It’s been a tumultuous five days for Princeton women’s basketball.
On Saturday night, the Tigers’ memorable season came to a crashing halt at 26-4 in a humbling 82-68 loss to Oklahoma State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Then, four days later, Princeton coach Carla Berube announced she was leaving Old Nassau for purpler pastures at Northwestern.
Now, Orange and Black nation is holding its collective breath waiting to see if any Princeton players will defect with Berube to Northwestern, where they can earn athletic scholarships and NIL dollars while plying their craft on a larger stage than the one offered by Princeton.
And yet only a fortnight ago, Princeton women’s basketball appeared to be resurgent.
The Tigers had won an unexpected outright Ivy League championship on the last day of the regular season when they handled business at home against Yale and then watched Harvard upset Columbia in Morningside Heights.
Then, a week later at Ivy Madness in Ithaca, the Tigers powered their way past Brown and Havard to win their fifth Ivy League Tournament championship in the past eight years and their seventh consecutive trip to the Big Dance.
Why did everything suddenly go south for Princeton women’s basketball and where does the program go from here?