Oh Hey There New Coach Mitch Henderson '98 Driving to the Hoop On the Cover of and old PAW issue

We’re only a couple weeks away from the start of the basketball season, sports fans! With Doug Davis’ buzzer beater now firmly in the rearview mirror, what’s the year going to look like for the Princeton Tigers?

This season I’m going to be covering the Princeton basketball team for IvyHoopsOnline, and this week I take a look at what to expect from the upcoming edition of the men’s basketball team.

The short version? Harvard’s going to be tough to beat this year – they’re returning all their best players and add a pretty stellar class of freshman. But if Princeton can mesh quickly with the new coach (Mitch Henderson ‘98, former teammate of Sydney Johnson), and if a few of the part-timers and role players of last year, when given a chance, find a way to elevate their game, the team still has a shot to play David to Harvard’s Goliath.

Read the full season preview at IvyHoopsOnline.

Sydney Johnson, in simpler times

I hate Lane Kiffin.

I disliked him at Tennessee, but ever since he jumped ship after a year of SEC football and left for the greener pastures of USC and the PAC-10, I’ve loathed Lane Kiffin. To me, he symbolizes everything that’s wrong with coaches in NCAA sports — phony smiles, good haircuts, no loyalty, and a devotion to winning only as an end to their own means.

So, why am I talking about Lane Kiffin? Just to make it clear that Sydney Johnson is no Lane Kiffin.

Because after a week+ now of having the Tiger sports fan inside me curled up in the fetal position, mourning the loss of our men’s basketball coach, I think it’s starting to all make sense. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think I would have done the exact same thing. Is this the sports fan equivalent of Stockholm Syndrome? Entirely possible! But hear me out anyways.

The Princeton Ceiling

What was Sydney Johnson’s ceiling at Princeton?

Pretty much exactly what he accomplished last year.

Winning the Ivy League tournament, and keeping the first round game respectable in the NCAA tournament, is about as well as Johnson could ever hope for one of his teams to do. Maybe if he stuck around another few decades, he might be lucky enough to have a team upset a higher seed in the first round, like his ‘96 Tigers did so memorably against UCLA.

But he’ll never compete for a national title. And he’ll probably never even make a run like Cornell did, which was built on the backs of 7 foot tall transfer students from big name programs.

He had almost no shot of becoming the greatest Princeton coach of all time; that honor belongs to Hall of Famer Pete Carril*, who coached from ‘67-’96. He could have been great, but not the greatest. Sydney Johnson was the hometown hero who came back and took his basketball team to the tournament. And we couldn’t ask much more of him, because Princeton isn’t designed to give much more.

The Argument for Leaving

If Sydney Johnson was intent on leaving Princeton at some point, then this was his year.

Kareem Maddox and Dan Mavraides are graduating. We’ve still got talent, to be sure, but after winning the Ivy League by the slimmest of margins this year, it’ll be hard to repeat as Ivy League champions.

Without the benefit of athletic scholarships, transfers, and other recruiting tools, Johnson had to hope to capture lightning in a bottle once with his team and parlay that into a better offer.

This was that lightning-in-a-bottle year. And so Johnson cashed in.

A lot of the confusion and hurt of Princeton fans has been Johnson’s choice of Fairfield. If he was leaving for UNC, or Kansas, or another storied program, then we’d be ok with it. But FAIRFIELD?

Well, Fairfield has a few things going for it. First, and somewhat importantly, he’ll make more money, maybe a lot more (hard to find exact figures, but the common wisdom of the internet seems to think he’ll be going from the neighborhood of 200k to more like 600k). More importantly, FAIRFIELD ISN’T PRINCETON. Johnson will have the opportunity to recruit with scholarships, aggressively pursue transfer students, and do all the sorts of things he couldn’t do at Princeton. He’ll have the chance to build a real program, compete in a small conference Fairfield already dominates, and make some runs in the tournament.

And then he’ll leave Fairfield for a major conference school.

