Tuesday News:

March 9, 2010 at 9:09 am
Filed under Basketball, Brian Taylor, Denver, MCCC, Northwestern, Oregon State, Princeton, Today's News, Will Venable

Today's Game: Penn (6-21 / 5-8) vs. Princeton (19-8 / 10-3)
Location: Jadwin Gym - Princeton, NJ
Time: 8:00 pm ET
Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB
TV: N/A
Internet: goprincetontigers.com
Series History: Penn leads 122-99.
Last meeting: Princeton 58 Penn 51 - 2/16/10.

The Princeton class of 2010, pictured as incoming freshmen.

Wednesday, March 10th
(9) South Florida / (16) DePaul winner vs. (8) Georgetown - 12:00 pm ET - ESPN
Big East Tournament

Thursday, March 11th
(10) Indiana vs. (7) Northwestern - 5:00 pm ET - ESPN2
Big 10 Tournament

(6) Oregon State vs. (3) Washington - 9:00 pm ET - FSN
Pac-10 Tournament

Friday, March 12th
(6) Charlotte / (11) UMass winner vs. (3) Richmond - 9:00 pm ET
Atlantic 10 Tournament

Denver (19-13) fell short of North Texas in the Sun Belt semis, 63-56. The Pioneers were within one with under seven minutes to go, before Josh White scored five straight for the Mean Green.

Kareem Maddox represents Princeton in this week's Ivy Weekly Men's Basketball Report.

Behind 22 points and seven boards from Mason Rocca, Armani Jeans nipped Canadian Solar Bologna, 73-71.

Here's a transcript of a SLAM Magazine article on Brian Taylor. For those interested in the organization Taylor is currently involved with, visit the Inner City Education Foundation Public Schools web site.

John Shurna from Northwestern earned consensus second-team All-Big Ten status. Fellow Wildcat Drew Crawford was the media's choice for Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

Oregon State's Seth Tarver was named Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year.

Mercer is the 11 seed in the Division II Men�s Basketball National Tournament. They'll open round robin play versus Kishwaukee on Tuesday at 7:30 pm ET.

Will Venable is back in the swing of things.

Princeton slides up to third place in the latest iteration of the Schuylkill 16.

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Monday News:

March 8, 2010 at 8:13 am
Filed under Basketball, Denver, Georgetown, Northwestern, Oregon State, Princeton, Recruiting, Richmond, Today's News

Here's your lineup for the week ahead. I'll update this schedule daily.

Monday, March 8th
(6) Denver vs. (2) North Texas - 9:30 pm ET - ESPN360
Sun Belt Tournament

Tuesday, March 9th
Penn vs. Princeton - 8:00 pm ET

Wednesday, March 10th
(9) South Florida / (16) DePaul winner vs. (8) Georgetown - 12:00 pm ET - ESPN
Big East Tournament

Thursday, March 11th
(10) Indiana vs. (7) Northwestern - 5:00 pm ET - ESPN2
Big 10 Tournament

(6) Oregon State vs. (3) Washington - 9:00 pm ET - FSN
Pac-10 Tournament

Friday, March 12th
(6) Charlotte / (11) UMass winner vs. (3) Richmond - 9:00 pm ET
Atlantic 10 Tournament

Denver (19-12) began the second half on a 26-7 run, surprising #3 seed Middle Tennessee 73-58 to advance to the Sun Belt Tournament semis. The Pioneers shot 12-17 from the floor in the final 20 minutes.

The Daily Princetonian, the Harvard Crimson and the Dartmouth report on last weekend's games.

A supplemental piece in the Crimson looks at the struggles of Princeton's and Harvard's leading scorers on Saturday.

Richmond's Kevin Anderson was named Atlantic 10 Player of the Year.

The New York Times' blog The Quad compliments yesterday's article on Chris Mooney with a post about what Mooney learned playing pickup ball on his recruiting visit to Princeton.

Georgetown's Greg Monroe was named All-Big East First Team. Austin Freeman made All-Big East Second Team.

Princeton recruit T.J. Bray is profiled by the Wisconsin Sports Network. Here's more detail on the most recent game for Bray, who had 13 of his 26 points in the third quarter of Catholic Memorial's win over East Troy.

