Just got my latest edition of PAW. Nice writeup of Caden, but nothing new therein.
Also a ranking of top 25 athletes in PU history: Bradley #1, Chris Young #11, and Brian Taylor #21.
Surprised Will Venable not on the list, given his two-sport excellence, and also Geoff Petrie, who tends to fly under the radar of greatness. Co-rookie of the year, two 50-point games in NBA before his knee injury. Also Scott Bacigalupo missing: he led PU to two NCAA championships in lacrosse.
I am a 1969 alum and have been a fan of Tiger basketball since Bradley put the program on the map. I never saw Bradley in person, but i have seen everyone through the years. Geoff Petrie was the best player to wear the Orange and Black i have ever seen. It is a shame he was buried in a small West Coast market and lost several years when he blew out his knee.
I am a '72 grad and like you never saw Bradley. Petrie had the best jump shot I ever saw (until Len Bias).
In retrospect, I think the team underperformed Carril’s first year.
"In retrospect "??? Nonsense
Geoff Petrie not being on this list is laughable. He, like Bradley, was also a pretty good baseball player.
"The team posted a 20–6 overall record and a 12–3 conference record. After finishing the regular season tied for the league championship, the team lost the March 5, 1968, one-game Ivy League playoff game at St. John’s University.
During the season, the team spent two weeks of the sixteen-week season ranked in the Associated Press Top Ten Poll, peaking at number eight and ending the season unranked. However, the team also finished the season ranked number fifteen in the final UPI Coaches’ Poll, which included twenty teams.
He lost that game by 20 points or so, and then the next year lost to St. Johns in the first round of the NCAA by about 10. I watched the St. Johns game; the team looked totally confused.
Consider the level of talent on those two teams.
The issue with arguments about any list like this: For anyone you add, you have to remove someone. For anyone you move up, someone has to move down.
That said…
I think El Halaby is low at #8. 4 individual titles in any sport? That’s crazy.
Bella Alarie seems low at #18. Although, maybe I am giving her some credit for what could have been…she missed a number of games due to injury. She’d have been close to 2,000 points if she hadn’t lost that time.
Kelly O’Dell should be somewhere…she was all-Ivy in soccer AND still holds the Women’s Ice Hockey record for most goals in a career
I wonder if consideration was given to adding one more women’s basketball player, maybe Jackie Jackson or Sandy Bittler or Niveen Rasheed.
I was surprised not to see Julia Ratcliffe, but (to my first point) I don’t know who you remove.
Yes, I agree. I make no pretense of knowing anything about anyone else on the list, nor could I advocate removing anyone. I just threw out the names of those I am surprised are absent.
Tigers ’ Big 3 have each received Ivy POW recognition now that Dalen Davis won this week.
As a fellow 69er I too, was surprised by Petrie’s absence. However, I suspect that many of us are most familiar with football, basketball and possibly lacrosse and scarcely saw many of the greats listed from other sports. Also, there were many great athletes during the years long before we were born that we are unable to include for lack of observation (with the exception of the legendary Hobey Baker). Lists like this make good bar talk, but are virtually meaningless.
If my memory is correct, Geoff Petrie turned down either Duke or UNC (or both?) to be a Tiger.
I recently read the fascinating book Coach, about Pete Carril, which compiles reminiscences from his players over the years. Those early years were pretty fraught and Carril was finding his way.
There’s a fair amount of repetition across the chapters, but also some intriguing differences and alternate points of view among the players who wrote entries. I found Kit Mueller’s and Steve Goodrich’s chapters particularly insightful, but there are interesting nuggets throughout.
I tried mightily, but could not confirm this. Geoff was all-county in football (quarterback), baseball (pitcher, drafted 15th round by the Washington Senators), and of course basketball. He mentions in an SI article that he still has a recruitment letter from Bill Bradley.
It has been a while. I don’t remember my source. But Petrie was heavily recruited. He was part of a very talented group of recruits that included John Hummer and Mike Mardy. I was one of the basketball managers in my freshman and sophomore years.
I didn’t really doubt you; just wanted to see it in print.
Duke was starting a downward trend at the end of Bubas’ career and Dean Smith was just about to win his first title in 66-67, Petrie’s freshman year.
Just read the list. As this board is a BB forum, I second the critique that omitting Petrie is nonsensical.
There have been enough Olympians for both men and women that such an accomplishment, as impressive as it is, does not necessarily make one stand out.
I would not try to combine women and men into a single list.
On a larger level, IMO this list suffers from enormous recency bias.
I found the Prince’s Top 20 list from 2006. They went Bradley, Kazmaier, el-Halaby, Baker, Chris Young for the top 5.
There are relatively few alumni on both lists, going to show that after the Mount Rushmore players, there is tremendous room for debate. (That and some of the no-brainers like Bella Alarie have played since the Prince list came out.)
I recommend a book written by Paul Hutter: The Golden Age of Ivy League Basketball. Hutter makes an interesting case to rate Petrie ahead of Bradley. I mention it to demonstrate that Petrie is undoubtedly among the Top 25. I agree that men and women should each have a list. Comparing them is beyond reasonable.
I agree, but the 1968 championship is available on the web
and Dotson/McMillan outplayed the TIgers.
Can’t believe Pete Campbell is not on the list. Best player in history prior to Bradley. Of course, like some others on the list, just 3 seasons, and before 3 pt shot, so career marks suffer in comparison to some.
Averaged 19-20 a game all 3 yrs, 2 ivy championships. Senior year just prior to Bradley.