Toothless Tiger

Ivy 60 for 60: Gary Walters

October 3, 2016September 21, 2016 by Toothless Tiger

Gary Walters – a classic Princeton Tiger in the classic Princeton era. (Princeton Varsity Club)

Following our countdown of the top 10 moments in each Ivy school’s men’s basketball history this summer, Ivy Hoops Online is delighted to continue celebrating the 60^thanniversary of modern Ivy League basketball by honoring the top 60 players in Ivy hoops history (in no particular order). For the next entry in our Ivy 60 for 60 series, we cover one of the greatest players in Princeton basketball history:

The contributions of Gary Walters to the Ivy League and to his beloved Tigers cannot be overstated. His ties to Princeton basketball began before the arrival of Pete Carril, and his professional role at the university continued for nearly two decades after Carril’s retirement.

Recruited as a point guard by Butch van Breda Kolff, Walters enjoyed great success at Reading (PA) High School playing for … you can’t make this stuff up … Pete Carril. A key player on Bill Bradley’s Final Four team in 1965, Walters led the 1966-67 Tigers to 25 wins and a top-five national ranking. No Tiger would win as many games for the next 30 years. A talented ball handler and passer, Walters is remembered as a tenacious defender, perhaps the best in the league over his career.

Ivy 60 for 60: Geoff Petrie

June 5, 2016 by Toothless Tiger

Geoff Petrie (24) averaged 21.8 points, 4.6 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game during his Princeton career. (Princeton Athletics)

When Butch van Breda Kolff left Princeton for the glitz and glamor of the NBA after the 1967 season, the Tiger tank was anything but empty. Among the players Pete Carril found on his roster were two future NBA draftees, John Hummer and the subject of this profile, Geoff Petrie.

Petrie was, quite simply, the best player I have ever seen in a Tiger uniform. I did not see Bradley in person, and all must acknowledge that he was the most important player, if not the greatest, in the history of the League. Nevertheless, a strong case can be made that Petrie is the best player ever. (Paul Hutter makes it in his wonderful 2014 volume, The Golden Age of Ivy League Basketball.)

Ivy 60 for 60: Brian Earl

June 5, 2016April 21, 2016 by Toothless Tiger

Brian Earl ranked in the top three in the Ivy League in offensive win shares in all four of his seasons at Princeton and ranks first in total win shares among all Ivy players dating back to the 1993-94 season. Win Shares is a player statistic designed to assign credit for team success to the individuals on the team. (goprincetontigers.com)

Brian Earl, one of the Princeton Tigers’ best and best-loved players, is the new head coach at Cornell. It is his first head coaching job.

A gifted player, Earl was a member of three Ivy championship teams, including Pete Carril’s final season as head coach in 1995-96. Over the next two seasons, the Tigers went 51-6 overall and 28-0 in the Ivy League. Earl’s 1,428 career points rank seventh in Tiger history. He graduated as the league’s career leader in three-point field goals. A product of Medford Lakes, N.J., Earl started 113 games for the Tigers, a school record. He was named Ivy League Player of the Year in his senior year.

The monkey on Mitch Henderson’s back

March 10, 2016 by Toothless Tiger

With its season-ending defeat of the Penn Quakers last night, the Tigers ran their record to a gaudy 22-6 (12-2 Ivy), their best 28-game record in this century (when you are as old as Toothless you think of these things in terms of centuries). On only two occasions, 2004 (13-1) and 2011 (12-2) did a Tiger team win at least 12 Ivy League games, and both of those squads won Ivy titles.

It took Yale’s historic run, in which the Bulldogs suffered but one loss, to deny the Tigers another Ivy crown. (That one defeat came at the hands of Princeton.)

Ivy 60 for 60: Frank Sowinski

April 9, 2016February 27, 2016 by Toothless Tiger

Frank Sowinski Princeton Varsity Club — Frank Sowinski helped lead the Tigers to back-to-back Ivy League championships in 1975-76 and 1976-77. The “Polish Rifle” was the 1976-77 Ivy Player of the Year. (Princeton Varsity Club)

Frank Sowinski was one of the more productive Tigers over his stellar three-year career in the orange and black.

