Princeton 74 IUPUI 68 (2OT).

March 22, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Filed under 09-10, Audio, Basketball, Princeton

Box Score : HD Box Score

Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Ian Hummer, Dan Mavraides & Pawel Buczak:

Extra question - Dan Mavraides & Ian Hummer:

They gave out black t-shirts shirts to everyone in attendance at IUPUI’s 1,215 seat gym before Monday night’s CBI quarterfinal versus Princeton and the Jaguars that read “Catfight in the Jungle.”

It was appropriate then that the Tigers would use up most of their nine lives to claw out an improbable 74-68 win in double overtime.

Scoring all six points of the second OT, Princeton won despite:

-Shooting a horrific 10-21 at the free throw line.

-Giving up 18 offensive rebounds.

-Being outrebounded 48-33 for the game.

-Falling behind 54-44 with 9:01 left in regulation.

A four forward lineup led the Tigers back from the brink to force bonus basketball and Ian Hummer’s offensive rebound of a Dan Mavraides jumper that deflected off the side of the backboard with 1:06 showing in the second extra frame put Princeton up a fortunate three.

“Oh man. I was pretty nervous when [Dan] shot that,” Hummer admitted. “At first I thought it was going to hit the side of the backboard but luckily it barely nicked it. It came right to me and luckily nobody was guarding me and I just laid it back up to give us a nice little cushion.”

IUPUI missed their final five shots and the Tigers had escaped, the first team to win in The Jungle this season.

Hummer was an essential part of the four forward charge, scoring 16 off the bench - 14 after the half. He was joined in double figures by Mavraides with 18 and seniors Pawel Buczak (12) and Marcus Schroeder (10).

Robert Glenn drove his way to 18 points and hauled in 16 boards for the Jags, but a key defensive switch midway through the second half limited his effectiveness in the crunch.

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Monday News:

March 22, 2010 at 8:42 am
Filed under Basketball, Princeton, Recruiting, Today's News

Today's Game: Princeton (21-8 / 11-3) vs. IUPUI (25-10 / 15-3)
Location: The Jungle - Indianapolis, IN
Time: 7:00 pm ET
Radio: N/A
TV: N/A
Internet: N/A
Series History: This is the first meeting between the two teams.
Last meeting: This is the first meeting between the two teams.

Thursday, March 25th
(12) Cornell vs. (1) Kentucky - 9:50 pm ET - CBS
NCAA Tournament

In advance of tonight's game, here's my half of a Q&A with IUPUI blog Student on Sports.

Jaguars Examiner previews this evening's contest.

The Daily Princetonian has a proper article on the Duquesne game.

Princeton recruit Daniel Edwards was named First Team All-District 10-4A.

Cornell (29-4) did it again with an incredible offensive performance against one of the nation's top defensive teams, putting up 1.45 points per possession and blowing out Wisconsin, 87-69. The Big Red are the first Ivy League team to reach the Sweet 16 since 1979. Soft Pretzel Logic nails it - there is no such thing as impossible.

If Princeton should win tonight and the College of Charleston also wins their CBI game, the Post & Courier implies their semifinal matchup would likely be held at Jadwin Gym.

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Know! Your! Foe! - IUPUI.

March 21, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Filed under Basketball, Know Your Foe, Princeton

For the latest installment of the site's popular Know! Your! Foe! series, I exchanged emails with Michael Hadley of the web site Student on Sports, who I first came into contact with in the frantic hours between the NIT selection show and the completion of the CIT and CBI brackets last Sunday. Better known as @RedZoneIUPUI on Twitter, Michael is a self-proclaimed "IUPUI Jaguar super-fan" and your point man for information on Princeton's College Basketball Invitational quarterfinal opponent.

How much of a home advantage is "The Jungle" (Division I's 342nd largest gym, holding but 1,215 souls) and why don't people call it the Palin-dome?!

This year, IUPUI is 10-0 at the Jungle [their losses to IPFW and Ohio were both at Conseco Fieldhouse - JS], including a 24-point STOMPING of Summit champ Oakland. True, The Jungle only holds 1,215, but that means its a much more intimate atmosphere. At a lot of D-I places, they might pack 20,000+ people in for every game. But the people at the top row can't even be heard by the people towards the middle. The Red Zone (our student section) is only about three feet from the out-of-bounds line, directly across from the opposing bench - so I personally stand only 55 feet away, and sometimes as close as 10 feet from any given play. We never stop yelling and screaming, using signs, chants, and everything in between to distract and inhibit opposing teams. We welcome all challengers. Also, Palin-dome sounds a lot better than "The Jungle at the IUPUI Natatorium."

