Sports Desk: Princeton Tigers Go to Lynchburg and Win

Earlier in the season my alma mater Radford University, a Big South school, faced the Cornell Bears, an Ivy League team, and won. But, given that Big South schools stretch from Lexington, Va. (VMI) to Charleston, SC, (Charleston Southern), and Ivy League are from the northeast, the two conferences don't play with each other that often.

But, on Saturday, the Princeton Tigers in their last game before the start of conference play, headed down to Lynchburg, Va., to face the Liberty Flames on Saturday in the first meeting in men's basketball between the two schools.

And, it was Princeton (11-2), a team which traveled from New Jersey, which prevailed with an 80-74 win that was propelled by T.J. Bray (pictured) who almost matched his career-high with 24 points and his teammate Ben Hazel who added 18 points. For Liberty, John Caleb Saunders scored 25 points.

SIDEBAR: There was a shocking upset in Winston-Salem, NC, on Sunday night, as the home court Wake Forest Demon Deacons shocked the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, ranked 19th in the country at the time, 73-67.

The win was the first for Wake Forest over UNC since 2001 in a series that the Tar Heels have dominated in more recent years. Senior Travis McKie from Richmond, Va., lead the home team in scoring with 16 points, and he shot 7 for 11 from the floor.

SIDEBAR 2: Well, when the West Virginia Mountaineers joined the BIG 12, geographic rivalries went out the window as the closest conference school to Morgantown, WVa., is (we believe) Iowa State, located in Ames, Iowa.

Tonight, WVU traveled even farther away as they headed to Lubbock, Tex., and got an 89-86 (OT) win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Juwan Staten lead WVU in scoring with 25 points, and Terry Henderson hit a crucial three-pointer with :18 left to play in regulation.

Kudos to Harvard

The Harvard Crimson men's basketball team won its last two home and regular season games in victories over Columbia University 56-51 and Cornell University 66-56. Prior to Harvard's out-right Ivy League crowns over the last two years, Cornell, located in Ithaca, NY, and nicknamed the Big Red, had won several league titles in a row.

The Crimson edged out Princeton for this year's league title.

Harvard, a 14-seed, will now face New Mexico, the three-seed, at 9:50 p.m., eastern time, in Salt Lake City, Utah (where the local time will be 7:50 p.m.) in the opening round of the West Region for the tourney.

The Crimson have two basketball in the mid-Atlantic region, which is also known as 'ACC Country,' in Michael Hall, a freshman forward/center, and Christian Webster, a senior from Washington, DC. Harvard's coach Tommy Amaker played college basketball at Duke University, an ACC powerhouse. The Blue Devils are a two-seed and they will face the Albany University Great Danes in the first round.

The nation's capital is also home of the most well-known current living Harvard alum in President Barack Obama; he has picked the Indiana University Hoosiers to win it all, which seemingly illustrates that he don't suffer from sour grapes since the state that voted for him in 2008, went red for Mitt Romney, who seems to have disappeared like D.B. Copper, in last year's presidential election.

The mascot for Harvard is John Harvard (pictured above).

http://www.harvard.edu

Tweets for a Snowy Night

It's snowing in Maryland, Washington DC, West Virginia, North Carolina and Virginia, here is a look a some tweets for a snowy, snowy night:

1) Gator Gymnastics @GatorZoneGym: Freshman Bridgette Caquatto makes her debut on uneven bars tonight with a 9.8! #GoGators

2) UNC Women's Lacrosse @uncwlax: Enjoying the snow here in Chapel Hill.

3) NC A&T @ncatsaggies: #NCAT will open at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

4) Robin Reed @wxman7: Looking for reports on road conditions mainly residential- in your area- send me a quick tweet or picture! (Reed is a long-time weather reporter for WDBJ Channel 7 in my hometown of Roanoke, Va.)

5) NC State Gymnastics @PackGymnastics: "Diahanna Ham notches the top-score on beam for the Pack with a 9.775"

6) Cornell Daily Sun @CornellSun: W. Hockey. C.U. heads on the Road to Play Ivy Rivals Yale, Brown.

