Ivy Hoops Online correspondent George “Toothless Tiger” Clark brings us the audio of the postgame press conference for Princeton after its dramatic 61-59 win at Penn Friday evening:
Audio PlayerClark recaps the action between Princeton (16-6, 5-2 Ivy) and Penn (6-14, 2-5) at the Palestra:
Audio Player
Thank you, George, for referencing the 1996 Tigers in your recap of Friday’s PU-UP game. I remember that team well! Penn had beaten Princeton 8 straight times, including both regular season games that year. Back in the era of the “killer Ps and the 6 dwarves” Princeton had nonetheless had a number of close calls against less teams. They beat Yale at home by 1, Cornell at home by 3, Brown on the road by 2, and Columbia on the road by 2. (Sound familiar?)
Somehow, Penn dropped two games to other Ivy teams, setting up a one-game playoff to determine who would head to March Madness. Beating Penn that year seemed like a more remote possibility than beating Yale does to many Tiger fans this year. Those four close calls against inferior competition did not inspire confidence. But the Tigers beat the Quakers in the play-off and went on to top the reigning NCAA champion UCLA Bruins.
So maybe the Tigers can party like its 1996, beat Cornell and Yale in Ivy Madness and make some noise in March Madness!