As primarily a commuter school, is there any "buzz" on campus about this game? How hard has it been to build interest in this team?

We've been building the Red Zone from the ground up, culminating at the Oakland game (the last "big" home game of the year). Four of us traveling to UMKC earlier this season showed a lot of nay-sayers and on-the-fencers that we leaders are very serious about creating the most feared student section in the Summit League. Themed nights are important because they give semblance to the section, not everyone has the same IUPUI gear the rest of us have but everyone has a black t-shirt or hoodie around. The team this year helped us get people to the games, we've only been this good a few times in our history. Next year should be just as good - we're losing our best player but our biggest upside guy is back, along with three other starters.

It looks like the Jaguars do two things very, very well - shooting the ball - both in the paint and outside the arc - and creating steals. Confirm? Deny?

Our game is a lot more of an inside-inside-outside game than anything. We shoot well from the outside because we create mismatches inside. Three starters and two bench players can all bang inside, and are all different enough to exploit nearly every team we play. Once the inside presence is established, it forces double teams on at least one guy. That opens up the perimeter for four of the smoothest-shooting guys I've ever seen in person. (Notice the over-lap: We play eight guys regularly, three of them can both get inside and shoot from range. The more this can be exploited, the better IUPUI fares.)

Robert Glenn and Alex Young are both in the Top 500 nationally in over eight different statistical categories. How important are they to IUPUI's success? Are they as multi-faceted as these numbers indicate?

When one of them is off...the other better be on. The "Big Three" - Rob, Alex, and Leroy Nobles - have outscored opposing teams themselves multiple times this year. Rob is one of the most (if not THE most) athletic down-low players in the League, and Alex has the most upside of any player in the League (via: CollegeInsider.com). They are one of only two 18+ ppg tandems in the nation, the other coming from one of the New Mexicos (previously a Duke combo - shows you how consistent those two are). If a team doubles Rob inside, he can fire it out to Alex on the perimeter and then step back until he's needed again. Alex fouled out of the Oral Roberts game with about four minutes to play (semi-finals of the Summit League Championship), and Rob had all but (I think) two points from there on. Both are good for 2-3 highlight reel dunks a night, both are tough enough to play inside but smooth enough to shoot from outside.

Describe they way in which IUPUI beats Princeton.

IUPUI beats Princeton if: 1) Turnovers ratio is at least 1.75:1 in favor of IUPUI. 2) Robert and Alex shoot better than 45% each, and score at least 37 combined points. 3) Princeton has more than 20 points in the paint. 4) Princeton shoots worse than 35% from distance. 5) Play fast-tempo basketball/Score at least 70 points.

How does a Tiger victory come to be? What has to happen?

Well I suppose I sort of described it before. 1) Shoot well from range. 2) Have a presence inside on BOTH ends of the floor. 3) Hold on to the ball!! 4) Take us (students) out of the game. [That will be the hardest thing for them to do, but if we're not in it our guys will fall flat.]

What if Princeton wears their black road jerseys AND there's a "blackout" on Monday? Hasn't anyone considered this? Help!

Well that would be okay! We don't really care what jerseys the opposing teams wear (THOUGH the White Out was for Oakland's black road jerseys). When we play IUEast/IUSouth Bend/etc, their colors are close to ours (via the IU affiliation), but we don't really make any special concessions to be sure no one matches them.

Tell me more about Coach Ron Hunter's involvement with Samaritan's Feet.

Each season (three years running now) Ron and scores of other coaches across the US take off their shoes to help raise awareness for the organization Samaritan's Feet. This group helps raise awareness - and shoes - for children in countries who either can't afford shoes or have literally no access to shoes at all. In my time at IUPUI, we're 1-1 on No Shoe Day. The students all take off our shoes too (and don't allow anyone in the Red Zone WITH shoes on) to help create perspective and understanding. Last year I vividly remember watching Mike & Mike (ESPN2 & ESPN Radio) EARLY in the morning when Ron was going to be on. He explained the cause to the co-hosts, but then was surprised with an EXTREMELY generous donation from Crocs (the shoe company). Everyone at IUPUI loves the cause - in fact his involvement in a cause like that is one of the big things that drew me to the school and basketball program in general.