A substantial sweep for Princeton

February 21, 2016 by Toothless Tiger

The Tigers’ weekend sweep of Yale and Brown at Jadwin gave them control of their destiny in the hectic Ivy race and tied them with the Bulldogs in the all-important loss column.

The largest Jadwin crowd in the Mitch Henderson era, bolstered by a beer-soaked cadre of undergraduates and Garden State chief executive Chris Christie, Delaware ’84, was on hand for Friday’s matchup with Justin Sears and company. Yale controlled the backboards and the game in the early going, taking an 11-6 lead after six minutes. Two Sam Downey free throws gave the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game, 19-13, with nine minutes to go in the first period. The key statistic was Yale’s six offensive rebounds while shutting the Tigers out in that category. At the five-minute mark the margin remained six, 27-21.

Princeton’s midseason report card

February 15, 2016 by Toothless Tiger

Saturday’s heart-stopping overtime victory at Columbia gave the Tigers at least temporary control of their destiny for the balance of the Ivy League campaign. Princeton’s 6-1 first half record puts the denizens of Old Nassau firmly in second place, trailing only the unbeaten Yale Bulldogs. This week’s Game Of The Year is set for Friday night when the Tigers seek to avenge their only loss, a four-point nailbiter at Yale three weeks ago. IHO presents a midseason report card on the Tigers, a fascinating story of a team very deliberately assembled by Mitch Henderson to withstand and even flourish in the nightmare of Ivy League back-to-backs.

Princeton survives Penn, 73-71, in overtime

January 10, 2016 by Toothless Tiger

As most of you well know, to stroll the outer corridors of The Palestra is to take a nostalgic journey across decades of college basketball memories. Teams, players, coaches, writers, broadcasters and Big Moments are proudly displayed. One particularly prominent plaque chronicles the win-loss record of Penn against its fellow competitor in The Rivalry. Yesterday, prior to the outbreak of hostilities for the 233^rd time, the record was Penn 124-Princeton 108. The Tigers 109^th win was one of the most memorable in the great series. May I still be here when we take the lead!

Tigers roll out the heavy Tidewater artillery

January 6, 2016 by Toothless Tiger

If General George McClellan used his offense in the Peninsula Campaign the way Mitch Henderson deployed his at Hampton and Norfolk State, the Civil War might have ended in a much quicker Union victory.

The Tigers rolled out the heavy artillery on Sunday at Hampton, scoring at will in an 89-59 romp. Four Tigers reached double figures, led, once again, by Henry Caruso with 14. All 15 players on the roster saw action, and 12 broke into the scoring column.

Tuesday’s Tidewater skirmish against the Spartans of Norfolk State did not start well for the invaders. The Spartans caught the Tigers back on their heels, racing out to a 9-0 lead. Once the Tiger infantry began to advance order was quickly restored. By the end of the first half the Tigers were comfortably in control, 40-31. Shooting at a better than 50 percent clip throughout the contest, the Tigers led by as many as 21 in the second half. The Spartans closed the gap to nine against the Tiger bench. The final score was Princeton 83, Norfolk State 74. The Tigers took no prisoners during this campaign.

Princeton outlasted by No. 13 Miami, 76-64

January 16, 2016December 30, 2015 by Toothless Tiger

As the 2015 portion of the schedule winds down the pecking order in the Ivy League appears to be established along familiar lines. Ken Pomeroy ranks just one Ivy squad, Yale, in the Top 100 at No. 95. Harvard, on the strength of an excellent showing in Hawaii, has jumped to No. 109. The Tigers check in at No. 114, while Columbia remains in a holding pattern at No. 129, even while riding the crest of a five-game winning streak. The only surprise has been the rapid maturing of the Crimson, whose relative inexperience was not an issue in wins against BYU and Auburn and a near miss against No. 2 Oklahoma. Many knowledgeable observers now predict a likely continuation of Harvard’s unprecedented domination of the Ivy League.