Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark takes stock of where Princeton men’s basketball stands after a 6-3 start replete with white-knuckle finishes and newly emerging linchpins:
Noah Savage
Ivy Madness reporter’s notebook: Day 3
“This is the business we’ve chosen.” – Brian Earl and Hyman Roth
“We played for, I would say, a good 15 minutes tonight, but that’s not good enough against a good program.” – Columbia head coach Megan Griffith, following the Lions defeat to top-seeded Princeton
No matter what the coaches who did not earn victories on Saturday thought, I felt there were three really good games of college basketball on display at Lavietes Pavilion, including a fantastic opener that saw Princeton escape an upset big from Cornell, 77-73. Hopefully, West Coast fans woke up at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning to catch it.
Here are some random thoughts and observations from the Ancient Eight’s Super Saturday:
Penn men survive early knockdown to take round one at Harvard, 78-74
Down 12-2, starting power forward Michael Moshkovitz off the court with two quick fouls and a boisterous sellout Lavietes Pavilion crowd on top of them, things looked bleak for the Penn men as they made it to their bench for the first media timeout in Friday night’s nationally televised game at Harvard.
Fortunately, Steve Donahue settled his team and the Quakers bounced back for an important 78-74 road victory that has the Red & Blue at 5-2 (8-12 overall) halfway through the Ivy League schedule.
Tommy Amaker’s Crimson, meanwhile, left the court with their third loss in five league contests (10-7 overall).
Princeton men building early momentum toward Ivy title as dominance over Penn persists
Mitch Henderson’s dominance over the Penn Quakers continues. Since 2012, Princeton, after yesterday’s satisfying 74-64 triumph at Jadwin, is 15-4 against its most bitter rival.
Matt Allocco beats Big Red with birthday buzzer-beater for Princeton men
Princeton’s stirring comeback win over Columbia Friday night, when the Tigers unleashed a 51-point second half avalanche, thrilled the announced crowd of 35 fans. Word quickly spread that something special was unfolding in Jadwin Gym. Another seven of the Tiger faithful showed up for Saturday night’s welcome home party for favorite son and Cornell coach Brian Earl.
They saw something special.
Princeton comes up short at San Francisco, 82-72
Still smarting from the second-half smackdown at Duquesne on Tuesday, the Tigers packed their bags for a Saturday tilt at San Francisco’s Chase Center, the new home of the Golden State Warriors, in the first men’s college basketball game there. While the Tigers’ injury woes are not as serious as the Warriors’, they would miss Ryan Schwieger, who left Tuesday’s game after six minutes, amid an 82-72 defeat.
Post-holiday program alert: Ivy League to launch “Road to Ivy Madness” podcast
On Thursday, the Ivy League office announced that it will produce a weekly “Road to Ivy Madness” podcast for the upcoming conference schedule. The 12 episodes, available each Wednesday on IvyLeague.com and Apple Podcasts, begin on Jan. 2, three days before the opening of league play with a Penn-Princeton doubleheader at Jadwin Gym. Each “Road to Ivy Madness,” hosted by Bill Spaulding, is expected to be 20-25 minutes in length and feature major storylines in both the men’s and women’s divisions.
Q&A with Princeton coach Mitch Henderson
Editor’s note: Our George Clark (Toothless Tiger) recently caught up with Princeton coach Mitch Henderson, who thoughtfully weighed in on Princeton basketball’s 2018-19 outlook, comparing the 2016-17 Tigers who went 16-0 in league play with last year’s 5-9 Princeton squad, previewing the program’s promising sophomore class, reflecting on rookie Jaelin Llewellyn living up to the hype, looking for Princeton’s defense to improve despite losing 2018 Ivy Defensive Player of the Year Amir Bell, explaining why Princeton and Penn are playing back-to-back in January this year … and much more:
On the Vine – Mar. 2, 2017
On the Vine welcomes two very special guests – Princeton basketball 2008 alum and radio and Ivy League Digital Network commentator, and IHO contributor Ian Wenik.
Savage breaks down the many factors fueling Princeton’s undefeated Ivy run through 12 games, previews the Tigers’ regular season-closing weekend and looks ahead to how the Ivy League Digital Network will cover the inaugural Ivy League Tournament. Wenik reflects on the atmosphere at Levien Gym and analyzes how Columbia bounced back from a drubbing by Princeton Friday evening to pivotally push past Penn the following night. The panel considers potential future sites for the Ivy tournament and predicts what the inaugural tourney’s four men’s seeds will be next weekend.
In addition to Savage and Wenik, hosts Peter Andrews and Mike Tony are joined by IHO writer George Clark.