Also, each summer the basketball team (lead by Coach Hunter, of course) heads out to a far away land to help distribute shoes to those in need. The players all say what a humbling experience it is, and the Red Zone is hoping to help raise money and shoes for them as we grow and expand.

Plug time! Let people know about your site!

I started the site as a all-around blog site so I can get all my sports-related thoughts out (Why I wish Tim Tebow would go away, my predictions for the World Cup, etc). It quickly evolved into nothing - I really didn't have time for it with class and work and everything. Once I realized the potential of Twitter and my blog, I began using both to get the word out about IUPUI basketball. We are really proud of our guys and everything they've done and will do in the future!

Thanks for your time, Michael. I look forward to seeing the Red Zone in person on Monday night! Answers to your questions about Princeton should be in your inbox later tonight.

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Sunday News:

March 21, 2010 at 9:21 am
Filed under Basketball, Oregon State, Princeton, Recruiting

Sunday, March 21st
(12) Cornell vs. (4) Wisconsin - 2:50 pm ET - CBS
NCAA Tournament

Monday, March 22nd
Princeton vs. IUPUI - 7:00 pm ET
CBI Tournament

How was your Saturday? Princeton recruit T.J. Bray was named 2010 Mr. Basketball by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association yesterday. Bray also took home unanimous Division 2 First Team All-State honors.

Then Bray went out and scored 20 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, picked six steals and slung five assists as Catholic Memorial won the WIAA Division 2 state title with a 60-48 win over Maple Northwestern in Madison.

I had a chance to watch part of the third quarter and all of the fourth quarter. Bray has an poised, adult game and was never rattled with the ball in his hands. He's not particularly fast but his handle and his decision making were ace. A cross-court pass by Bray to set up a teammate for a three point shot at the buzzer to end quarter number three was marvelous.

Here's the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report on the game.

As of right now, Princeton does not have a plan to broadcast Monday night's CBI game at IUPUI. The best chance to following the action is to stream video of the game on iupuijags.com. With the Jaguars' gym holding just over 1,200 people, I'd recommend anyone making the trip buy tickets in advance.

Princeton coach Sydney Johnson was a guest on "The Passing Game" with former Fork Union head man Fletcher Arritt. An excellent listen.

Oregon State is already looking to the future.

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Kareem Maddox talks dunks.

March 20, 2010 at 10:34 am
Filed under Basketball, Princeton, Video

The junior forward discusses his proclivity for throwing it down.

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Saturday News:

March 20, 2010 at 10:32 am
Filed under Baseball, Basketball, Chris Young, Northwestern, Princeton, Recruiting, Today's News, Will Venable

Sunday, March 21st
(12) Cornell vs. (4) Wisconsin - 2:50 pm ET - CBS
NCAA Tournament

Monday, March 22nd
Princeton vs. IUPUI - 7:00 pm ET
CBI Tournament

Congratulations to Cornell (28-4), who recorded the Ivy League's first NCAA Tournament win since 1998 with a convincing 78-63 performance versus Temple. Soft Pretzel Logic has a great post about this game.

With the Big Red and Princeton both winning, 2009-10 is just the second year where two different Ivy men's basketball teams have been victorious in the postseason. Can you name the other time this happened? No peaking at our Twitter feed for the answer...

Princeton recruit T.J. Bray had 25 points, 12 rebounds and three assists as Catholic Memorial advanced to the WIAA Division 2 state finals. If anyone wants to watch it, the championship game versus Maple Northwestern will stream live at 7:30 pm ET tonight here.

Will Venable hit a titanic home run in spring training, while Chris Young labored over four innings of work.

I enjoyed this multimedia piece where Northwestern players and assistant coach Mitch Henderson were asked to share their thoughts on possible NCAA Tournament expansion.

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Yesterday in YouTube form.

March 19, 2010 at 10:03 am
Filed under Basketball, Georgetown, Richmond, Video

John Thompson III speaks briefly with Bill Raftery after the Hoyas' loss to Ohio.

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Friday News:

March 19, 2010 at 9:10 am
Filed under Basketball, Georgetown, MCCC, Princeton, Richmond, Today's News

Friday, March 19th
(12) Cornell vs. (5) Temple - 12:30 pm ET - CBS
NCAA Tournament

A trio of belated stories on the Duquesne/Princeton game - SportsProf was one of the 665 at Jadwin Gym. The Princeton Packet chimes in and the Duquesne Duke provides additional perspective.