If Johnson’s goal was not to be the Princeton coach for the rest of his life, then it makes sense that his goal would be to raise himself to be part of the conversation of other great coaches — to compete for, and possibly win, a national title. He was the youngest coach in the Ivy League when he started coaching Princeton in 2007; he’s still well on pace to be the coach at a serious program by the time he’s 40.

The old coach of Fairfield left for Providence and a shot to compete in the Big East.** If I were Sydney, I’d want to go somewhere where I had a real chance to win it all, too.

But that’s why I don’t hate Sydney Johnson, and why I wish him the best. He gave us what he could. I believe his tears were genuine. And now it’s time for him to become a legendary coach somewhere, down the line. It’ll happen. Just you wait.

*An earlier version of this blog post misspelled former Princeton coach Pete Carril’s name, rather egregiously. Thanks to commenter Hank Moody for the heads up.

**An earlier version of this blog post erroneously suggested that Providence is in the Atlantic 10. It’s not; it’s part of the Big East. The author was probably thinking of Xavier, which he frequently confuses with Providence. This is even more embarrasing because the author’s uncle is a proud Providence College alum. Thanks to eagle-eyed commenter ’05 for the tip.

My new favorite Princeton basketball image

Now that you’ve watched Doug Davis’ shot from a dozen different angles (instruct me in the Douglas!) and contemplated the cool name of Ian Hummer ‘13 (objective view: fairly cool, but nothing to write home about), it’s time to get serious. NIT? Thanks, but no thanks. CBI? Don’t call us, we’ll call you. We’re talking the Big Dance, ladies and gentlemen. Or rather, the Big Dances. We’re less than 24 hours from tip-off, and the Tigers have not one but TWO teams in the NCAA tournament. We’re breaking down what to watch for, what to expect, and how to savor the sweet, sweet runs of the twin Tiger squads.

Princeton Women’s Basketball

2010-2011 Rec0rd: 24-2

Seed: #12

First Round Game: #5 Georgetown, College Park, MD @ 2:50 p.m. on Sunday

Broadcast: ESPN2 or ESPN3 Simulcast

Yeah yeah, it’s the men and their late season heroics that are getting all the attention, and the SportsCenter Top Tens, etc., etc. But we’re starting with the Lady Tigers because this tournament trip for them is about more than just beating Harvard — it’s about a chance to make a real run and maybe even win a game or two.

This is the second straight year the women have won the Ivy League and earned themselves an NCAA tournament bid, which is pretty remarkable when you consider that they had never been to the tournament before last year. But to make the jump from “great Ivy League team” to just “great team,” period, the women need to prove themselves against five seed Georgetown, playing in what essentially is a home game in Baltimore, just a bit north of their D.C. stomping grounds. And they’ll have to do it without Niveen Rasheed ‘13, who Princeton lost for the season after an ACL injury in December. Still, head coach Courtney Banghart (another cool name!) seemed cool and confident in an interview with The Trentonian: “We are in it to win the game.” The long-term chances might not be great for the women (they’re in the same region as #1 UConn…), but any win would be huge. Go get ‘em!

Princeton Men’s Basketball

2010-2011 Rec0rd: 25-6

Seed: #13

First Round Game: #4 Kentucky, Tampa, FL @ 2:45 p.m. on Thursday

Broadcast: CBS

No matter how the tournament works out, the 2010-2011 season will always be remembered for the Pump ‘n’ Jump that sent the Tigers to the Tourney. The men’s team hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since 2004. And they face some steep opposition in four seed Kentucky. But harken to the wisdom of Kareem Maddox ‘11, Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and personal folk hero, speaking on the Tigers’ matchup against the Wildcats: “We’ll be the wildest cats there.” And remember: the last time Princeton was a 13 seed was 1996, when the Tigers — including a sprightly Sydney Johnson, now the coach of the men’s team — stunned #4 UCLA, the defending champions. So don’t lose hope! After all, we’ve got TigerBlood.

And the good news for the Tigers? Well, according to the folks running the Payscale.com bracket, of all the schools in the tournament, Princeton wins when it comes to potential earning after college, defeating Georgetown in the final, $102,000 to $94,900. So, at the risk of pushing the douche-o-meter all the way up to 11, at least we’ve got that going for us.