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Who was the kid on the sidelines?

March 7, 2010 at 9:38 pm
Filed under Basketball, Princeton

As Princeton lined up for the national anthem on Saturday night, there was someone new on the sidelines. Someone noticeably smaller than the rest of the Tiger roster wearing orange and black.

You might have missed him in the long shadow of 6'10" Will Barrett as the Princeton ROTC presented the colors, but 10 year old Christian Regulski of Robbinsville, NJ shouldn't go overlooked.

Christian was paired with the Princeton men's basketball team by the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, an organization that matches a child who has a pediatric brain tumor with a nearby sports team.

The Tigers "adopted" Christian for the game. He was on the bench as Princeton warmed up the game and he joined the team for handshakes with Harvard after the final buzzer.

Coach Johnson spent a quiet moment with Christian on the Jadwin floor one-on-one before heading to the locker room.

"Our team's connection with Friends of Jaclyn stemmed from our players wanting to connect with people in our community beyond the basketball court," Johnson said. "We couldn't have guessed that Christian and his family would touch us so much. He's a really good kid, a funny kid and he's got a ton of courage."

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Brian Taylor reception pictures.

March 7, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Filed under Basketball, Brian Taylor, Jimmy Lane, John Rogers, Pete Carril, Photos, Princeton, Scott Greenman, Sean Gregory, Stephen Goldsmith, Steve Mills

Photos from last night's postgame reception honoring Brian Taylor courtesy of Stephen Goldsmith.

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Kareem Maddox, guarding guards.

March 7, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Filed under Basketball, Princeton

The five leading scorers in the Ivy League this season are all guards - Penn's Zack Rosen, Cornell's Ryan Wittman, Yale's Alex Zampier, Harvard's Jeremy Lin and Columbia's Noruwa Agho.

Coming off the bench for Princeton, the longer and bouncier 6'8" Kareem Maddox has drawn each as his primary defensive assignment. While Maddox has not guarded each player for the entire game and will be the first to tell anyone who asks with agonizing modesty that it is team defense, not his individual play that is responsible for holding these players in check, the two game splits for all five compared to their season averages is telling.

See game-by-game breakdowns after the jump.

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A new Brian Taylor card!

March 7, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Filed under Basketball, Brian Taylor, Princeton, Trading Cards

The summer before last I spent a fair amount of time scanning classic trading cards of Princeton greats who played in the ABA and/or NBA including Brian Taylor, Geoff Petrie and Armond Hill.

Last night a new card was introduced, handed out to fans entering Jadwin Gym as part of the evening's festivities surrounding Taylor. Images of both sides have been added to this series and can be seen above.

Photos from the stellar postgame reception honoring Taylor will be up later today.

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Sunday News:

March 7, 2010 at 9:55 am
Filed under Basketball, Denver, Georgetown, Northwestern, Oregon State, Princeton, Recruiting, Richmond, Today's News

Denver vs. Middle Tennessee - 10:00 pm ET - Sun Belt Tournament

In addition to our recap, read about Princeton's sweep of Harvard on goprincetontigers.com, in the Boston Globe and on gocrimson.com.

Georgetown (20-9) got 24 points from Austin Freeman and finished Big East play with an impressive 74-47 win over Cincinnati. HoyaHoops has postgame audio. The Hoyas' first conference tournament game will be Wednesday afternoon at 12:00 pm ET versus either South Florida or DePaul.

Indiana scored the first seven points of overtime and defeated Northwestern (19-12), 88-80. John Shurna scored 31 in the loss as the Wildcats struggle to find a consistent third scoring option.

Richmond (24-7) fared better in an extra frame, getting by Charlotte 89-84. Kevin Anderson hit from 25 feet out to force OT. The Spiders set a school record for regular season victories.

Richmond head coach Chris Mooney is profiled in the New York Times.

Oregon State (14-16) fell 82-70 to Washington. The two teams will meet again Thursday in the Pac-10 Tournament.

Denver (18-12) advanced to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament quarterfinals with a 71-64 win over Florida International.

