Cornell had just completed a perfect 14-0 run through the Ivy League, so what were Princeton co-captains Kyle Koncz and Noah Savage doing in the Big Red locker room?
"We just congratulated them," Koncz explained. "They're a great team and they had a great season, so you have to pay your respects to their team and wish them luck in the tournament."
"As a player, you're frustrated, because a 14-0 season is what you dream of here," Koncz added. "That's what you want to do. You have to be a man and step up and congratulate someone who did it and competed hard every night and did something that's very hard to do. If you don't pay your respect to them and tell them good luck, then I think that's saying something about you."
Princeton played Cornell even for the first 32 minutes of Saturday night's meeting at Jadwin Gym.
Consecutive three point shots by Louis Dale turned a one possession game into a 57-48 Cornell lead as the Big Red pulled away for a 71-64 victory in their final regular season contest before the NCAA tournament.
Louis Dale scored a game-high 21 points in the victory, 17 in the final 20 minutes. Ryan Wittman had 16 points and Jason Hartford added 15 for the Big Red.
Northwestern welcomes Big Ten leader Wisconsin on Senior Day in Evanston.
Chris Young was back on the mound for the first time following the birth of his daughter, Catherine Elizabeth. Will Venable singled in two runs as San Diego beat Arizona 6-3.
Around the Ivy League: Cornell (21-5 / 13-0) stayed perfect in conference play, surviving a near-impossible late Penn (11-18 / 6-6) rally, 94-92. Brown (18-9 / 10-3) set a new school record for victories, beating Harvard (8-21 / 3-10) by a 78-62 score. Yale (12-15 / 6-7) survived 50-48 at Dartmouth (10-17 / 3-10).
Zach Woolridge waited nearly four full seasons on the bench for his name to be called.
His freshman year, he did not make it into a single game. He could have walked away, but he didn't.
His sophomore year, he played one single minute. He could have walked away, but he didn't.
His junior year, he again played only one single minute. He could have walked away, but he didn't.
Woolridge waited for most of his senior year as well, playing eight minutes spread over eight games this season, scoring the only five points of his career in the second half of a long-decided game at Dartmouth two weeks ago.
But earlier this week, Woolridge began to practice with the first team. Woolridge's coach told him that he would be in the starting lineup on Friday against Columbia.
"I think I would be a bad coach if I didn't acknowledge the effort that he's given," confessed Princeton head man Sydney Johnson. "I said I have to find a way to get him out there."
Woolridge caught Columbia off-guard with 15 first half points, playing all 20 minutes before intermission in what would become a 75-64 Princeton victory.
Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson and princetonbasketball.com editor Jon Solomon met at Jadwin Gym on Thursday evening to review Princeton's winless weekend at Brown and Yale and to discuss the Tigers' final three games of the season. This interview is 15:00+ in length.
Fordham vs. Richmond - 7:00 pm ET
Denver vs. New Orleans - 8:00 pm ET
Here's audio of an interview the NCAA blog conducted with Georgetown senior guard Jonathan Wallace.
A Northwestern (8-20) rally fell just short in a 67-62 loss to Iowa.
Richmond welcomes Fordham in the Spiders' final home game of the season.
Denver travels to New Orleans in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
The New York Times reports that Harvard and the Ivy League will be looking into the possibility that Harvard committed recruiting violations. Pete Carril is quoted at the end of the piece.
Amazon.com has released four Princeton NCAA basketball games on DVD.
Click above to order the 1989 classic matchup with Georgetown, the Tigers' 1996 backdoor victory over defending national champion UCLA, Princeton's win over UNLV from 1998 and Coach Carril's final game from 1996 against Mississippi State. These are complete broadcasts, available for the first time as official releases.
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
