Maybe he’ll be a candidate for the Princeton job after you and your pals run Henderson out of town.
If that happened, we’d have the 2026 ILT title in the bag.
As of now, I almost think next year’s team is more likely to earn an at-large than beat Yale (or Cornell) in the ILT.
Report back after your meeting with the AD please.
Chill man. Sheesh.
Like most Princeton fans I absolutely want Mitch back as the Princeton coach, as long as he wants to be back. Princeton hadn’t been to the Sweet 16 for more than 50 years until two years ago. He represents the school in a very positive manner and if I had a friend with a son who wanted to play in the Ivy League I would certainly encourage him to play under Mitch.
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No NIT bid for Princeton (or Cornell). It was a long shot, but with lots of teams turning down NIT invites or opting for the Crown, I was holding out hope that our guys might get a chance to keep playing.
Time for the team to rest and then prep for next season. I hope Xaivian gets an NBA Combine invite… before coming back. I don’t know if the G-League Elite Camp re-invites past attendees.
I’m putting part of this post on this thread because I expect this to be more active - Under 15 seasons under Carmody, Thompson, Scott and Johnson - with coaching changes after 4,4,3 and 4 years - Princeton has a combined Ivy League record of 148-63 or .701. Henderson in 13 seasons has a record of 127-55 or .697.
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Interestingly enough, coaches Van Breda Kolff and Carril combined to win Princeton games at a rate of .679 from 1962 through 1996, so the consistency of the program for more than three generations and up to the present day is really more than astounding.
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and most of the pre-Henderson years were when 75% of the league wasn’t really trying
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One addendum: the Van Breda Kolff / Carril WPCT. cited above was calculated using conference and non-conference games in their seasons coaching. Though that WPCT. number produced by the two coaching giants lags a bit behind the one created by Carmody, et al, VBK and Pete more than made up for it by producing fifteen league championships, one number 5 nationally ranked team, another Final Four/NCAA tournament team and an NIT championship team (when the NIT still meant something in 1975).
Agree. Your comments are in stark contrast to the Princeton fan here who subtly suggests productive veteran players like Davis transfer.
Our goal should be to keep as much of the roster and staff
intact as possible. Mitch has created a culture that seems
to keep folks around. That does not mean McConnell might
not take a HC position ofr that some players may not move
on. Scott came back and did not get the time he probably expected.
Davis deferred to Lee and saw his playing time shrink.
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Mitch tweeted to Davis today: “Can’t wait to see what next year brings”, FWIW.
Wasn’t MH. Was a burner account.
Bummer.
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I never try to evaluate incoming talent. Not my thing. Now if we were playing the transfer portal game…I actually watch college basketball outside the Ivies. So is there anything the Tigers might learn from the outside world that would actually be applicable?
One interesting trend I’ve noticed (given all the macro discussion about how to navigate the new environment) is that there are a number of successful coaches from one-bid leagues who were big winners at the DII level, and some have brought in their own DII players. Drake, UCSD (their whole program moved up from DIII and this is the first year they were eligible for the Big Dance), etc.
Given how IL teams routinely pummel the DIII teams on their schedules, and the difficulty of scheduling DI non-conference games, why don’t they schedule some DII schools instead? Resume worries if they lose? I don’t think that should matter in a one-bid league.
Another interesting thing I’ve noticed is that these schools (Drake and UCSD in particular, but UC Irvine earlier when it came up to DI) have committed to a defensive identity and built their rosters around a willingness and ability to defend at a high level. Offense is then fit around the skill sets of the players who pass the first filter. And these coaches are willing to invest in unusual defensive principles that really screw up opponents. The Big West tournament final featured UCI running a diamond and one with a giant 7-foot German parked under the rim and a chaser tagging the most dangerous three-point shooter, while UCSD runs an amazing 2-3 matchup zone that looks like a switching man but has actual zone principles underneath and generates a ton of steals and turnovers without too many gambles or size mismatches being created. Lots of practice time and player focus required to run that system, but they aren’t loaded with hyper-athletic guys like, say, Houston. Nor are they gigantic inside, although their wings have good height and length.
Needless to say, I would be very happy if Princeton departed from its vanilla defensive style, even if it required some extra practice time to get variations or a tricky mainstay to work. Given the decreasing sophistication of the half-court offense the last couple of seasons, I don’t think they would be giving up much nuance on that end.
I never got proficient at recognizing classic Princeton sets in real time, like “chin” but I don’t think they run them at all. I’m not one that calls for the old hits as long as they win. Teams know to prepare for the 1-3-1, did they really deploy a 2-3 against Yale to catch them off guard? Anyone remember when that was? I loved the days of junk defenses, but they seem to be long gone. Although the Joe Scott - matchup zone/amoeba defense seemed to confuse them more than the opposition.
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There were two possessions–I think in the first half, but I may be remembering wrong–where they ran a 2-3 zone. The 1-3-1 doesn’t have to be a “gimmick” defense that teams “figure out.” It depends on how aggressive they are about trapping and how big the team is (bigger is better for that zone, which is why I haven’t bitched about not seeing it so much this year).
Some of the exotic defenses of the past have departed (I think) because of three-point shooting, especially from the corner. The ameba defense (at least the Tarkanian version) featured an aggressive closeout from under the basket along the baseline to the corner if the ball went there, with a player swooping down the lane to cover the vacated post. You really need some athletic, long-armed guys with a lot of energy to make that work nowadays without getting killed by corner treys, and it’s a high-risk proposition.
As for offense, while I would love to see something that looks like Cornell’s version of a Princeton offense, I don’t care what they do–just have some structure and “automatics” to put the defense in motion or on its heels prior to individual read-and-react moves. Triangle, shuffle, turnout, whatever fits the personnel. Get people moving with purpose and passers anticipating where they might go with it before they catch the ball. There’s always time at the end of the shot clock or in the middle of a possession for exploiting a one-man advantage by mismatch or angle, but don’t rely on that from the start of the possession. And maybe practice more/better at making somewhat contested shots at the rim.
As KenPom will attest, Mitch has consistently fielded excellent offensive teams. This year, the offensive efficiency nosedived after Pierce struggled, but that’s just injury-related bad luck. The big problem with MH teams has always been the defense (and his policy of foul-avoidance).
It’s been ages since a true center and rim protector has been recruited and developed. And the 1-3-1 hasn’t been as effective without a super-long chaser at the top - Tosan’s 7-1 wingspan made our 1-3-1 elite. The past two Tigers teams were way too small. Last year’s squad made up for that somewhat due to its extremely low TO% and extremely high FT%, but not this year’s squad.
But a lot of these issues are just effort and attitude. Look at the way they played on Saturday. The defense was so much feistier. At one point, Xaivian just ripped the ball out of Samson Aletan’s hands in the post! That’s the intensity we need. Imagine if they played like that all season. The 2023 squad also “flipped a switch” and played tenacious D in March after looking soft through February.
Give me a pete miller type. Could hardly make a layup but gave you solid defense and rebounding. An underrated part of the 2017 undefeated team. This coach is an offense first guy. And another year watching the ncaa’s on tv.