the head coach of Union County College this season. While Lane was announced by the school as its new coach in May, the former Princeton center was unable to work out philosophical differences with UCC before finalizing his contract - despite having already held team meetings, done recruiting and supervising "open gym" scrimmages.
Lane will instead be teaching history at the CREATE Charter Middle School in Jersey City and is looking forward to moving on from this false start.
princetonbasketball.com was founded on April 28th, 1998 in an attempt to provide fans of the Princeton Tigers and Ivy League basketball with the best on-line source for up-to-date news and information. We have since expanded to launch a companion site, Georgetown Basketball News.
As these sites have continued to grow we have increased our coverage to include additional teams with Princeton connections - the Richmond Spiders, Denver Pioneers, Oregon State Beavers, Fairfield Stags and Mercer County Community College Vikings - plus former Tigers playing professional baseball and basketball all over the world. This site is not directly affiliated with the Friends of Princeton Basketball, Princeton University or the Princeton athletic department.
Sun. 11/10 vs. Florida A&M
Sat. 11/16 at Butler
Wed. 11/20 vs. Lafayette
Sat. 11/23 at Rice
Tue. 11/26 vs. George Mason
Sat. 11/30 at Bucknell
Sat. 12/7 vs. FDU
Wed. 12/11 at Rutgers
Sat. 12/14 at Penn State
Fri. 12/20 vs. Portland*
Sat. 12/21 vs. Pacific*
Tue. 12/31 vs. Kent State
Sat. 1/4 at Liberty
Sat. 1/11 at Penn
Sun. 1/26 vs. Kean
Fri. 1/31 at Harvard
Sat. 2/1 at Dartmouth
Fri. 2/7 vs. Columbia
Sat. 2/8 vs. Cornell
Fri. 2/14 at Brown
Sat. 2/15 at Yale
Fri. 2/21 vs. Dartmouth
Sat. 2/22 vs. Harvard
Fri. 2/28 vs. Yale
Sat. 3/1 vs. Brown
Fri. 3/7 at Cornell
Sat. 3/8 at Columbia
Tue. 3/11 vs. Penn
2,503 - B. Bradley, 1962-65
1,625 - I. Hummer, 2009-13
1,550 - D. Davis, 2008-12
1,546 - K. Mueller, 1987-91
1,451 - P. Campbell, 1959-62
1,441 - C. Robinson, 1979-83
1,428 - B. Earl, 1995-99
1,365 - B. Scrabis, 1985-89
1,321 - G. Petrie, 1967-70
1,292 - H. Haabestad, 1952-55
1,277 - G. Lewullis, 1995-99
1,239 - B. Taylor, 1970-72
1,207 - S. Goodrich 1994-98
1,133 - F. Sowinski, 1975-78
1,130 - R. Hielscher, 1991-95
1,122 - C. Thomforde, 1966-69
1,099 - T. Manakas, 1970-73
1,090 - J. Wallace, 2001-05
1,088 - C. Belz, 1956-59
1,079 - B. Hauptfuhrer, 1973-76
1,076 - B. Roma, 1976-79
1,071 - C. Mooney, 1990-94
1,064 - A. Hyland, Jr., 1960-63
1,062 - L. Brangan, 1957-60
1,057 - A. Hill, 1973-76
1,054 - D. Mavraides, 2007-11
1,044 - S. Johnson, 1993-1997
1,031 - J. Hummer, 1967-70
1,010 - W. Venable, 2001-05