Princeton recruit T.J. Bray had 26 in Catholic Memorial's 66-42 win over East Troy.

Future Tiger Ben Hazel and Good Counsel lost to O'Connell in the WCAC quarterfinals.

Around the Ivy League: Cornell (27-4 / 13-1) completed their championship campaign with a 79-59 win at Yale (12-19 / 6-8). Columbia (11-17 / 5-9) closed the year with a 65-56 win over Brown (11-20 / 5-9). Jack Eggleston had a career-best 25 as Penn (6-21 / 5-8) denied Dartmouth (5-23 / 1-13), 78-68.

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Princeton 54 Harvard 51.

March 6, 2010 at 8:47 pm
Filed under 09-10, Audio, Basketball, Princeton

Box Score : HD Box Score

Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Marcus Schroeder & Kareem Maddox:

After Princeton fell in a close game to Cornell at Jadwin Gym in mid-February, Tigers head coach Sydney Johnson spoke with a friend of his. A friend who is the men's basketball coach at Georgetown.

It was, recalled Johnson, the first time he said his squad might be pretty decent.

"I told [Coach Thompson] I really believed in this team and that we were good and I think we've shown that over the last month or so," Johnson said. "If the postseason comes calling for us, I think they'll have a good team involved in their tournament, because we're showing something."

Princeton improved its postseason tournament profile, recorded its 19th win and assured itself of a second place finish in the Ivy standings with a 54-51 victory over Harvard on Saturday night.

Oliver McNally was unable to get off a stable look from behind the arc with time running out and for the second time this season Harvard missed a tying three point shot against the Tigers as time ran out.

McNally’s off-balance miss punctuated a foul-plagued victory for the Tigers, who got an enormous contribution off the bench from junior forward Kareem Maddox.

Maddox scored a career high 18, made 10-11 at the free throw line and blocked a Jeremy Lin drive at the rim with the Tigers holding a one point lead late in the game.

Lin, Harvard's leading scorer, shot 1-8 from the floor, did not make a layup or a midrange jump shot - the hallmarks of his game - and never touched the ball on the Crimson's final possession of the season.

"He puts so much heat on you because he's pretty aggressive with the ball and tries to get low and draw fouls," Johnson said of Lin. "We worked on a scouting report, and the coaches did a very a good job. [The team] listened and they can apply it. They have the physical tools. We have some players. I think all of that worked together to slow Jeremy Lin down."

Marcus Schroeder converted four free throws in the final minute to take Princeton from a 51-50 deficit to the final margin of victory after Brandyn Curry had sent Harvard in front with a three point shot out of the left corner. Schroeder played all 40 minutes, adding five assists, six rebounds and a pair of steals.

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Saturday News:

March 6, 2010 at 10:12 am
Filed under Basketball, Denver, Georgetown, Northwestern, Oregon State, Princeton, Richmond, Today's News

Today's Game: Harvard (21-6 / 10-3) vs. Princeton (18-8 / 9-3)
Location: Jadwin Gym - Princeton, NJ
Time: 6:00 pm ET
Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB
TV: N/A
Internet: goprincetontigers.com
Series History: Princeton leads 124-38.
Last meeting: Princeton 56 Harvard 53 - 2/5/10.

Georgetown vs. Cincinnati - 12:00 pm ET - ESPN360
Northwestern vs. Indiana - 12:00 pm ET - Big Ten Network
Richmond vs. Charlotte - 2:00 pm ET
Washington vs. Oregon State - 8:00 pm ET - FSN NW
Florida International vs. Denver - 9:45 pm ET - Sun Belt Tournament

Cornell vs. Yale - 7:00 pm ET
Dartmouth vs. Penn - 7:00 pm ET
Columbia vs. Brown - 7:00 pm ET

In addition to our recap, read about Princeton's domination of Dartmouth on goprincetontigers.com, in the Trentonian and on dartmouthathletics.com.

With or without Austin Freeman, the Georgetown regular season concludes at home versus Cincinnati.

Northwestern wraps up Big 10 play at Indiana.

Richmond looks for its 24th win at Charlotte.

Florida International and Denver square off in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Oregon State welcomes Washington to Corvallis.