Classic View, but Clearer

This is the same ESPN footage as the original, but in way better quality, and, inexplicably, with several thousand fewer views. (Perhaps there’s something to be said for capturing a classic gem of Princetoniana in grainy and choppy fashion.) Anyway, this is the most traditional view of the madness, and easily the most addictive — I could watch it all day, savoring every frame. Davis’s vicious pump fake with his right leg splayed out to the side. The tragic, balletic leap of Harvard #11 as he bites so, so hard on said pump fake. Davis pulling up for the leaner, letting loose. My man in the tie standing in the far corner calling it before anyone else (see 0:18), as one astute YouTube commenter observed. Davis falling over. The ball falling in. The sea of white and orange collapsing onto Davis, who’s already found a suitable seat on the floor. Gratuitous shots of orange morph suits. Fist-pumping aplenty. Which is all to say, timeless.

Behind Enemy Lines

For those with a masochistic streak. Ostensibly filmed in the midst of Crimson fans, this version provides all the delicious sensory detail we’ve been missing out on. Admittedly, the Prematurely Excited Adidas Dude Holding A White T-Shirt obscures the actual shot, but everything else is glorious. Watch carefully at 0:13 and you’ll see around a dozen pairs of hands glom onto their owners’ heads to form that wretched triangle, that universal symbol of sports grievance. A little later, somebody’s waving frenetically as if to wipe away what just happened, trying to make it all stop. Even the cameraman flails around for a little. And we at UPC sincerely pray for the well-being of whoever/whatever produced that ungodly two-part scream at 0:14: “Nooooooooooooooo-nOOOooo.”

Flock Logic

This seems to be filmed from high up in the Princeton section. After Davis drains it you can watch the topography of the crowd change — all of a sudden it’s bristling with fists, as every single hand has erupted simultaneously into the air. And as people begin to storm the court, watch fans pour out of the bleachers and form a strange and wonderful vortex that converges on Mr. Davis. Someone should alert Professors Naomi Leonard and Susan Marshall, because this looks like it was ripped right out of their dance/science performance, “Flock Logic.” I kid you not — look here for reference. I eagerly await a second installment in the performance, a sequel dedicated to this beautiful moment in time.

A Healthy Dose of Melodrama

This one is artfully filmed, rife with all kinds of camera tricks like zooming and focusing and going out of focus and stuff. It lends an appropriate air of epicness to the proceedings; one feels as though one is watching Coach Carter or some comparable masterpiece, or perhaps a TNT special. More than anything else, the closeups reveal all the unseen nuance, reminding us how very human all these actors are: we see the inscrutable mix of emotions on the players’ faces as the huddle breaks, the sweat wiped from brows, the fidgeting at the baseline, the conversation with the ref that’s fraught with a tangible tension. It also showcases the athleticism more faithfully: everything happens so fast. Including the pump fake, which is almost too good from this vantage point. From here the defender appears even more graceful, leaping gazelle-like, flailing back to block the shot with his other arm, missing by inches, but you already know it’s futile and you know the ball will reliably find its way to the hoop. This remains true no matter how many times you watch this video, which is comforting and nice.

I think I’ve covered the major ones, but if missed any, feel free to drop them in the comments section with your own commentary. And a special thanks goes out to Daniel Mark GS, a true devotee of Princeton athletics, whose Facebook status inspired all this.

UPDATE: We’ve got a few more. This one’s from the cheerleading section, so you can see Davis hit the hardwood and watch the dogpile accumulate at eye level. This one gives the best view of dumbfounded Harvard players walking off — including the inevitable awkwardness/schadenfreude of Princeton fans running right by them to storm the court (at 0:33, it’s shaky, but you can see number 15 testily swat away some Princeton fans who are passing by). And we would be remiss if we didn’t include this staggeringly accurate reenactment:

Savor your victory while you can, Harvard. We're coming for you Saturday.

Classic Ivy League sports debate that no one actually plans on answering: Who is Princeton’s rival?

