That final loss sums up the season. Exciting, frustrating, gutsy… and a failure.
Only silver lining here is that Pierce and Lee still just juniors. They could run it back for an epic senior year with players like Mbeng, Poulakidas, Lilly and Cornish graduating. Gonna miss Blake, but I feel like Stanton could fill that role of 3pt sniper.
I hope AJBrodeurEnthusisast was right and Lee comes back. He’ll probably go through the pre-draft process, and barring a late-first, early-second draft guarantee (very unlikely), he’ll come back at the last minute.
If Lee comes back, I expect Davis to enter the portal and transfer. Totally understandable if it happens. If he doesn’t, then Davis should/could stay and take over the lead guard role.
Pierce, I fully expect to return and have a healthy, epic senior year. That alone will fix a lot of problems.
The #1 offseason priority is developing our centers. Happy probably has the edge as next year’s starter, but if Huggins stays, he should get big minutes off the bench. I like that offense/defense platoon. Incoming recruit Landon Clark might be an impact freshman too.
Bummer of a season, but hopefully, we get ONE more shot at NCAA glory.
Davis is a more traditional PG who excels with the ball in his hands - hence his mostly poor fit with Lee. Peters was a catch and shoot guy who could play off the ball. Stanton looks comfy doing that.
Also, Dalen had high major offers out of high school and came to Princeton to have a bigger role on a mid-major team. That hasn’t panned out with Lee’s ascendance.
I sure hope that Dalen stays. He had 11 huge points today and shot it very well. His shot is streaky but he has the prettiest shot around. He’s the obvious fill-in for Blake, although his defense needs to improve.
Deven Austin returning would be a huge defensive boost. But I’m not holding my breath after the way he withdrew at the last second. I suspect he’s not physically right or he wants to transfer.
Two names linked to the job for some time are VCU coach Ryan Odom and Princeton’s Mitch Henderson, although Odom would seem a more natural fit for Virginia’s opening.
I would love it for Mitch and for us if he was offered that job. I don’t want to lose Bret MacConnell (esp. to Columbia or Penn) and Mitch has fallen short of the NCAA two years in a row despite having 2 all-time talents in Lee and Pierce.
Mitch is probably the 2nd best coach left in the league, but It’s time for a change and we don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past (letting Earl go to Cornell and revive their program).
He probably stays (unless a job like Nova comes knocking). Hard to turn down a seven-figure job like that.
Though I wonder if coming off a disappointing season like this will harm Mitch’s stock. High majors may not want him after back-to-back postseason failures.
I just hope the utter disappointment of the past two seasons encourages Lee to come back. Yale graduates Mbeng and Poulakidas. Brown graduates Lilly. Dartmouth graduates Cornish. Cornell graduates Nazir Williams and Tiger-slayer Guy Ragland Jr.
Also, this 2025 draft turned out to be STACKED and Xaivian just turned 21. He’d be a mid-late 2nd round pick at best and would spend most of his rookie year in G-League. But an epic senior year with an NCAA run could sneak him into the late first round.
I hope we keep Henderson, and agree
that this year may have hurt is opportunity to
move up (for now).
I don’t see Penn hiring a Princeton guy like
McConnell. Columbia seems more likely.
Both may look at Kingsley and Simon from
Yale. I would.
FWIW, the new “College Basketball Crown” tournament will siphon off 16 power conference teams that don’t make the NCAA tournament, so it’s not impossible the NIT might extend an away-game invite to a 19-11 Princeton team that beat Rutgers and St. Joe’s.
Hicke had some nice games in Ivy play and Mitch loves him, but he was invisible today.
We have some really talented wings coming in: Jake Sussberg, Jacob Hammond and Sebastian Whitfield. It was clearly a recruiting emphasis. Outside of Lee and Pierce, every starting spot should be up for grabs.
After yesterday, I’d love to see the Tigers in a post-season tournament but if we’re pivoting to the offseason here, let’s take a closer look at the recruits.
Fun Fact: Landon Clark started alongside Cooper Flagg on the same AAU team, Maine United (before Flagg transferred to Monteverde Academy in Florida). Because he played with Flagg, there’s a lot of YouTube footage of his AAU games.
From what I’ve seen, Clark is a perfect Princeton big offensively. He’s 6-8 and can really shoot, handle and pass. Not a major rim protector though. More of a future Pierce-replacement.
I wonder if there’s any chance James Jones gets poached this offseason. If Yale wins a game or two in the tourney, power conference teams will surely come knocking (if they haven’t already).
