The San Diego Padres officially declined their $8.5 million 2011 option on pitcher Chris Young. Now a free agent, Young told the Union-Tribune that he would like to remain with the team.
New Egypt (NJ) High School basketball coach Jay Corby says it is "down to crunch time" in the recruitment of star center Desmon Hubert. Corby talks about Princeton in comparison to Hubert's other four suiters in this Baltimore Sun piece. When he mentions the several visits Hubert has made to the campus over the years, I can add that one took place last season when the Tigers hosted Harvard.
Former Princeton standout Tim vanBlommesteyn unofficially collected two percent of the vote running as an independent candidate in the race for Congress in New Hampshire's second district.
Northwestern hosts Robert Morris (IL) in an exhibition this evening. Head coach Bill Carmody tells ESPN his team is working on improving their defense and rebounding.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the Wildcats can't mask their ambition for 2010-11.
Spend close to an hour with Bill Bradley by watching this 1987 video from the C-Span library.
Above, the Jadwin Jungle waits for the opening tip of the 2005-06 season.
This post was originally penned on November 7, 2009 as "A Decade of Season Openers." I've added last season's game against Central Michigan and revamped these essays for the upcoming season.
Many of these pieces come from the listserv that predated this web site.
Read on for the stories of the past 11 Tiger tipoffs in sequential order...
Sophomore center Chris Young led three Princeton players in double figures, but the Tigers fell in an early 17 point hole at Syracuse and never closed within single digits. Here's what I wrote at the time:
Went to the usual sports bar to watch the game and was there 30 minutes before the dish guy told me the game was "blacked out" on their system [even though I called to confirm earlier in the day]. Jumped in the car and drove frantic across Chicago to another sports bar who had been phoned by the first sports bar to make sure they had the game. Listened to the five of the first seven minutes on WHWH over the car phone [thanks, dad!]. It was 5-2 Syracuse when I got in the car. What started as "first game of the season jitters" steamrolled into a 34-11 Syracuse halftime lead. For the record, I made it into the second sports bar at 23-6. Oy.
When I closed my eyes at the half, my nightmares were filled with an endless series of filled passing lanes and defenders with arms spread wide. Syracuse had played very good defense, Princeton had made some forced choices and missed any type of shot they had. It was not looking good. Then, as the second half started, you could see a bit of fire in this year's model of the Princeton Tigers.
Players cut harder.
Passes were smarter.
Defense was tighter.
By the middle of the second half, I was wondering how this game would have gone had Mason Rocca not had to sit out [with what I assume is a groin problem, even though I did not see him on the bench]. Sure, Etan Thomas missed the game for Syracuse as well, but I never thought any sort of "what ifs"would be close to crossing my mind at halftime. The Tigers dug a "Penn game hole" but could not climb all the way out of it.
This is what young teams do. They grow up. They make mistakes. Then they hit shots. They cut Syracuse leads to 49-36 with 6:15 left and don't get any closer, even with some good chances to do so. They throw the ball away and give up easy second chances at the other end. I think this team will grow up at a rate that pleases many. Sure, they will lose a good number of games, but by the time Ivy season rolls around, the schedule will have been worth it. I have been known to take a loss pretty hard in my day, but I feel better than I expected about a seventeen point opening night loss.
Watching Chris Young, who is now HUGE [esp. in his torso], be the stable force in the middle, kicking the ball out to players that will learn what to do with it in time, made me feel good about this coming season. Hell, Lafayette blew Princeton out to start last year, and if this season could mimic that one I'd be more than happy.
Some other thoughts:
Decent touch-passes on occasion from Young [drawing the double team] to Walton, including one pass that lead to a lay-up I'm pretty sure was goaltending. Nice play to create points working off of the attention Young draws. Young also hit two DEEP three-pointers. As predicted, it will take some outside shots and some hard cuts from the guards to keep Young from being double/triple teamed. By the time Princeton hit several three-pointers it was just too late.
Baah provided decent spark and a quick step to the basket, even if he still did look out-of-control from time to time. He caused several second chances and hit some nice shots however. Like the cornrows.
Chapman showed decent touch and great range. I hope his "practice shot" is back.
Tiger court spacing needs some work.
As does the speed in which they swing their passes around the arc.
Princeton will play Missouri @ 7:00 pm EST on Saturday night in Syracuse, NY.
I'll be back at this new sportsbar watching progress happen quickly.
Princeton will honor Marvin Bressler with a "MARV" patch on their uniforms this season.
There's an excerpt of a lovely note written posthumously to Professor Bressler in the latest Princeton Alumni Weekly.
Future Tiger Clay Wilson has been named Oklahoma class 3A Preseason MVP.