Some Tiger fans cling firmly to the geographical convenience of the supposed Penn-Princeton rivalry. Back in 2006, a columnist from the Daily Pennsylvanian noted that the rival stems almost exclusively from the two schools’ dominance of Ivy League basketball. But this year, Penn was just an obstacle standing in the way of the Tigers’ Ivy League run — the men beat the Quakers handily to force the one-game playoff against Harvard, and the women (who continue their ridiculously dominant streak, stretching all the way back to last season) absolutely trounced Penn in their final game of the regular season, 78-27 (no, that’s not a typo; it’s a 51 point win).

Aspirational sports fans, meanwhile, will tell you our rivals are Harvard and Yale, although neither school seems particularly interested in us. In a recent Deadspin article , a Harvard fan complained about choice of Yale as a “neutral site,” noting, “How is Harvard having to play at their fiercest rival’s court, where “neutral” fans that show up will automatically root against Harvard?” (Fair point, although the obvious counter would seem to be, everyone hates Harvard, so no where outside of Cambridge could ever be “neutral”.)

But this winter season, the games where we had the most to lose, and the contests we really cared about winning, were against Crimson athletes. And (here’s the shift), it seemed like this season, Harvard cared about us, too.

First and most obviously, there’s the ubiquitous Harvard-Princeton basketball game this Saturday. The New York Times wrote a big feature on the Harvard team last week. The guys on PTI debated the merits of the Ivy League hoopsters. Catherine Ettman has been frantically emailing the student body with information on how to get tickets. This. Is. A. Big. Deal.

But the basketball season has been less a question of historic rivalries and more a matter of who has the top two teams in the league this year. Harvard’s Keith Wright won Ivy League player of the year; Princeton’s Kareem Maddox won Defensive Player of the Year. Both were unanimous first team all-Ivy League; two more Tigers, Dan Mavraides and Ian Hummer, were named to the second team.

Simply put, these are the two best teams in the league — if Dartmouth happened to be really good this year, we’d be talking about potential Princeton-Dartmouth rivalries. Yeah, it’s a little sweeter to get the win over Harvard. But at the end of the day, winning the League and going to the Big Dance is sweeter than beating whomever you had to in order to get there.

No; the real rivalry against Harvard this season was not on the court but rather in the pool. Princeton swimming and diving, the two-time defending Ivy League champions, lost to Harvard earlier this year in the annual Harvard-Yale-Princeton tournament. The same day the men’s basketball team lost at Harvard, the men’s swimming team was at the Harvard pool competing for the Ivy League tournament and looking for a little revenge. They won the meet by 5.5 points, a ridiculously tiny margin (for reference, Princeton had 1400 points and Harvard had 1394.5 — a different finish in any of the races could have been enough to turn the tables).

Unlike basketball, where Harvard’s rise is a change from recent years, Ivy League swimming has been dominated in recent memory by these two squads. Harvard and Princeton don’t just care about winning — they care about beating the other team.

But swimming is the rare true rivalry against Harvard. And at the end of the day, does anyone care if Princeton lacks an official, agreed upon rival? We keep competing for Ivy League titles, and keep having to beat the best each year to do it. This year it’s Harvard that’s standing in our way. Next year maybe it’ll be someone different. As long as we’re in the mix for the title, I won’t care who we’re playing.

The Orange Jungle. Tiger Universe. Jadwin Gym. Call it what you want, but this season, all we do is win.

Pop quiz, sports fans: What are the only three DI schools whose men’s and women’s basketball teams are still undefeated at home?

1. Duke (home of the reigning NCAA men’s champions and a damn good women’s program)

2. McNeese State University (the Cowboys and Cowgirls, terrors of the Southland conference, collegiate home of Joe Dumars)

3. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY!

That’s right — our basketball teams have won every game this year played in the friendly confines of Jadwin Gym. The Lady Tigers (defending Ivy League champs) are 7-0 at home. The men, meanwhile, are 10-0 at home, and an impressive 7-0 during the recent home stand that culminated with last night’s overtime victory against Ivy League pseudo-rival Penn.