Bob Nuse of the Princeton Packet writes about the success this season of the Carril coaching tree.

TigerBlog reminds you that not all Thursdays are created equal.

Princeton Alumni Weekly summarizes many of the Tigers' Ivy results.

Mercer (20-14) was knocked out of the NJCAA Division II Tournament by Pima C.C., 79-58. The Vikings allowed a 17-2 to start the second half, which put the game away.

Saint Mary's out-executed Richmond (26-9) in the second half of a 80-71 Gaels victory.

The biggest upset of day one of the NCAA Tournament was Ohio's easy 97-83 dismissal of Georgetown (23-11). Andy Glockner of Sports Illustrated takes a deeper look at why the Bobcats had little trouble with the Hoyas.

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Ohio 97 Georgetown 83.

March 18, 2010 at 10:31 pm
Filed under 09-10, Audio, Basketball, Georgetown

Box Score

Postgame audio - Coach John Thompson III, Chris Wright & Greg Monroe:

Three hours after Saint Mary's won their first NCAA Tournament game in 59 years, Ohio ended a slightly shorter 45 year drought with a bigger shock on the same floor, stunning three seed Georgetown (23-11) in Providence, 97-83.

The surprise in the final score was equaled by the ease with which the Bobcats were able to score offensively and race by the Hoyas.

Ohio's backcourt tandem of Armon Bassett (32 points on 9-17 shooting) and spindly freshman D.J. Cooper (23 points and eight assists) torched the Hoyas, putting up video game numbers as Ohio shot an uncanny 13-23 from behind the arc for the game.

That's what a 14 seed who started 0-4 in their conference rarely does versus a bigger and stronger Big East foe, but the Bobcats were the clearly the more poised, aggressive and confident team all night - scoring at will as they put up 48 points in the first half, the most allowed by a Georgetown team all season.

Leading 18-17 on a three point shot by Chris Wright, Ohio ran off 13 of the game's next 15 points and made three straight triples to go up double digits.

A Bassett drive completed the first of what would be several Bobcat runs.

"They were spectacular," said Hoya coach John Thompson III of Bassett and Cooper. "They handled everything that we threw at them tonight. We guarded ball screens different ways and no matter how we guarded it they were able to find a way to score."

Ohio led by 12 at the break and Georgetown couldn't significantly dent Ohio's advantage because of Bassett and Cooper.

The Hoyas sliced what grew into a 19 point second half deficit down to seven with just over four minutes left, but Jerelle Benimon missed the front end of a one-and-one at the line and Cooper subsequently launched his fifth trey to take his team back up 10, the assist to Bassett.

"We're at the short end of it tonight, but that is what athletics is all about," Thompson added. "You can sit and talk tactics and strategy and at the end of the day sometimes it just comes down to players making plays. Those two kids, over and over again made plays regardless of how we approached it."

Repeatedly penetrating with dribble drives into the lane that set up easy jumpers and slashing cuts, the Hoyas just could not match the Bobcats score for score or record multiple stops in a row. Georgetown had 1.107 points per possession and got blown out of the Dunkin' Donuts Center due to Ohio (22-14) putting up 1.368 points per possession.

"It was tough to defend because they use millions and millions of ball screens," analyzed Wright, who led the Hoyas with 28 points. "When guards like that, they get a head of steam, it is kind of hard to contain them coming off ball screens. They got to the middle of the paint and made plays."

The Bobcats' offensive numbers come the buzzer were staggering. 32-55 from the field (58.2%), 13-23 from three, 5-7 in the second half and 16-20 at the line. Georgetown came into Thursday with the number 33 defense in the nation, but the flatfooted Hoyas were repeatedly outworked on the glass and outhustled for loose balls.

Ohio's effort was exceptional, their execution equal and for the first time since 1997 Georgetown was heading home after the first round of the NCAAs, the third branch of the Carril coaching tree to snap in Rhode Island in the past 24 hours.

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Saint Mary's 80 Richmond 71.

March 18, 2010 at 6:42 pm
Filed under 09-10, Audio, Basketball, Richmond

Box Score

Postgame audio - Coach Chris Mooney, Kevin Anderson & David Gonzalvez:

They won with selfless passing, uncanny three point shooting and by sharing the basketball.

