Northwestern won their exhibition over Robert Morris (IL) by 20.
Will Venable is part of a group of MLB players pitching to special needs children in a fundraiser for the Miracle League of San Diego on November 13th.
Richmond's Kevin Anderson is one of 30 finalists for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.
Kareem Maddox, Patrick Saunders & Dan Mavraides interview:
Ian Hummer & Douglas Davis interview:
Princeton held its annual preseason Media Day on Wednesday afternoon. Coach Sydney Johnson and select Tigers spoke to princetonbasketball.com and other press outlets about the upcoming season. These interviews are exclusive to our site. If you're interested in inside access like this all season long, please consider becoming a donor.
17 more photos by Frank Wojciechowski from Media Day, including your first glimpses at the freshman class, can be found after the jump.
The San Diego Padres officially declined their $8.5 million 2011 option on pitcher Chris Young. Now a free agent, Young told the Union-Tribune that he would like to remain with the team.
New Egypt (NJ) High School basketball coach Jay Corby says it is "down to crunch time" in the recruitment of star center Desmon Hubert. Corby talks about Princeton in comparison to Hubert's other four suiters in this Baltimore Sun piece. When he mentions the several visits Hubert has made to the campus over the years, I can add that one took place last season when the Tigers hosted Harvard.
Former Princeton standout Tim vanBlommesteyn unofficially collected two percent of the vote running as an independent candidate in the race for Congress in New Hampshire's second district.
Northwestern hosts Robert Morris (IL) in an exhibition this evening. Head coach Bill Carmody tells ESPN his team is working on improving their defense and rebounding.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the Wildcats can't mask their ambition for 2010-11.
Spend close to an hour with Bill Bradley by watching this 1987 video from the C-Span library.
Above, the Jadwin Jungle waits for the opening tip of the 2005-06 season.
This post was originally penned on November 7, 2009 as "A Decade of Season Openers." I've added last season's game against Central Michigan and revamped these essays for the upcoming season.
Many of these pieces come from the listserv that predated this web site.
Read on for the stories of the past 11 Tiger tipoffs in sequential order...
Sophomore center Chris Young led three Princeton players in double figures, but the Tigers fell in an early 17 point hole at Syracuse and never closed within single digits. Here's what I wrote at the time:
Went to the usual sports bar to watch the game and was there 30 minutes before the dish guy told me the game was "blacked out" on their system [even though I called to confirm earlier in the day]. Jumped in the car and drove frantic across Chicago to another sports bar who had been phoned by the first sports bar to make sure they had the game. Listened to the five of the first seven minutes on WHWH over the car phone [thanks, dad!]. It was 5-2 Syracuse when I got in the car. What started as "first game of the season jitters" steamrolled into a 34-11 Syracuse halftime lead. For the record, I made it into the second sports bar at 23-6. Oy.
When I closed my eyes at the half, my nightmares were filled with an endless series of filled passing lanes and defenders with arms spread wide. Syracuse had played very good defense, Princeton had made some forced choices and missed any type of shot they had. It was not looking good. Then, as the second half started, you could see a bit of fire in this year's model of the Princeton Tigers.
Players cut harder.
Passes were smarter.
Defense was tighter.
By the middle of the second half, I was wondering how this game would have gone had Mason Rocca not had to sit out [with what I assume is a groin problem, even though I did not see him on the bench]. Sure, Etan Thomas missed the game for Syracuse as well, but I never thought any sort of "what ifs"would be close to crossing my mind at halftime. The Tigers dug a "Penn game hole" but could not climb all the way out of it.
This is what young teams do. They grow up. They make mistakes. Then they hit shots. They cut Syracuse leads to 49-36 with 6:15 left and don't get any closer, even with some good chances to do so. They throw the ball away and give up easy second chances at the other end. I think this team will grow up at a rate that pleases many. Sure, they will lose a good number of games, but by the time Ivy season rolls around, the schedule will have been worth it. I have been known to take a loss pretty hard in my day, but I feel better than I expected about a seventeen point opening night loss.
Watching Chris Young, who is now HUGE [esp. in his torso], be the stable force in the middle, kicking the ball out to players that will learn what to do with it in time, made me feel good about this coming season. Hell, Lafayette blew Princeton out to start last year, and if this season could mimic that one I'd be more than happy.
Some other thoughts:
Decent touch-passes on occasion from Young [drawing the double team] to Walton, including one pass that lead to a lay-up I'm pretty sure was goaltending. Nice play to create points working off of the attention Young draws. Young also hit two DEEP three-pointers. As predicted, it will take some outside shots and some hard cuts from the guards to keep Young from being double/triple teamed. By the time Princeton hit several three-pointers it was just too late.
Baah provided decent spark and a quick step to the basket, even if he still did look out-of-control from time to time. He caused several second chances and hit some nice shots however. Like the cornrows.
Chapman showed decent touch and great range. I hope his "practice shot" is back.
Tiger court spacing needs some work.
As does the speed in which they swing their passes around the arc.
Princeton will play Missouri @ 7:00 pm EST on Saturday night in Syracuse, NY.
I'll be back at this new sportsbar watching progress happen quickly.
Princeton will honor Marvin Bressler with a "MARV" patch on their uniforms this season.
There's an excerpt of a lovely note written posthumously to Professor Bressler in the latest Princeton Alumni Weekly.
Future Tiger Clay Wilson has been named Oklahoma class 3A Preseason MVP.
The 2010-11 season opens on November 12th against Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights struggled in a foul-plaqued 80-68 exhibition victory over McGill College.
Despite returning zero starters from last season, Howie Levy's Mercer County Community College team is ranked 17th in NJCAA DII Preseason Poll.
Senior big man Tyler Adams, who had previously verbally committed to Duke changed his mind and pledged his services to Georgetown.
New Egypt center Desmond Huebert, who is deciding between Maryland, Wake Forest, Villanova, Georgia Tech and the Tigers will "probably" visit the Princeton campus this weekend.
The latest collection of videos from various corners of the Princeton basketball family. Bill Carmody speaks at Northwestern's Midnight Madness event above.
Did you know that from 1945 until 1947 Princeton played its basketball games at Baker Rink?
University Gym was the Tigers' home court from 1903 until a fire consumed the building four decades later in 1944. A temporary location was required while Dillon Gym was being constructed.
This first season the Tigers went 4-5 in Baker and the next year they were 4-8.
Princeton's second campaign of playing basketball in an revamped ice rink was Cappy Cappon's first year as head coach of the orange and black. His captain was a man named Butch van Breda Kolff.
The picture above comes from a 45-39 loss to Army in 1947.
Former Princeton player Mike Bechtold is the subject of a "Where Are They Now?" piece in the Lebanon Daily News.
I'm hearing that Princeton "won" their controlled scrimmage against Sacred Heart over the weekend.
Tiger recruit Denton Koon is a nominee for the 2011 McDonald's All-American high School Basketball Boys Team.
A Chicago forward verbally committed to Northwestern over heavy interest from Penn.
Who was the last Democratic nominee for governor of Florida endorsed by the Florida Times-Union prior to this year? Why it was Steve Pajcic, who played in 13 games as a member of the 1967-68 Princeton team.
Cleveland Cavs coach Byron Scott was sorry Pete Carril did not travel with the Kings to Ohio on their recent road trip.
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
