With Princeton heading out on their final Ivy road trip of the season, the time seemed appropriate to re-share a piece I wrote in April of last year about the Tigers' 1989 visit to Dartmouth and Harvard. Princeton clinched the Ivy crown on the Crimson's floor, the orange and black's first championship in five years - a scenario many reading would very much like to see duplicated this weekend. If you enjoy the following, I'd also recommend a subsequent story entitled Crewcuts. - JS
I don't remember how I talked them into it, but on the first Saturday of March in 1989, I somehow convinced my parents (and extremely skeptical younger sister) that we should load up the car and go to the Princeton/Harvard game outside Boston as a family.
We didn't head all the way up to Dartmouth the previous night, where the Big Green had been victorious 53-43 over the Tigers. Now the losers of two straight, Princeton needed to win their final conference game to claim the program's first Ivy League championship in five years.
A loss to the Crimson (who beat the Tigers by six at Jadwin Gym a month previous) combined with a Dartmouth win over Penn and the two teams would end the season tied at 10-4 for the 1988-89 Ivy crown.
With Princeton preparing to depart for Hanover this morning, Tigers head coach Sydney Johnson and princetonbasketball.com editor Jon Solomon sat down at Jadwin Gym to tape their weekly interview. The pair reviewed Princeton's sweep of Cornell and Columbia to finish the home slate a perfect 12-0, then looked ahead to the final three regular season road games at Dartmouth, Harvard and Penn.
This Q&A is 17:00+ in length.
Interviews with Coach Johnson will appear on this site every week during the 2010-11 season.
Northwestern (17-12) ran nothing but "JV" for the final eight minutes as they rallied past Minnesota, 68-57. In a Senior Night script familiar to site readers this week, Michael "Juice Thompson" scored 12 of his 18 points in the last 3:39 - including a pair of three point shots.
Kevin Anderson totalled 22 as Richmond (22-7) pulled away from St. Joe's in the second half, 69-54.
The Acorn profiles Princeton senior forward Kareem Maddox.
The Town Topics has published their article on the Tigers' Senior Night victory over Columbia.
A preview of Saturday night's Princeton/Harvard matchup can be found in the Crimson.
Future Tiger Denton Koon tallied 21 in Liberty's Missouri Class 5 sectional victory over Park Hill South - a game with a 13-9 halftime score.
Will Venable hit a three run home run in Cactus League action.
Richmond vs. St. Joe's - 7:00 pm ET
Minnesota vs. Northwestern - 8:30 pm ET - Big Ten Network
Princeton recruit Bobby Garbade recorded a double/double as Seton CC advanced to Friday's Section 4 Class B final.
The Princeton Packet has an article on the Tigers' win over Columbia.
Princeton Alumni Weekly digs into the archives and comes out with cover images and full articles on memorable Tiger tournament teams of the past 50 years.
The Yahoo! Sports team report for Princeton has been updated.
13 points for Mason Rocca as Armani Jeans Milano topped Dinamo Sassari.
It is the final regular season home game for Michael "Juice" Thompson and three other seniors as Northwestern hosts Minnesota.
Richmond needs a victory at St. Joseph's to clinch a bye in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
Here's an excerpt from the weekly press conference of Joe Scott.
Over the past decade, Princeton's annual trips to Harvard have resulted in some of the wackiest basketball games you could design. Buzzer beaters. Titanic shifts in momentum. Improbable comebacks where each and every lead is painfully insecure until time runs out.
The stands on both sides of Lavietes Pavilion - thanks very much in part to the work of Bob Ruxin '76 and PANE - are almost always a crowded, spirited combination of Crimson and Tiger supporters. It doesn't matter how successful or how struggling either program is - This little gym is heavy on atmosphere and high on drama.
Saturday's game between Harvard and Princeton, regardless of how the former does versus Penn at home or how the latter performs against Dartmouth in Hanover on Friday night, will occur with the Ivy League's NCAA tournament participant yet to be decided.
I've been planning a chronological game-by-game review of the Tigers' last 10 trips to Allston since the fall and after the jump you'll find detailed write-ups on each (seven of which have not been published previously on the site) plus exclusive video of a pair of Princeton game-winners.
For the third time this season and the first time in conference play, Kareem Maddox has been named Ivy League Player of the Week. Maddox's stat lines from the senior's final home weekend:
Min Pts FG FT 3FG Rebs A S B TO PF
29 13 6-7 1-1 0-0 1-7-8 5 2 2 3 0 84-66 W Cornell
31 20 7-13 6-7 0-0 3-5-8 2 0 1 1 3 66-61 W Columbia
Maddox's net points against Columbia (+8.5) were higher than Princeton's total net points (+6.5) and his offensive rating was 135.3. He was +12 when on the floor in the Tigers' five point win.
The prior evening versus Cornell, Maddox's offensive rating was 153.8 and his net points equalled +7.1. Princeton outscored the Big Red by 23 with Maddox on the floor in the Tigers' 18 point win.
You can stop calling me, emailing me and stopping me on the street with variations of the same question! - It was announced this morning that ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360.com) will stream Saturday night's Princeton game at Harvard for free.
This should be a higher quality multi-camera production than the side-to-side pan "coaches' cam" pixelvision feed you may be used to.
Anthony Calhoun will do the play-by-play with Mark Adams handling color commentary.
ESPN3 is available gratis via most cable providers, including Comcast, Verizon and Time Warner. It is free on all college campuses and military bases.
You can also access ESPN3 on Xbox Live in the USA. It will work on all browsers and with all operating systems.
The latest collection of videos from various corners of the Princeton basketball family. Above, Kareem Maddox joins the Daily Princetonian's "On The Prowl."
Monmouth head coach Dave Calloway has "resigned." A member of the Princeton coaching family is on the Asbury Park Press' list of potential replacements.
Last night I learned there is a Fans of Marvin Bressler group on Facebook. I recommend you join!
"Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating the Ivy League is approximately .495 to 1!"
A friend who asked to remain anonymous sent me a spreadsheet this morning including all 20 possible outcomes (16 decided in the regular season, four decided with a playoff) for Princeton and Harvard's remaining games.
Using Ken Pomeroy's predictive model, Harvard is at 50.5% to win the league, Princeton is at 49.5%.
The chances of a one game playoff for the NCAA bid are 36.4%.
See a full table of games and scenarios after the jump.
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