The 2010-11 season opens on November 12th against Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights struggled in a foul-plaqued 80-68 exhibition victory over McGill College.
Despite returning zero starters from last season, Howie Levy's Mercer County Community College team is ranked 17th in NJCAA DII Preseason Poll.
Senior big man Tyler Adams, who had previously verbally committed to Duke changed his mind and pledged his services to Georgetown.
New Egypt center Desmond Huebert, who is deciding between Maryland, Wake Forest, Villanova, Georgia Tech and the Tigers will "probably" visit the Princeton campus this weekend.
The latest collection of videos from various corners of the Princeton basketball family. Bill Carmody speaks at Northwestern's Midnight Madness event above.
Did you know that from 1945 until 1947 Princeton played its basketball games at Baker Rink?
University Gym was the Tigers' home court from 1903 until a fire consumed the building four decades later in 1944. A temporary location was required while Dillon Gym was being constructed.
This first season the Tigers went 4-5 in Baker and the next year they were 4-8.
Princeton's second campaign of playing basketball in an revamped ice rink was Cappy Cappon's first year as head coach of the orange and black. His captain was a man named Butch van Breda Kolff.
The picture above comes from a 45-39 loss to Army in 1947.
Former Princeton player Mike Bechtold is the subject of a "Where Are They Now?" piece in the Lebanon Daily News.
I'm hearing that Princeton "won" their controlled scrimmage against Sacred Heart over the weekend.
Tiger recruit Denton Koon is a nominee for the 2011 McDonald's All-American high School Basketball Boys Team.
A Chicago forward verbally committed to Northwestern over heavy interest from Penn.
Who was the last Democratic nominee for governor of Florida endorsed by the Florida Times-Union prior to this year? Why it was Steve Pajcic, who played in 13 games as a member of the 1967-68 Princeton team.
Cleveland Cavs coach Byron Scott was sorry Pete Carril did not travel with the Kings to Ohio on their recent road trip.
Finally had the time this afternoon to scan a decent stack of Princeton basketball programs from the 1980s and 1990s, including few more players I didn't have photos of previously. Click on any and all images to enlarge.
The above is from a men's/women's basketball doubleheader to open the 1995-96 home slate. No idea whose hand that is, but it is also in color on the back of the same season's media guide.
After this year's Ivy Media Poll was released, I received a few questions from readers about preseason perception versus end of season reality.
Looking at the past 25 years of Ivy polls (minus 1991, 1995 and 1997, which are unavailable), I concluded that the media has not accurately predicted the top three finishers once in that time frame!
Last year was the first year since 1999-00 that the top two turned out as projected.
However, the prior five Ivy champs have all been properly prognosticated.
The Princeton athletic department, the Ivy League office, the Trentonian and the Trenton Times have more on the Tigers' new role as frontrunner for the 2010-11 Ivy crown.
The Columbia Spectator shares what order they think this year's poll should have been in.
Here's a transcript of Bill Carmody's remarks from Big 10 Media Day.
Sports Illustrated's Luke Winn stopped by Northwestern practice and filed a report.
The Pac-10 also held their Media Day yesterday. Here are select quotes from Oregon State's Craig Robinson.
Mason Rocca had six points and 10 rebounds as Armani Jeans Milano fell to Union Olimpija in Euroleague Group D action.
The Denver Post reports on the Pioneers' budget battle as they attempt to upgrade their basketball program while remaining Division I in all of their sports.
Following up on a story from last week, the NCAA elected to conduct yearlong study into the summer recruiting period instead of following the Collegiate Commissioners Association's recommendation to abolish the July recruiting period.
A reader was kind enough to send a DVD of Princeton freshman T.J. Bray's final game as a high school senior my way. Back in March of this year Bray scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as Catholic Memorial won the WIAA Division 2 state title over Maple Northwestern.
I've spent my evening cutting this tape of Wisconsin's 2010 Mr. Basketball down to just under 10 minutes of offensive and defensive highlights.
Catholic Memorial are in the white uniforms and Bray is wearing #20.
With so little out of practice about the Tigers' frosh, hopefully these clips will whet your appetite as we approach the season opener.
While Princetonians haven't taken to Twitter with the same zeal of their conference rivals at Cornell and Harvard or the constantly-posting Hoyas of Georgetown, there are still a decent number of former, current and future Tigers using this popular real time micro-blogging service.
I've assembled a comprehensive list of orange and black Twitter users after the jump. If you know of anyone I'm missing, please let me know and I'll add them to the list ASAP. Many of these accounts are inactive or rarely used, but click away.
While you're networking socially you can always follow this site on the Twitter.
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
