For the 11th time this season, Tigers head coach Sydney Johnson and princetonbasketball.com editor Jon Solomon met at Jadwin Gym to record a one-on-one interview. The pair went over Princeton's sweep at Columbia and Cornell, previewed this weekend's trip to Yale and Brown and concluded by talking about how despite two victories this has been a sad and painful week for the players and the staff.
This Q&A is 20:00+ in length.
Interviews with Coach Johnson will appear on this site every week during the 2010-11 season.
Richmond vs. Temple - 7:00 pm ET - CBS College Sports
MCCC vs. Lackawanna - 7:00 pm ET
Iowa vs. Northwestern - 9:00 pm ET - Big Ten Network
Louisiana-Monroe vs. Denver - 9:00 pm ET
John Templon of Chicago College Hoops makes the argument that Bill Carmody should stay at Northwestern.
Crack of dawn "boot camp" practices are back at Oregon State.
Princeton/Harvard is officially sold out. Bob Ruxin informs me that he has roughly 30 tickets left for the game and the PANE reception. If you want to make sure you're in the gym on March 5th, contact him ASAP.
With Princeton at the mid-point of Ivy play, the Tiger athletic department was nice enough to update this season's plus/minus numbers. I've generated my own Ivy-only and DI-only plus/minus numbers in Excel out of that document.
The first chart shows the number of minutes played across the first 23 games this season and the difference in points scored by Princeton while each player was on the floor versus points allowed by the Tigers during the same span.
The second chart shows the same information for non-conference games only, followed by non-conference versus DI opponents and Ivy-only data.
I've also broken down +/- per 40 minutes for all players who have seen at least 100 minutes of action and added Net/40 numbers ("Roland Rate") with inspiration from Hoya Prospectus. This data has been split into non-conference and Ivy-only as well.
Christian "Crunch" Regulski passed away on Thursday. His struggle with brain cancer is over.
Too often when someone dies from a disease - especially cancer - it is written that they "lost their battle." That wasn't the case with Christian. When an individual can bond people together and make them laugh like he did, the only losses are for those who knew them and those who never got that chance.
The 11 year old Crunch was a regular on the Princeton sidelines over the last year, and the Tigers were undefeated with him on the bench, including the previous weekend's games versus Harvard and Dartmouth.
Watching the way the team and the coaching staff interacted with Christian at Jadwin before, during and after games was heartwarming, heartbreaking and genuinely funny.
After his team's overtime victory against Siena in late November, Kareem Maddox carried Crunch off the floor like a human trophy.
Thinking of the gregarious Regulski chiming in from his perch at Princeton's annual postseason banquet with bona fide disappointment when one of the staff cleaned up their language in the presence of a minor brings a smile to my face - as does this picture of the energetic Crunch with the stoic Lawrence Schuler at Jadwin.
You wouldn't know it by merely looking at it, but the image was captured during an exceptionally tense moment late in the 2010-11 season opener. Mack Darrow - who had never attempted a free throw in college - is about to go to the line with Princeton up two on Rutgers at the end of overtime.
Schuler is anxious.
Crunch is Crunch.
Regulski was first "adopted" by the Tigers in March of last year through the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, an organization that matches a child who has a pediatric brain tumor with a nearby sports program. He lined up with the team for the national anthem before Princeton defeated Harvard and the Tigers won every one of the many games they played with Crunch by their side.
The players' interactions with Crunch weren't just limited to basketball. Video games were played (with Crunch winning most of them, I'm told). Texts were exchanged. Birthday BBQs were attended.
As head coach Sydney Johnson said to me back in March: “Our team’s connection with Friends of Jaclyn stemmed from our players wanting to connect with people in our community beyond the basketball court...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.”
A visitation for family and friends will be from 6:00 pm ET to 9:00 pm ET on Tuesday at the Saul Colonial Home - 3795 Nottingham Way in Hamilton Square, NJ.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to:
The Robbinsville Lacrosse Association (please mention Crunch)
P.O. Box 491, Windsor, NJ 08691
The Ronald McDonald Camp
3925 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
SportsProf wonders if this could be Princeton's year.
Austin Freeman returned from an ankle injury and Georgetown (20-5) used a 25-10 second half run to defeat Marquette, 69-60.
A miserable Northwestern (14-10) effort resulted in a 65-41 loss at Penn State, leaving John Templon of Chicago College Basketball extremely frustrated.
Former Princeton guard Pete Hegseth was a guest on CNN's Parker|Spitzer.
For the first time, princetonbasketball.com exceeded 200 site members over the weekend. Thanks to those of you who have subscribed this season. Your support keeps us on the road! If you want to join our family and receive consistent, knowledgeable, comprehensive coverage of Princeton Tigers men's basketball & the Carril Cradle of coaches, you can sign up here. Current students (regardless of school) are always eligible for a 50% discount on membership. Just ask!
