Joseph White from AP has the first interview with John Thompson III since the Final Four.
ESPN The Magazine writes about Chris Young and his thesis on Jackie Robinson. Young will pitch Sunday night on ESPN as Major League Baseball honors the 60th anniversary of Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier.
Princeton recruit Kareem Maddox writes a lengthy testimonial for Baseline To Baseline, a service that helps high school players improve their skills.
Chris Mooney announces that Richmond has signed five players to play basketball for the Spiders.
Finally, Tommy Amaker was officially named the men's basketball coach at Harvard. This leaves 12 open head coaching positions in Division I, including Princeton.
As part of the Ivy League's 50th anniversary celebration, this week's feature checks in with former Princeton standout Gabe Lewullis.
The win turned out to be bittersweet, as Carril announced his retirement in the locker room.
"It was kind of chaotic," remembers Lewullis. "We get back to the locker room and everyone is high on life. Carril comes in, doesn't say a word, just goes to the chalkboard and writes down: 'I'm retiring.' It was dead silent. We didn't know what to do so we just started clapping for him."
On Tuesday, less than a day after Young tossed seven scoreless innings in a victory over San Francisco and less than a month since Towers and Babby met, the 27-year-old had agreed to a four-year contract worth $14.5 million, including a includes a $500,000 signing bonus and a $8.5 million club option for 2011.
He'll receive $750,000 this season, $2.5 million in 2008, $4.5 million in 2009 and $6.25 million in 2010. The deal covers his arbitration-eligible years as well as his first year of free agency.
In recruiting news, there's a tiny update on the Jeff Peterson saga and news that Bobby Foley will be playing on the North squad in this Saturday's North/South All-Star game.
�[Peterson] wants to meet with coach Lickliter before making his decision, but Iowa�s definitely still in the picture,� Jones said. �He likes the Iowa campus, players and the AD. He likes Saint Louis because he�s from, Springfield (Mo.), and he�s got the academic thing going for him at Princeton, so he can�t go wrong whichever school he chooses.�
In light of yesterday's story, if I had come across the sign for a one man show at the High Art Museum one day sooner, I would have taken it as a very positive omen.
Instead, I just took it as another opportunity to eat a banana.
While the Georgetown Hoyas may have come up short of a national title, another Princeton alum was watching his team triumph this week. The Vermont Frost Heaves - a franchise owned by Sports Illustrated writer Alex Wolff '79 - won the ABA Championship on Thursday night, defeating the Texas Tycoons 143-95. It was a storybook conclusion to the Frost Heaves' inaugural season.
There were few bumps in the road for Wolff's team, who finished their season with a 34-6 record. The city of Barre celebrated the Frost Heaves' accomplishments with a parade and pot luck dinner on Friday.
Wolff reflects on his team's championship season here.
Throughout Georgetown's incredible run to the 2007 Final Four, there has been an oft-incomprehensible member of the HoyaTalk message board posting the same story again and again.
It is a parable told in all caps and awash in emoticons, but the tale goes something like this:
As a young man, legendary coach Al McGuire was at the beach with his grandmother.
Al was about to go out with his friends.
Al's grandmother offered him a banana to eat but McGuire said he was not hungry.
When McGuire returned famished later that day, the banana was gone.
The moral was - as his grandmother informed him - "Al, when you have the banana, eat the banana."
This fable had become the rallying cry for Hoya faithful during every comeback and each heart-pausing victory that beget another fantastic finish.
In the first semifinal of this evening's NCAA Final Four, it was Ohio State that ate the banana.
It had been another rally for the Hoyas, who had trailed by eight points in the first half. Georgetown drew even at 44 with 9:45 left on Jonathan Wallace's step-back three point shot.
Hoya center Roy Hibbert picked up his fourth personal foul, called for holding on a loose ball scramble as both teams tried to track down Ron Lewis' missed three pointer. Hibbert headed to the sidelines.
Saddled with three personal fouls of his own, Ohio State freshman center Greg Oden came back off the bench and started a 7-0 Buckeye run with a right-handed hook over the Hoyas' Jeff Green. Two transition layups for Ohio State, each following a missed Georgetown three point shot, gave the Buckeyes six points in a single minute. By the time Hibbert returned to the lineup three possessions separated the two teams.
When Jessie Saap drove to the basket for a layup with 3:21 left Georgetown was back to within four, 56-52. The Hoyas would get the ball as Oden missed from just outside his comfort range. Oden was whistled for his fourth foul as Green drove on him and was hacked.
Georgetown did a great job this season calling set plays out of time outs, but did not have similar success after the game's final media stoppage.
Inbounding in the frontcourt, Hibbert flashed to the rim, however ball did not come his way. Green made a move to the basket from the wing as the defense swarmed to the Hoyas' 7'2" big man, but one Buckeye defender got in Green's way to draw an offensive foul.
Down at the other side of the Georgia Dome, a short Oden jumper went back iron and in, and Ohio State could start to peel their spot in Monday's championship game.
Hibbert finished with 19 points and 6 rebounds. Oden had 13 points and 9 boards. Both manchildren were hampered by foul problems. Hibbert was whistled on the game's first possession. Oden picked up two fouls in the first three minutes. It took Hibbert 13 minutes to get called for his second foul, flagged on a bump after having just recorded consecutive slams.
Georgetown was the first of the 2007 Final Four participants to have an open practice this afternoon at the Georgia Dome. The team and select players met the media afterwards. The audio links are below.
Georgetown's starters were 3-22 from three point range the other time the Hoyas played in a dome this season (@ Syracuse, a 72-58 loss). Outside shooting will be something to watch closely tomorrow night. The cavenous Georgia Dome is full of odd angles, open spaces and funky sightlines.
These tricked-out Krispy Kreme donuts were a nice touch.
I had a chance to interview Senator Bill Bradley this evening in Princeton. Bradley was in town to discuss "The New American Story", his sixth book. Senator Bradley was gracious to give me 14 minutes of his time before signing copies of this book at the area Barnes & Noble.
You can listen to the interview here (.mp3). Unlike the majority of the interviews on princetonbasketball,com, this recording does not require a donor subscription. Enjoy!
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