Richmond?

No, Saint Mary's.

The Spiders (26-9) were unable to stop 6'11" the Gaels' bulky senior center Omar Samhan, who scored 29 points inside and grabbed 12 rebounds in just 28 minutes of play.

"A big part of the game was we couldn't guard Omar," said Richmond head coach Chris Mooney, who remains winless in the NCAA Tournament as a player, assistant coach and head coach. "Even when he got into foul trouble and came out a couple times, in the first half we were able to establish our speed a little bit, in the second half not as much.

"Our inability to guard him led to some other problems," Mooney added. "They made some timely three point shots. Obviously, they really hurt us on the backboard. I thought it started with him."

With four ace shooters set up on the perimeter, Mooney chose not to double team Samhan, who was able to get his soft inside shots over the Spiders' smaller Ryan Butler and Justin Harper. Samhan found advantageous interior position time and time again in scoring situations.

Richmond took an early 9-2 lead on a push in the lane by Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Kevin Anderson, but Samhan had his team's first 10 as the Gaels moved in front 10-9 on a feathery spin move in the paint.

Samhan picked up his third personal foul with 6:40 left in the first half and the Spiders leading by a pair. With Samhan on the bench, Richmond was not able to build their lead and went to the half tied at 36 as Saint Mary's Mickey McConnell snapped a three point shot with 10 seconds to play.

Going deep into their bench and calling on little-used freshman forward Beau Levesque, who played a style that mirrored Richmond at De La Salle High School - alma mater of Marcus Schroeder and Lincoln Gunn - the Gaels zipped touch passes with Samhan unavailable and swung the ball inside, outside and around the horn, 8-19 from three.

When Samhan committed his fourth personal at the 9:13 mark of the second half, Saint Mary's had extended their advantage to 59-50.

Samhan wasn't needed. The Gaels again increased their edge, building as much as a 17 point lead before a flurry of Richmond three pointers in the final five minutes.

For much of the game Samhan had as many rebounds (12) as the entire Richmond team. Saint Mary's grabbed 11 of the game's first 12 boards and had a 16-6 advantage at halftime. The game finished with Richmond -23 on the glass.

The Gaels had more offensive rebounds (19) than Richmond's combined rebounding total.

McConnell hit five times from deep on his way to a 23 point performance for Saint Mary's (27-5), who recorded their first NCAA Tournament triumph since 1959, when they defeated Idaho State by the same score as today's final.

David Gonzalvez paced Richmond with 18 points in his last collegiate game. Anderson added 16, 11 of those coming in the first half.

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Thursday News:

March 18, 2010 at 7:42 am
Filed under Basketball, Georgetown, Northwestern, Oregon State, Princeton, Recruiting, Richmond, Today's News

Thursday, March 18th
MCCC vs. Pima C.C. - 12:00 pm ET
NJCAA Division II Tournament

(10) Saint Mary’s vs. (7) Richmond - 2:50 pm ET - CBS
NCAA Tournament

(14) Ohio vs. (3) Georgetown - 7:25 pm ET - CBS
NCAA Tournament

Friday, March 19th
(12) Cornell vs. (5) Temple - 12:30 pm ET - CBS
NCAA Tournament

In addition to our recap, read about Princeton's first postseason win in a decade on goprincetontigers.com, in the Trentonian, in the Trenton Times, in the Daily Princetonian, in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and on goduquesne.com.

Bill Reynolds at the Providence Journal remembers the Princeton/Georgetown NCAA game from 21 years ago.

John Thompson II and Chris Mooney add their perspectives on that memorable matchup in the Boston Globe.

The Town Topics has an article from after Princeton's win over Penn.

The Northwestern (20-14) season came to an end with a 76-64 NIT loss at Rhode Island.

Oregon State (14-18) is also done, trounced by Boston University on the other side of the CBI bracket.

Richmond and Georgetown are both in Providence for NCAA Tournament games today.

The Hoyas' Greg Monroe is ready for the big stage.

Princeton recruit T.J. Bray was named Classic Eight Conference Player of the Year.

Around the Ivy League: Harvard (21-8 / 10-4) was blown out at Appalachian State, 93-71.

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John Thompson III on WPL.

March 18, 2010 at 1:25 am
Filed under Basketball, Georgetown, Video

The Hoyas' head man checks in with Washington Post Live from Providence.

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