The Pacific Northwest has developed into a basketball hotbed in recent years and Princeton has reached out to that region with the verbal commitment late last week of high-scoring, muscular guard Mike Washington, Jr.
The 6'3" and 190 pound Washington, who models his game after that of fellow Emerald City native Brandon Roy, plays at Oak Harbor High School just north of Seattle and is coached by his father Mike Washington, Sr.
This evening I caught up with Washington, Sr. to discuss his son's commitment to Mitch Henderson's first recruiting class. Exclusive quotes and analysis plus links to player evaluations and seven videos can be found after the jump.
Yesterday was a big day for Mitch Henderson and the Princeton basketball program with the verbal commitments of three different 2012 recruits, but no part of this unprecedented afternoon was bigger than nearly 7'2" center Edward Lawrence.
When he arrives on campus next year Lawrence, who everybody calls Edo (rhymes with "meadow") will be the tallest player to ever suit up for the Tigers.
This morning I spoke with Lawrence's prep school coach Don Gowan from Canterbury School in New Milford, CT. Lawrence has only been playing organized basketball for four years, two in the United States and two overseas, but already Gowan has witnessed some incredible development, especially this summer.
Gowan's exclusive quotes and analysis plus links to player evaluations, photos and videos of Lawrence can be found after the jump.
Profiles of the other two players joining Lawrence in Princeton's 2012 recruiting class will follow in the next few days. I'll add a 2012 Princeton Recruits page on the site after those go live.
Tickets are on sale now for the November 17th luncheon in New York City honoring Pete Carril, Jim Phelan and Debbie Ryan with the 2011 Lapchick Award. If you would like to attend follow this link.
Here's the story of how Dan Geriot was selected for the open assistant coach's position at Princeton.
Geriot's college coach Chris Mooney is remaking the Richmond Spiders again.
In ESPN's non-conference schedule analysis, Princeton shows up five times as an opponent in the "toughest" or "next-toughest" tier.
Why are the Tigers traveling to Drexel in December? Because Mitch Henderson and Bruiser Flint sat next to one another on a plane.
I'm a voter in the Big Apple Buckets NYC Area Power Poll this season. To answer the question before you ask it, I selected Princeton seventh out of the 23 eligible teams.
If you missed the late addition of a third member to Princeton's 2012 recruiting class, read the updated version of this story.
According to ESPN senior recruiting analyst Dave Telep, Mitch Henderson has received verbal commitments from his first two recruits as Princeton head coach.
Update: While I was out at a memorial service this afternoon/evening word broke that a third player has committed to Coach Henderson. Crazy, unprecidented day.
Princeton has added a home game versus TCNJ to their 2011-12 schedule. The Tigers welcome the Lions to Jadwin Gym on Sunday, January 8th.
Last season's meeting against The College of New Jersey went in Princeton's favor, 73-40.
This will be the first time Princeton has played their annual January DIII home game opposing the same school in consecutive seasons. In both 1992-93 and 1993-94 the Tigers faced Washington & Jefferson but only the first of those meetings came near the school's exam break.
Will Venable capped 2011 with his first career grand slam (video) as San Diego beat the Cubs 9-2. Venable hit .154 over his final 10 games of the year, lovering his season average to .246 with an on base percentage of .310. The former two sport Princeton star had 91 hits, nine home runs, 44 runs batted in and 28 stolen bases across 121 games. He dropped his strikeout total from 128 in 392 at bats last year to 92 strikeouts in 370 at bats for 2010.
Princeton is viewed as the fourth-strongest team in the New York area by Big Apple Buckets.
John Thompson III attended the Institute for the Advancement of Multicultural & Minority Medicine's annual gala. Thompson's wife Monica was honorary chair of this event.
Former Princeton assistant and current Fairfield Director of Basketball Operations Martin Bahar is raising money for the 2011 Light The Night walk, which supports the The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Bahar's sister Madeleine suffered from plasma cell leukemia and passed away in 2009 at the age of 25. You can show your support for Maddie's Team by following this link.
Princeton senior John Comfort makes a cameo appearance in a package on Northwestern's Drew Crawford, who along with Comfort interned at John Rogers' Ariel Investments this summer.
The Tigers' game at Drexel in December will be the home opener for the Dragons.
Georgetown head coach John Thompson III was a presenter at the Kennedy Center's "A Standing Ovation for D.C. Teachers."
10 points for Pawel Buczak in Slask Wroclaw's close loss to Turkish squad Tofas Bursa.
According to the Twitter feeds of many of the prospects to visit Cambridge last weekend, the production was productive for Harvard. Already one recruit has verbally committed to the Crimson.
With just four days until 2010-11 site memberships expire, princetonbasketball.com's annual fundraising appeal has been a very successful one. 80+ subscribers have either continued their memberships or signed up for the first time. I hope you'll join us this year!
Will Venable has been out for the last week+ due to an issue with his back.
It is unusual to see an article about a school offering a roster spot to a potential recruit, but there's indeed a piece about a forward from North Carolina and Princeton. Seeking clarification, I checked with the author to find out if said offer had been accepted. "No, not yet" was their response.
Quotes from Mitch Henderson show up in another story about how high school players can get noticed by college coaches.
Joe Scott was one of those taking advantage of a recent event where the Denver Nuggets opened their playbook to area college coaches.
Where does Georgetown fit in to the chaos of conference realignment?
Anyone with an interest in Ivy League basketball will want to keep an eye on Cambridge this weekend, with many impressive prospects visiting Harvard.
The start of this site's annual fundraising appeal was a huge success, as 50 individuals either renewed their memberships or signed up for the first time. Thank you all for your support. Remember, current subscription expire at the end of September!
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
