NEW HAVEN, Conn. – With 2.8 seconds remaining, Princeton’s season was on the line. Down by one point, senior guard and co-captain Dan Mavraides held the ball behind his own baseline. Junior guard Doug Davis flashed to the opposite corner and received the ball. He dribbled right, pump-faked, leaned the other way for an open shot and let fly.The ball hung in the air, then dropped. Nothing but net. The Tigers are dancing.
The men's basketball team earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament with last night's thrilling 63-62 victory over Harvard. Join us as we live-blog the Selection Show at 6 p.m., when the Tigers' seeding will be unveiled.
This past Tuesday I traveled with three other members of The Daily Princetonian staff to The Palestra, Penn’s historic gym, to watch the men’s basketball team take on Penn, with the Ivy League Championship and hopes for a bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line. I wanted to open this article with some crazy encounter or occurrence in Philly, but other than an amazing bacon burger at a Chili’s, nothing of any importance happened beforehand. (Unless you consider my shelling out $25 for a ticket because we didn’t ask for a press pass in time “something of importance.” I do, but that’s irrelevant.)
After suffering a tough 19-12 loss at the hands of No. 4 Duke last weekend, the No. 18 women’s lacrosse team is looking to bounce back against Brown this Saturday at Princeton Stadium. The Tigers (2-1 overall, 0-0 Ivy League) gave up 19 goals to the Blue Devils, the most they have allowed since a 12-20 loss to University of Maryland in 2004.
The Chicago Bulls’ recent win over the Miami Heat has generated much talk, most of it inane. The majority of the inanity generated stems from the union of two unfortunate basketball constituencies: the “Derrick Rose is Messiah” cult and the alliance of “those who inexplicably despise the Heat” have been brought together in hateful reverie. Countering these groups’ assertions is the duty of informed fans everywhere.
Last year, I wrote a column attempting to understand what types of teams are capable of making upset runs in the NCAA tournament. I concluded anecdotally that the best bets tend to have a high team three-point shooting percentage as well as at least one notable rebounder. Good teams that falter down the stretch (such as Villanova last year) or shoot free throws poorly are at particular risk. Teams that rely heavily on half-court defense (especially if it’s zone defense) and don’t score often can also be shocked by a quick barrage of three-pointers, with Cornell’s defeat of Wisconsin last year as the most recent example.
Although senior heavyweight rower Alex Cantwell comes from the windy waters of Chicago, Ill., he found a home on Princeton’s calming Lake Carnegie soon after arriving. Four years later, he continues to wield his weapon of choice, the oar, with his teammates on the high seas. Senior writer Caroline Wang talked to Cantwell about the Princeton band, his coach’s job and his fondness for a certain Baroque composer.
PHILADELPHIA — The women’s basketball team completed another stellar regular season on Tuesday, as the Ivy League champions capped off their conference slate with a victory at Penn’s The Palestra. Princeton dominated from start to finish en route to a 78-27 rout and now looks ahead to next week’s NCAA Tournament.
Only a handful of YouTube videos boast comments as polarized as “I love this!” and “WT double F.” The video recently posted by the men’s swimming and diving team is the newest addition to that select group. Titled “Get Better, Hasler,” the video features members of the swimming and diving team lip-synching to Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” and has garnered over 100,000 views since its posting about two weeks ago.
PHILADELPHIA — After seven years, Princeton is back at the top of the Ivy League. At times on Tuesday night, the men’s basketball team’s dream appeared to be slipping away. Penn went on a 23-4 run midway through the game and led by four points at halftime, extending the lead in the minutes after the break. But the Tigers (24-6 overall, 12-2 Ivy League) did not miss in the second half, storming back for a 70-58 victory over Penn (13-15, 7-7) and earning a share of the conference title.
Last season, the baseball team needed seven games to notch its first victory. This year, it took only three, and it came in an unexpected place. The Tigers capped its season-opening series at No. 7 Louisiana State University with an 8-7 victory on Sunday, handing the hosts their first loss of the season.
The task facing the men’s lacrosse team on Saturday was simple, if a bit daunting: bounce back from last weekend’s loss to No. 6 Hofstra with a win on the road against No. 8 Johns Hopkins, and do so with senior attackman and 2010 leading goal-scorer Jack McBride hampered by a groin injury.
The No. 19 women’s lacrosse team knew it would have its hands full when it traveled to No. 3 Duke on Saturday. The last time these teams met one year ago the Tigers fell 13-6. Though the score was higher Saturday, the margin remained the same, as the Blue Devils (4-1) handed the Tigers (2-1) their first loss, 19-12.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — As the final horn sounded at Lavietes Pavilion on Saturday night, hundreds of Crimson fans in white shirts stormed the court from the student section. The Harvard men’s basketball team had earned a share of the Ivy League title for the first time in program history with a 79-67 season-ending win. Across the court, the Princeton team sat on its bench, watching its opponents celebrate and focusing on the possibility of a rematch.
After a 68-59 victory over third-place Harvard on Saturday night, the women’s basketball team cut the net off the rim at Jadwin Gymnasium for the second year in a row. After clinching a share of the Ivy League title with an 81-42 blowout over Dartmouth on Friday, Princeton held off a resilient Crimson offense and went on some runs of its own to win the championship and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Going into the last event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, the men’s swimming and diving team was ahead of the Crimson by 7.5 points. Swimmers, coaches, staff members and spectators were on their feet with bated breath. The meet could end in two ways, and everything depended on the placement of Harvard (9-0 overall, 7-0 Ivy League), Princeton (5-2, 5-1) and Columbia (6-4, 4-3) in the relay.
The outer squash courts at Jadwin Gymnasium are decorated with orange banners that provide a crash course in the sport’s history at Princeton. Next year, another name will grace the banner honoring the University’s men’s individual national champions, a list that stretches from William Foulke ’34 to Yasser El Halaby ’06. On Sunday afternoon, sophomore Todd Harrity defeated Cornell’s Nick Sachvie 3-0 in the finals of the College Squash Association individual tournament.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — As the final horn sounded at Lavietes Pavilion on Saturday night, hundreds of Crimson fans in white shirts stormed the court from the student section. The Harvard men’s basketball team had earned a share of the Ivy League title for the first time in program history with a 79-67 season-ending win. Across the court, the Princeton team sat on its bench, watching its opponents celebrate and focusing on the possibility of a rematch.