Tigers head coach Sydney Johnson and princetonbasketball.com editor Jon Solomon met at Jadwin Gym this afternoon to tape their weekly interview. The pair went over Princeton's split at Yale and Brown and previewed the final home games of the season versus Cornell and Columbia.
The discussion concluded with talk about the three seniors playing at Jadwin for the last time and Coach Johnson's first thoughts on the school's decision to reinstate early admission.
This Q&A is 21:00+ in length.
Interviews with Coach Johnson will appear on this site every week during the 2010-11 season.
Denver vs. Louisana-Lafayette - 8:00 pm ET
Penn State vs. Northwestern - 9:00 pm ET - ESPN2
Stanford vs. Oregon State - 9:00 pm ET - FSN Northwest
Steve Goodrich is quoted extensively in a Daily Orange story about the "Princeton Offense."
Georgetown (21-7) not only suffered through an awful 25% shooting night in a 58-46 loss to Cincinnati, but senior point guard Chris Wright broke his left hand early in the second half. Hoya Hoops was first with the postgame audio.
Princeton recruit Denton Koon scored 11 as Liberty opened postseason play with a 86-54 win over William Chrisman.
Dan Mavraides is called “an active contributor to trash talking within the league" by another Ivy player in a Daily Pennsylvanian article about smack talk.
Princeton recruit Brian Fabrizius had a big game in Kimball Union's win over Kents Hills.
The latest collection of videos from various corners of the Princeton basketball family. Above is a "commercial" for the Judson Wallace fan site. Game highlights and more after the jump.
Perhaps it is because the pall of Saturday night in Providence still hangs heavy over my head, but walking away from tonight's Region XIX quarterfinal between County College of Morris and Mercer County Community College I felt like I had been at the most enjoyable basketball game I'd attended this season.
While the fourth-seeded Vikings (15-15) had just one field goal in the opening nine minutes and trailed by as many as 13 to the fifth-seeded Titans in front of a festive, opinionated and energetic home crowd, coach Howie Levy's team always seemed two possessions away from gaining control of the game.
Morris vs. Mercer - 7:00 pm ET - Region XIX Playoffs
The Daily Princetonian and the Yale Daily News summarize this weekend's games. If there's a piece in the Brown student paper, I couldn't find it.
It was a happy Senior Day for for five Richmond (21-7) players in their final home game at the Robins Center. The Spiders bested St. Bonaventure by 15.
Denver (13-14) lost their first home game to a conference foe in two years in painful fashion. South Alabama rallied from 14 down at halftime and took their first lead with 1:25 to go. The loss hurts the postseason plans of the Pioneers.
Denver and South Alabama round out the Pioneers' home slate.
Breaking news: Happy birthday, dad.
Around the Ivy League: Harvard (20-4 / 9-1) moved a half game ahead of Princeton with a 61-42 win at Columbia (14-10 / 5-5). Zack Rosen scored in the lane with :02.3 seconds left to give Penn (11-12 / 5-4) the 60-58 decision at Yale (12-12 / 5-5). Cornell (7-17 / 3-7) made 16 three pointers in their 96-76 victory over Dartmouth (5-19 / 1-9).
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson & Kareem Maddox:
Brown had the gameplan - clog the lane with five defenders planting at least one leg in the paint at all times and make Princeton's outside shooters beat the Bears. The strategy was not dissimilar from last season's second meeting at Jadwin where Brown dared Marcus Schroeder to beat them from behind the arc.
The approach was a successful one.
Douglas Davis went 0-7 from three point range. Dan Mavraides missed both his attempts. Patrick Saunders was 1-6, his conversion ending a stretch of 12 straight off-target triples to open Princeton's night. The Tigers hit 4 of 21 as a team, with two of the makes coming in the last minute.
Brown freshman guard Sean McGonagill was able to penetrate effectively and the Tigers' help defense was inadequate. The Bears opened up as large as an 11 point lead on Garrett Leffelman's left corner rainbow late in the first half, before Princeton scored six straight in the final 1:18 to close within five.
"We got a little bit scrappier and used our defense to get back into the game," said head coach Sydney Johnson about how his team ended the opening frame. "We converted well offensively on our last possession but we didn't really apply ourselves they way we needed defensively long enough to make it a win for us."
The Tigers' lone lead came at the 12:28 mark of the second half on a short Ian Hummer jumper. It didn't last long - one possession to be specific. Leffelman out of the left corner returned the edge to Brown, which they held to the horn.
Converting their first 23 free throws, the Bears were able to withstand each and every Princeton push.
With 5:28 to play, Dan Mavraides found Mack Darrow for a three on the right wing that drew Princeton within 58-55. A driving Tucker Halpern kicked to McGonagill open on the left side for three and the Bears' lead stayed at two possessions.
Senior Peter Sullivan completed his return from a shoulder injury at Jadwin with a game-best 26 points and 16-16 shooting at the line.
Kareem Maddox dropped 19 battling multiple defenders inside and Hummer added 18 points and 12 boards in defeat.
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