So what gives? Do the Tigers actually gain an advantage when playing at home this year, or do we just have two really good teams who happen to have random statistical success at home?

Well, one of the most stunning features of the men’s home record is the number of overtime victories. The Tigers have won all three games at home that went to extra time. Meanwhile, away from Jadwin, both the men and women have lost OT games on the road.

Coincidence? Entirely possible. But it could also be that when our guys need a little extra juice to close out a win, home court advantage is enough to propel them to victory. If the mark of a great home court is not the blowout wins, but rather the nail biters, then Princeton seems to have something good going for it.

The men end their home stand and travel to NYC to start the weekend, but the women look to keep the streak alive Friday night at 7 p.m. against Columbia. Let’s give these guys everything we can — they’re certainly giving us plenty to cheer for.

Doug Davis '12 (and a hapless Rutgers defender)

When I came to Princeton, I thought one of my birthrights as a newly minted Tiger was a reliably awesome basketball team. After all, Princeton is the school of Bill Bradley! We’ve got a freakin’ offensive system named after us! But my freshman year (the 2008-09 season) the Tigers went a decidedly middling 12-14 – it wasn’t all that much fun to be a Princeton basketball fan.

Last year, things got a little better – Princeton finished the regular season a respectable 20-8, and made a run at the CBI postseason tournament.

But this year? Watch out, world — the Tigers may be the team to beat in the Ivy League.

(Note to the Women’s Basketball Team: You’re awesome. But you were awesome last year, too. So this post will focus on your male counterparts.)

Princeton is 14-4, with two of our losses coming against ranked NCAA opponents (then 1 Duke, and later a nail biter against 19 Central Florida). We’re undefeated through two games in the Ivy League, and we’re 9-1 in our last 10 games.

The only team standing in our way is Harvard. The Crimson squad is 15-3, 4-0 in the Ivy League, and riding an eight game win streak.

Friday night’s game, then, at home against Harvard, is the most important game of the season for Princeton. Win, and we take control of the Ivy League. Lose, and we’ll have to wait until the end of the year to try to exact our revenge. But either way, make it down to Jadwin this Friday night at 7. Princeton basketball is living up to its lofty heritage. Make sure you’re there to appreciate it.

Stevens (left) and Brown are known ballers

IVY LEAGUE CHAMPIONS CHERYL STEVENS ‘10 and TANI BROWN ‘10 — CO-CAPTAINS of the BEST WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM in PROGRAM HISTORY — SURF, SWAG, AND LIVE THE DREAM

Name: Cheryl Stevens / Tani Brown
Age: 22 / 21
Major: History / Religion
Hometown: Canyon Country, CA / Los Angeles, CA
Eating club/residential college/affiliation: Cottage, Mathey, Women’s Basketball Team / Cottage

Who’s your favorite Princetonian, living or dead, real or fictional?
STEVENS: Carlton Banks. Most of my dance moves are inspired in some way or another by him.
BROWN: My girl Meesh, a.k.a. Michelle Obama.

What’s the best meal you’ve eaten in Princeton?
S: Frist pizza at 3:30 AM post-the Street is pretty hard to beat.
B: Every Wednesday at Cottage… Member’s Night baby! Steak and a chocolate fountain for dessert.

In one sentence, what do you actually do all day?
S: Now that my thesis is in, I LIVE THE DREAM.
B: I surf and I swag.

What is your greatest guilty pleasure?
S: Watching the history channel.
B: I could eat butter lovers microwave popcorn all day.

What’s the last student performance you saw?
S: Women’s Lacrosse vs. Dartmouth in a double overtime buzzer beater. It was awesome.
B: BAC Dance, I love watching Grace Cineas shake it.

Do you know all the words to Old Nassau?
S: Absolutely not.
B: I don’t know one word in Old Nassau… my bad.

The hand gestures to Old Nassau: creepy or awesome?
S: I don’t know them, but I can only imagine that they are creepily awesome.
B: Awesome?

