President Tilghman sighted in the Jungle

After all, she’s the president of a leading university. She probably has more productive ways of spending her time than sitting with a bunch of students in Jadwin Gymnasium.

So when she replied that sitting in the student section would be a great idea, I was torn between cynicism and confusion. Maybe she was just agreeing because it was the politically correct choice? Perhaps I would receive an e-mail later that day regretfully informing me that she had overlooked a prior commitment? As it turned out, I was wrong, again.

“I’ve been a season-ticket holder for 20 years,” Tilghman said as we entered the stands at 7:15 p.m., 15 minutes before the game versus Yale was scheduled to start.

Doing the math, that meant she had been going to games for over 10 years before becoming president. Obviously, she realized that I was skeptical of whether her fandom was merely a part of the presidency.

“I was absolutely obsessed the year that Sydney [referring to now-head coach Sydney Johnson ’97] and the team went to the NCAA Tournament and beat UCLA,” Tilghman said.

Nonetheless, when questioned about what effect becoming president had on her as a fan, she admitted that before becoming president she did not follow all Princeton sports avidly.

“I went to lacrosse and basketball games before I became president and the occasional football game to entertain my kids,” Tilghman said. “Now, I go to all of them, whether it’s field hockey, water polo, volleyball, etc.”

During the game, it quickly became clear that she was a true Princeton basketball fan. Her comments in the beginning, though limited to positive remarks about Princeton players, showed that she had an actual understanding of Princeton basketball.

In fact, less than two minutes after she commented that sophomore guard Marcus Schroeder “seems like one of those players who always plays with confidence,” Schroeder hit a three-pointer that gave momentum back to the Tigers.

By the second half, the overt political correctness — which had accompanied her comments for most of the first half — had begun to fade. When it was announced that Harvard was leading Cornell 50-43, Tilghman vocalized what many of us were thinking.

“That’s surprising, because Harvard is terrible,” she said.

And when I questioned her about what was working for the Princeton offense — when the Tigers were still in the lead — her frank assessment caught me off guard because I had expected a benign, complimentary remark about Princeton’s squad.

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“I don’t know if it’s a matter of what we’re doing right,” she said. “It really helps that they [the Yale players] can’t shoot.”

Overall, I was surprised not just by Tilghman’s knowledge of basketball, but also by how responsive the students were to her presence. Countless students, as well as the officers of Jadwin Jungle, thanked her for coming to support the team, and both the Department of Athletics and WPRB conducted interviews with her during halftime.

At the end of the game, Tilghman cited the final score and sparse attendance by students as the most disappointing parts of her experience sitting in the Jadwin Jungle.

“I think more students would show up if we were winning,” Tilghman said. “I remember back to the mid-’90s when we were competing with Penn for the Ivy League’s spot in the NCAA Tournament, and Jadwin would be packed.”

In retrospect, it seems that Tilghman’s only real mistake of the evening was her prediction. She expected the Tigers to prevail by 17 points, 69-52. But you can’t blame her for being overly optimistic when it comes to all things Orange and Black. After all, she is the president.