7) Denver Gymnastics @DU_Gymnastics: The traditional 'calling of the hogs; here at Arkansas just took place. Both teams getting set for the first touch warm-up.

The Other Sweet 16- the NCAA Hockey Tournament

The NCAA hockey tournament gets underway on Friday as Minn-Duluth will look to defend its NCAA against Maine in the Worcester, Mass.-regional.

If every team I'm picking wins, then that region will go to top-seed Boston College which open up NCAA against Air Force. My other three teams (keep in mind, I am a novice with college hockey) in the Frozen Four are Minnesota, Miami (Ohio) and Denver University. I am also going to project that the Boston College Eagles will win it all in Tampa, Fla. (yes, that is where the Frozen Four is taking place, starting on April 5th).

But, the first round game I am most anxious to watch is in the Green Bay, Wisc.-region where Michigan, the top seed in the region, will face Cornell (pictured).

The Big Red have shocked the Wolverines before as they won the first of a three game series against the 'Big Blue' in Ann Arbor 5-4 during the NCAA tournament in 1991. But, the format is now single-game elimination, thus at the time, the Wolverines were able to rebound and advance two games to one.

Whoever wins the game between Michigan and Cornell, which will be broadcast on Friday night on ESPN-U, will then face the winner of the Ferris State (Grand Rapids, Mich.)-Denver game.

Michigan has won nine titles, followed by Denver and North Dakota, teams that have won seven titles each. Boston College has won four titles.

In the Bridgeport, Conn.-region, top-seed Union (NY) plays Michigan State, the only school that also made the Sweet 16 in men's basketball. The other game in the region pits Maimi (Ohio) against Mass-Lowell.

The Wolverines will be coming off a loss in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) conference tournament, which won by Western Michigan, a team that plays North Dakota in the St. Paul region (for the other two regions, check out our sister blog "The Daily Vampire"). Ferris State, Miami (Ohio) and Michigan State are the other three teams from that conference in the NCAA tournament.

Michigan has many outstanding players, including freshman Alex Guptill from Canada, senior Luke Glendenning from Grand Rapids, Mich., and senior goaltender Shawn Hunwick from Sterling Heights, Mich.

Cornell, a team that plays in the Ivy League in other sports, won the ECAC tournament over Colgate 3-0 in Atlantic City, NJ, with goals from senior Sean Collins from Canada, sophomore Dustin Mowrey from Canada and freshman John McCarron from Macomb, Mich.

The Big Red also got 25 saves from goaltender Andy Iles who is coincidentally from Itahca, NY, where Cornell is located. And, if Cornell should become one of the rare four seeds that advances to the Final Four, they will have a player from the Sunshine State on the roster as freshman Brain Ferlin is from Jacksonville, Fla.

Quote of the Day/Week-Ethan Hawke

Today, since we were all born in 1970 here, we are going to quote famous people born that year. On our other blog "The Daily Vampire," we quoted Uma Thurman, so to be 'fair and balanced,' we are quoting her ex-husband the actor, singer, novelist Ethan Hawke, who will turn 42 on Nov. 6. Thurman turns 42 on April 29.

Here is his quote:

"Memory is a wonderful think if you don't deal with the past."

SIDEBAR ONE: Kudos to the Harvard Crimson men's basketball team as they won the Ivy League title by beating Cornell on the road in Ithaca, NY, 67-63 to capture the crown.

The Crimson (26-4) won over the Big Red thanks to Oliver McNally who scored 17 points, and Brandyn Curry, a junior from Huntersville, NC, who added 12 points, including three 3-point shots.

SIDEBAR TWO: Yes, English soccer games can air pretty darn early here in the United States. So, in case you didn't get up at 7:45 a.m. on Saturday to watch the match either, I thought I would mention that Arsenal won over rival Liverpool 2-1.

For the winning side, both goals came from Dutch superstar Robin van Persie (31st, 92nd mins.) and for Liverpool the lone goal came from French player Laurent Koscielny.

Sports Desk- Utah Edges Stanford in Women's Gymnastics

Senior Kyndal Robarts scored individual victories on the vault beam helping the Utes win its home meet over Pac-12 rival Stanford 196.3-196.1. Robarts had a career-high 9.975 on vault, a 9.875 on beam and a 9.80 on floor.