What do you hate most about Princeton?
S: That it’s making me leave and forcing me into the real world. Oh, and grade deflation is pretty bad too.
B: When I wave at someone and they pretend like we didn’t just have a full semester of classes together. COME ON NOW PEOPLE

What’s your drink?
S: Anything with orange juice.
B: Hypnotiq, Alize, or anything Notorious B.I.G. would approve.

What’s hanging above your desk and/or bed?
S: A “thug life” chain and a love letter from senior football stud Jeff Jackson.
B: A picture of my team and a picture of my family.

Where do you do your best thinking?
S: Laying in bed.
B: When I go running.

When’s bedtime?
S: When the DJ goes off at Cottage.
B: When I feel myself getting ty ty

What do you think of Connor Diemand-Yauman?
S: I feel like his name is everywhere I turn. He seems to have done a great job.
B: He’s got a great smile, I’d date that.

What do you think of Dean Malkiel?
S: I don’t know enough about her to answer that.
B: Soo Dooopppppe.

Where is the best place on campus?
S: The Mathey courtyard, the backyard of Cottage, and East Pyne.
B: East Pyne

Where is the worst place on campus?
S: My carrel and/or Jadwin Gym on the day of the pre-season run test.
B: Anyplace where I have to study for over 10 hours.

Who is your mortal enemy?
S: Life is too short for enemies.
B: Four Loko Energy Drinks

When’s the last time you used cash?
S: To buy a coffee at Frist because I forgot my prox.
B: Last night to get Bent Spoon in Frist.

In 25 years, I will be…
S: Happy… and potentially running the world along with Tan of CheTan. If you don’t know, you probably should.
B: Hopefully happy and healthy.

Where do you go to study alone?
S: Firestone C-floor.
B: My room, a.k.a. the Boom Tomb.

What makes someone a Princetonian?
S: Bleeding orange and black.
B: They are good at what they love, and love what they do.

Princeton's other (better) basketball team

Well, after all the excitement around the Princeton men’s basketball team possibly going undefeated in the Ivy League, we lost to Cornell and Brown in a span of three short games. There are still a few games left in the season, but Princeton has been all but eliminated from winning the Ivy League title.

But lost in our otherwise obsessive coverage of Princeton basketball has been this year’s real story: the women’s team is good.

Like, really, really, really good.

How good, you ask? Hold on to your socks:

How about a 21-2 overall record, including an undefeated 9-0 in the Ivy League?

How about their 21 wins being the most ever by the women’s basketball team. And they still have 5 games left on the schedule!

How about the only two losses on the year coming to perennial national powerhouses UCLA and Rutgers?

How about all of this coming from a team that went 14-14 last year?

But if you want to know if a team’s really good, listen to the way its coach talks after a blowout win. Following Saturday’s 64-38 drubbing of Brown in Providence, head coach Courtney Banghart said, “That wasn’t our best game, but it was a win. We will regroup and be ready for Cornell and Columbia next weekend.”

God help Cornell and Columbia.

In other words, this is our mea culpa basketball blog post. Yes, it was fun and exciting to write about a team that Pat Forde talked about on ESPN. But at the end of the day, only one Princeton basketball team has played this season in a way that’s truly transcendent, and that’s the Lady Tigers. Sorry it took us 23 games to figure that out.

(image and statistics from goprincetontigers.com)

Keep the faith Pat Forde!

Pat Forde, ESPN.com columnist, actually mentioned Princeton in his most recent edition of the men’s basketball column “Forde Minutes”! Not only that, he thinks we could go undefeated this year!

Well, only kinda sorta. He thinks we could go undefeated in Ivy League play, since, at 4-0, it’s still technically possible. But we’d have to beat Cornell twice, who’s also undefeated in the Ivy League.

How does PF Flier (Pat Forde needs a nickname!) handicap the odds? Umm, well, he gives Cornell an 80% chance of going undefeated and Princeton, err, a 1% chance.

Jim Carrey, bring it on home!

(image source: http://assets.espn.go.com/media/motion/2008/1201/dm_081201_cfb_forde_bmoc.jpg)