Around the Ivy League: Cornell (26-4 / 12-1) made 20 of their 30 three point shots to clinch the conference for a third straight season with a 95-76 win at Brown (11-19 / 5-8). Harvard (21-6 / 10-3) rallied for a 67-66 decision over Penn (5-21 / 4-8). It is the Crimson's first season sweep of the Quakers since 1942. Alex Zampier scored 15 points as Yale (12-18 / 6-7) stopped Columbia (10-17 / 4-9), 65-48.

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Dartmouth pictures.

March 6, 2010 at 12:02 am
Filed under Basketball, Photos, Princeton, Stephen Goldsmith

Photos from today’s game courtesy of Stephen Goldsmith.

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Princeton 71 Dartmouth 43.

March 5, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Filed under 09-10, Audio, Basketball, Princeton

Box Score : HD Box Score

Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Brendan Connolly & Douglas Davis:

Princeton raced to a 17-2 lead and never looked back in a 28 point win over Dartmouth.

"I thought defensively we were pretty good," said Tiger head coach Sydney Johnson of the way his team opened Friday night's game. "It helped that there was a missed free throw in there and maybe a missed layup on their part - it allows you to kind of build on that. To be honest, I was a bit nervous myself. It reminded me of Brown where we led early and stopped applying ourselves and stopped playing hard. I'm just glad that the guys played hard the entire game."

Unlike versus Brown two weeks ago, once Princeton crafted a sizable advantage they did not offer Dartmouth an opportunity to feel like they had the ability to compete with the Tigers.

Princeton went up by 19 at the break and would not see their lead dip under that number in the second half.

"Coming into this game, we knew we couldn't let the same thing happen that happened against Brown. We couldn't get complacent with the lead and we just had to come out and be more aggressive - both on the offensive and defensive end - and I think we did that," said Douglas Davis, who paced the way with 15 - resting for the final 12:51 of the night.

Patrick Saunders added 11 in 20 minutes.

Johnson was able to play four freshman with either senior Marcus Schroeder or senior Nick Lake for a five minute stretch of the second half until the far ends of both benches emptied. The quartet of Brendan Connolly, Ian Hummer, Will Barrett and Jimmy Sherburne generated the game's high water mark of 63-31 with 8:08 left.

No Tiger starter played more than 26 minutes and 12 different Princeton players recorded a field goal.

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Friday News:

March 5, 2010 at 10:34 am
Filed under Baseball, Basketball, Brian Taylor, Chris Young, Denver, Oregon State, Princeton, Recruiting, Richmond, Today's News

Today's Game: Dartmouth (5-21 / 1-18) vs. Princeton (17-8 / 8-3)
Location: Jadwin Gym - Princeton, NJ
Time: 7:00 pm ET
Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB
TV: N/A
Internet: goprincetontigers.com
Series History: Princeton leads 137-61.
Last meeting: Princeton 54 Dartmouth 38 - 2/6/10.

Harvard vs. Penn - 7:00 pm ET
Columbia vs. Yale - 7:00 pm ET
Cornell vs. Brown - 7:00 pm ET

Richmond (23-7) was outplayed and outhustled most of the night by Dayton, but seven straight points late from senior David Gonzalvez and 14 steals willed the Spiders to the 60-56 win.

Oregon State (14-15) nearly let an 18 point halftime lead get away, holding on for the 59-55 victory over Washington State. Jared Cunningham tied a school record with eight steals.

The Daily Princetonian previews this weekend's games.

Did you have a good Thursday? Princeton recruit T.J. Bray had a better Thursday. Bray became Catholic Memorial's all time leading scorer in a 72-62 Crusader victory over Lakeside Lutheran in the second-round of the WIAA Division 2 tournament - recording 24 points, grabbing 20 rebounds, dishing out 10 assists and adding five blocks for good measure. Lordy.

I know there's a presentation honoring Brian Taylor at halftime of the Harvard/Princeton game, but the LA Times reports Princeton will also retire his jersey number.

Denver won their final 15 consecutive home games this season.

Chris Young pitched an inning for the Padres yesterday, his first action in almost nine months.

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