Robarts was also awarded with the Special Performance of the Week for the Pac-12 Conference; she became the third Utes awarded with that title this season.

Her teammates senior Cortni Beers and sophomore Corrie Lothrop are the other Utes gymnast who won the honor.

In a vastly different part of the country in Ithaca, NY, on the campus of Cornell University, the home team Big Red finished second to the Penn Quakers at the Ivy League classic over the weekend. The other two Ivy schools with women's gymnastics programs Brown and Yale, finished third and fourth respectively.

Tiffany Chen of Cornell won the Ivy title on vault. The Big red scored a 191.85, the team's highest score of the year.

For the Quakers, senior Laura DiPaolo helped pave the way to victory with a 9.725 on vault, and her freshman teammate Amber Woo scored a 9.725 on beam.

The scores for the visiting teams were: Penn (192.65), Brown (191.075) and Yale (190.725).

Sports Desk- Harvard Beats Yale 66-51

It may seem like we are capitalizing on the media sensation Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks, but his alma mater Harvard University (23-3, 9-1 Ivy) is having an impressive season of their own.

The key game over the weekend was Harvard's home game against arch rival Yale. Harvard won the game 66-51 thanks in large part to Keith Wright who scored 10 points and had 8 rebounds for the Crimson.

Greg Managano of Yale lead the Bulldogs (17-7, 7-3 Ivy) with 22 points.

Harvard has two international players, including Steve Moundou-Missi (pictured here) a freshman forward from Cameroon and Ugo Okam, a sophomore center from Nigeria. The Crimson also have two players from North Carolina, where we are based. These include stand-out Brandyn Curry from Huntersville and Dee Giger from Arden.

Despite the setback, Yale did score a victory over Dartmouth (now 5-21, 1-9 Ivy) on the road, Friday night. The Bulldogs were lead by Austin Morgan who scored 17 points; Managano added 16.

The Ivy League Men's Basketball Player of the Week is Zack Rosen, a senior guard from Colonia, NJ, who plays for the Penn Quakers. Rosen scored 26 points in home win over Cornell and 14 points in home win against Columbia.

Here is the scoreboard for weekend games in the Ivy League; the home team will have an * beside them.

Friday:

*Harvard 69 Brown 42
*Princeton 77 Columbia 66
Yale 70 * Dartmouth 61
* Penn 73 Cornell 66

Saturday:

*Harvard 66 Yale 51
* Dartmouth 58 Brown 53
*Princeton 75 Cornell 57
*Penn 61 Columbia 59, OT

Sports Desk: Princeton Beats Harvard 70-62

It is a very rare occasion when an Ivy League men's basketball is nationally televised, but since then 21st ranked Harvard University had won nine basketball games in a row, it's road game with Princeton on Saturday night set up a pivotal match-up.

And, the underdog Princeton Tigers (13-10, 4-3 in Ivy League play) prevailed with a 70-62 win thanks in large part to Ian Hummer's (pictured) 20 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

Other players for the Tigers who scored in double figures were T.J. Bray (12), Brendan Connolly (11), Denton Koon (10) and Mark Darrow (10).

In defeat for the Crimson, Keith Wright scored 16 points and Brandyn Curry, of Huntersville, NC, scored 15 points.

Harvard did prevail in the team's road game against Pennsylvania by a 56-50 score on Friday night with 17 points from freshman Corbin Miller.

On Friday night, Princeton won its home game over struggling Dartmouth, a team with a 4-20 record, by a 59-47 margin.

Like Princeton, Cornell also had a triumphant homestand over the weekend in the Ivy League. The Big Red (10-12, 5-3) went on a 15-1 run in the second half to defeat Brown 72-63 on Saturday night. The night before, the team won an overtime thriller over Yale 85-84 in overtime.

For the Big Red, Chris Wroblewski, a senior from Highland Park, Ill., was named Ivy League Men's Basketball Palyer of the Week.

In other Ivy League sports, Harvard's women's hockey player Jillian Dempsey was named the school's athelete of the week as she scored five goals, one short of an NCAA record, in the team's 10-1 victory over Princeton.

