Will Venable went 1-5 as San Antonio defeated Springfield 6-2 in the first game of the Texas League Championship. Game two is tonight at Nelson W. Wolff Stadium.
David Blatt is leading a "Russian revival" at the European Championships.
Joseph Heiser, the best free throw shooter in Princeton basketball history and Pete Carril's first captain at Princeton, has passed away at the age of 61.
Marty Mannion makes Xconomy's list of "The Best Athletes on Boston’s Private-Equity Circuit."
Will Venable was 2-4 at the plate and twice drove in a runner with two outs as San Antonio shut out Frisco 5-0 to advance to the Texas League championship series, which starts Tuesday at home against Springfield. Several quotes from a jubilant Venable can be found here.
Congratulations to Princeton Associate Athletic Director Jerry Price for winning Story of the Year in the College Sports Information Directors of America Fred S. Stabley Writing Contest. Price was honored for his January piece "Welcome home, Coach Carril."
Charlie Rosen from Fox Sports argues that Butch van Breda Kolff should be in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
The above screenshot comes from Rivals' wireless service, but there's no story that goes along with it. Is this Texas point guard Sydney Johnson's second recruit of the week or is there an error in the Rivals database? We're trying to find out more.
Update: According to Shaw's high school coach, "Brandon has not been offered any type of commitment from Princeton."
Almost ten minutes of footage from Princeton's 1996 NCAA game against UCLA. Hard to believe there were three future Princeton head coaches on the Princeton bench (Carmody, Thompson & Scott), plus another future Princeton head coach (Johnson) and a future Princeton assistant (Earl) on the court during the second half.
New England Recruiting Report is reporting that 6'7" New Hampton School forward Patrick Saunders (right) has committed to play basketball at Princeton.
Rivals has the following to say about Saunders in November of last year:
Keep an eye on New Hampton junior Patrick Saunders. The 6-foot-7 forward is a basketball player. He knows what to do with the ball when he has it. He knows what to do without it. A smart passer and a good shooter, Saunders would be a great get for a Princeton-style oriented offense. He was an efficient seven of nine from the floor to the tune of 15 points against the Patterson School.
Saunders is head coach Sydney Johnson's first publicly-known recruit.
Some interesting Sydney Johnson quotes in Andy Glockner's preview of the 2007-08 Ivy League season.
"We want players who will compete ... guys who have an extra level of aggressiveness who like to compete and like to play in big games, who have a lot of heart and a little nastiness, if you will," Johnson said.
"We're not one of the best Princeton teams that have come across in the last 10-20 years, but we'll always play good teams. That's who we are," Johnson said. "People want to see our program and our players."
"We need to add talent and maximize the talent that's already on the roster such that we're competing for the Ivy league championship," he said. " ... It's only been one year, but we certainly need to get back to where we're supposed to be competing."
1981 was the last year until the early 1990s that Topps made basketball trading cards. Each card in this set had three players on it, with perforations that allowed for division into three smaller cards. This is our final Brian Taylor scan, 1981 Topps trading card #216.
Associated Press/Christopher Barth
In the wake of the passing of Butch van Breda Kolff (right), the majority of today's articles are about his life.
The Princeton athletic department press release has the following quote from head coach Sydney Johnson:
"We lost one of our program's most important figures yesterday," says Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson '97. "He was a central figure in establishing Princeton as one of the top 20 college basketball programs of all time. Our players, coaches and fans are honored to be associated with Coach van Breda Kolff and we offer our deepest condolences to his family and dear friends."
Harvey Yavener of the Trenton Times talks to former Princeton coach Pete Carril and current Tigers Athletic Director Gary Walters about the man they called "Coach."
The New York Times remembers Uncle Butch.
Columnist Ed Laubach with the Express-Times writes about the life of Butch van Breda Kolff, speaking to Moravian College president Chris Thomforde along with Coach Carril (who mentions he would like to coach again as an assistant).
But I think my favorite find while searching the newswire was this 1967 piece from Time Magazine, "Tiger In The Ivy."
The Princeton Packet's Bob Nuse would still love to see the "Carril Classic" happen at Jadwin Gym. While Nuse knows this would never come together, what about having three teams from the "Princeton family" of coaches play three different teams in a tripleheader at Jadwin?
Will Venable homered for the second consecutive game, but Frisco got the better of San Antonio, 6-4.
While Chris Young won't be rejoining his Padres teammates in Philadelphia this weekend, there is hope that he will return to the rotation next week.
Former Princeton basketball coach Willem "Butch" van Breda Kolff passed away yesterday in Spokane, Washington at the age of 84 after a lengthy illness.
van Breda Kolff paced the sidelines at Princeton from 1962-1967, leaving the Tigers for a job coaching the Los Angeles Lakers. van Breda Kolff assembled a 103-31 record with four Ivy League titles in his five seasons at Princeton and led the Tigers to the program's only Final Four appearance in 1965.
If you have any memories or stories about Butch van Breda Kolff you would like to share, please feel free to leave them in our comments section. I hope that his still-memorable speech from the 100 Years of Princeton Basketball dinner in 2001 can someday be archived on-line.
I'll be covering Chris Young in his start at Shea Stadium against the Mets on Tuesday night. If any princetonbasketball.com subscribers have interview questions you would like me to try and ask Chris, please contact me.
Will Venable went 0-4 in San Antonio's 4-0 loss to Arkansas on Saturday, his batting average dipping to .274. Venable rested on Sunday and was not in the lineup as the Missions defeated the Travelers 7-1.