Penn State welcomes Northwestern to State College.
Princeton recruit Clay Wilson had 36 as Lincoln Christian defeated Summit Christian Academy by 10.
The Trenton Times talked to Chris Young about signing with the Mets.
If you have Comcast On Demand, check under Sports:The Comcast Network to watch a rebroadcast of Tuesday's Penn/Princeton game.
Around the Ivy League: Harvard (18-4 / 7-1) came from 24 down and rallied past Brown (9-13 / 2-6) for an 85-78 win to stay a half game behind Princeton. Columbia (13-9 / 4-4) outscored Penn (9-12 / 3-4) by 40-27 in the second half of a 75-62 Lion victory. Greg Mangano had a career high 30 in a 69-60 Yale (12-10 / 5-3) decision at Dartmouth (5-17 / 1-7).
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson & Kareem Maddox:
Stop for a second and don't look at tonight. The moment isn't there. Don't think about Kareem Maddox's meritable stat line and his game-winning jumper with 10 seconds left off a breaking design. That's not the moment. Don't consider Princeton's two point win over Cornell at all.
Look at January 30th, 2010 in New Haven. There you'll find the moment.
The moment comes late in the first half, with Princeton up one over Yale. Marcus Schroeder finds Kareem Maddox inside and the junior forward goes up with a high right-handed jump hook.
That's the moment where Kareem Maddox knew - knew he wasn't a jump shooter, knew he was wasting his time on the perimeter, knew the coaches had been right all along.
Without that moment Kareem Maddox doesn't go for 23 points, six rebounds, three assists, four blocks and a steal as a senior this evening. Without that moment Princeton doesn't improve to 19-4 and 7-0 in the Ivy League.
Maddox could have selected any moment when asked about a point where the switch flipped and he turned the proverbial corner from athlete to basketball player. This is the moment he chose.
"The coaches had been telling me that I could be a post player for the past few years and I guess that never clicked," Maddox recalled. "I made that hook and as silly as it sounds I think that changed me into a more of a post player than a shooter."
Today's Game:Princeton (18-4 / 6-0) vs. Cornell (6-15 / 2-5) Location: Newman Arena - Ithaca, NY Time: 7:00 pm ET Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB TV: N/A Internet: goprincetontigers.com Series History: Princeton leads 134-78. Last meeting:Cornell 50 Princeton 47 - 2/26/10.
Princeton
Cornell
10-0
Home Record
3-4
6-3
Away Record
2-10
2-1
Neutral Record
1-1
51
RPI
246
74
Sagarin
220
92
Pomeroy
206
70.5
Points / Game
67.2
63.5
Points Allowed / Game
70.4
.471
FG%
.403
.711
FT%
.674
.381
3PT FG%
.375
35.2
Rebounds / Game
32.6
9.7
Off. Rebounds / Game
11.0
+3.7
Rebounding Margin
-4.7
13.6
Assists / Game
13.9
12.8
Turnovers / Game
12.7
2.6
Blocks / Game
3.0
Hummer: 14.3
Points
Wroblewski: 14.9
Maddox: 7.3
Rebounds
Osgood: 4.5
Mavraides: 2.9
Assists
Wroblewski: 5.4
Davis: 1.4
Steals
Wire: 1.5
Maddox: 1.9
Blocks
Peck: 0.8
Maddox: .576
FG% (Min: 10 FGM)
Chemerinski: .625
Mavraides: .786
FT% (Min: 10 FTM)
Ferry: .875
Mavraides: .423
3PT FG% (Min: 10 3FGM)
Wroblewski .424
St. Louis vs. Richmond - 12:00 pm ET - ESPN2
MCCC vs. Del Tech Stanton - 2:00 pm ET
Oregon State vs. UCLA - 4:00 pm ET - FSN
Denver vs. Troy - 8:30 pm ET
Brown vs. Harvard - 7:00 pm ET
Yale vs. Dartmouth - 7:00 pm ET
Penn vs. Columbia - 7:00 pm ET
Bill Bradley was inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame.
Princeton recruit Denton Koon and his fellow Liberty High School seniors went out in style, winning their final home game over Central High School of Saint Joseph.
Running a Steve Goodrich picture I hadn't seen before, the New York Daily News has Princeton/UCLA as number four on their list of NCAA Tournament's Top 20 Greatest Upsets.
Around the Ivy League: Harvard (17-4 / 6-1) survived Yale (11-10 / 4-3) by three at Lavietes Pavilion. Cornell (6-15 / 2-5) outscored Penn (9-11 / 3-3) by a 19-8 margin in the overtime session of an 82-71 Big Red victory. The Quakers missed a free throw with the score tied and one second left in regulation. Tucker Halpern totalled 25 in a 75-66 Brown (9-12 / 2-5) win over Dartmouth (5-16 / 1-6).
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