And, in women's gymnastics, Cornell, one of four Ivy League schools with women's gymnastics teams (Yale, Brown and Penn are the others) came in second at the team's Big Red Invitanial.

The school in Ithaca, New York, came in second behind Southern Connecticut in the four-team meet. Lexi Schupp of Cornell won bars and her teammate Maelanie Stanrdige won beam.

The final score of the meet was: Southern Connecticut 190.05, Cornell 189.55, Ithaca College 187.250 and West Chester 185. 750.

Here is the full scoreboard in men's basketball for the Ivy League, which traditionally plays its games on Friday and Saturday nights.

Friday:

Cornell 85 Yale 84, OT

Harvard 56 Penn 50

Princeton 59 Dartmouth 47

Columbia 86 Brown 60

Saturday:

Cornell 72 Brown 63

Princeton 70 Harvard 62

Penn 58 Dartmouth 55

Yale 59 Columbia 58

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Handsome Dan

Greetings to everyone in Moscow, Russia, where we are seemingly and surprisingly popular!

Today, we feature the Yale Bulldogs mascot Handsome Dan in our semi-weekly "Silly Photo to Fill Space" series. Yale University was the first university to have a mascot in the 1890s, and the current Handsome Dan, born in 2007 in Johnson City, Tenn.- of all places, is the 17th in the line.

On our sister blog, we dedicated an entry to John Harvard, who is the mascot for the Crimson.

Alas, this was not a very good weekend for Bulldogs fans as the school saw athletic losses in several sports. We mentioned the losses to rival Harvard (65-35), men's hockey (4-3) and women's hockey (8-0) on our sister blog.

But, the men's hockey team won a home game against Dartmouth 5-4 on a goal from Kenny Agostino, a junior from Flanders, NJ, that was scored with 38 seconds on the clock. We imagine the Big Green was not pleased to get on the bus back to New Hampshire afterwards.

Yale's women's hockey team had a particular rough weekend on the ice, but goalie Genny Lodgies, a junior from Canada, had 46 saves against Dartmouth's women's hockey team. The Big Green won that game over the Bulldogs by a 6-0 score.

Like the men's hockey team, Yale's men's basketball team got a victory by also beating Dartmouth by a 62-52 in a game that was played on Yale's home court in new Haven, Conn. Reggie Willhite scored 16 points for the Bulldogs in the win.

Unlike Harvard, Yale has a women's gymnastics team and they went to Philadelphia to face Penn-U over the weekend. The Bulldogs' gym team fell short as the Quakers won the meet 191.225-188.35 margin.

But, junior Tara Feld from Buffalo Grove, Ill., had strong vault and floor scores (both were 9.75) as well as a stellar score on beam (9.275).

Yale's gym team also has two sophomore sisters from Singapore in Nicole and Tabitha Tay. We think they might be twins, but we could not confirm that.

Bonus Road Trip (8 of 10)_ In the Ivy League

Today, we ask you the blog reader how far apart two Ivy League towns are. We are going with Providence, Rhode Island, the home of Brown University (the school nickname is the Brown Bears) and Ithaca, New York, home of Cornell University (the Big Red).

Among Brown's most famous recent alumnus is Olympic gymnast Alicia Sacramone, who made headlines by posing partially nude for "ESPN Magazine" last year. Sacramone who was captain of the 2008 Olympics team also dated current Denver Broncos quarterback Brady Quinn who got replaced by Tim Tebow, who has headlines for 'Tebowing,' a religious ritual which has made him popular with evangelicals.

The current Brown University gymnastics roster features gymnast Kasey Haas, who is from right here in the Tarheel state as she hails from Charlotte, NC.

Cornell also has a gymnastics team, which features the likes of Tiffany Chen on their roster; she is from California. The Big Red's gymnastics team will take part in the George Washington University Invitational in Washington, DC, on Jan. 15. Their first home meet will be against fellow Ivy Leaguers Pennsylvania University on Jan. 25.

Brown and Cornell face each other in gymnastics in Providence on March 11. So how far will that trek be?

Is the answer:

A) 4 hours, 45 minutes

B) 5 hours, 45 minutes

C) 6 hours, 45 minutes

D) 7 hours, 45 minutes