While I wish Lee had stayed with us, Lee’s success does credit to Princeton and helps recruiting. Stanton had a ton of offers, including Stanford, Yale, Penn and Columbia. He chose Princeton. Incoming freshman Louis O’Keefe got offers from Yale, Brown, Penn, Columbia. He chose Princeton. I have little doubt that Xaivian’s amazing development was a factor in their decision.
Xaivian is also a very fun player to watch, which I appreciate as a basketball fan.
To be honest, I’m much more “upset” with Caden’s decision. Lee is a middle-class kid who received a life-changing amount of NIL money and has a real chance to be an NBA player. He also gave up a Princeton degree. Pierce is an upper-class kid who’s getting his Princeton degree as his team struggles and then he’s going to exploit stupid NCAA rules to be a 5th year player. And he’s not even getting life-changing money or a major boost in NBA stock.
Perhaps I am mistaken but I thought Pierce tried to play last year to help the team when he was clearly not himself but they needed him. And as stated, seeing coaches you are closest to leave the program (even if objectively justifiable) is bound to affect one’s perspective.
Remains to be seen what his NIL will amount to. I doubt he is a real NBA prospect but kids gonna dream.
Disapppointed he is sitting out but I can’t criticize his motivations.
In the real world managers, co-workers etc leave all the time. He did great things for PU and like Lee he wants to cash in. That’s the system. I wish them well and my entire focus is on Princeton.
And some of the rest of us will continue to follow Xavian.
Caden’s choice to me is quite odd. Yes he will get some cash, and a sniff of NBA interest, although count me as one of those who feels he is not NBA material.
Meanwhile Caden is still on campus and sees his old team mates. What is that interaction like? He will graduate in June. Will he be accepted into the social circle of former Princeton basketball players. Will he come back for reunions, and how with MItch greet him?
Everyone’s human. I would assume there’s some awkwardness and hurt feelings. It’s not like he’s a grad transfer who completed his time. But yeah, thnx to them for three years. Three years may well become the exception moving forward.
I certainly can’t blame Xavian for transferring for 6 mil. As for Caden, I especially admire him for sticking around to write a thesis and get his degree. He is a genuine 100% TIGER.
I applaud Pierce for sticking around for his degree if that’s what he wanted to do. Kind of refreshing. And (especially given the way he played hurt last year) it’s hard for a fan to complain about what he poured into the program. Teammates might or might not have a different perspective.
Hope he’s spending a lot of time making sure all his injuries are healed and that he can consistently hit open three-point shots. With that skill added and his general prowess at rebounding and passing he could probably find a high-major home, if not major minutes. Or he could surprise us all and resume the upward trajectory we all anticipated based on his first two seasons.
Agreed. I know he’s receiving “up to 6 million” (unclear how much it really is), but there’s no way he’s happy sitting on the bench during crunch time. Nor is that good for his long-term NBA/pro earning potential. Maybe the money makes it worth it, but elite athletes like Xaivian are seldom about the money alone.
I try not to wonder what could have been if Lee and healthy Pierce ran it back for an epic senior year. Maybe that would have been best for all parties.
I wonder what the trickle down effect will be for Caden with Lee’s (up to this point but still early) disappointing season. Does that diminish his value for those power 5 teams?
And it is a shame that we wont see Lee and Pierce challenge Yale and their stars at least twice this season. Those would have been epic games.
FWIW it doesnt look like Florida runs a whole lot of effective sets. I feel like very few of the power 5 teams run any offense apart from open side ball screens and dribble drive.
it has turned into some kind of mental block. that open 3 in crunch time looked like it got hit by a wind gust. just weird
his body looks frail also which while a feature is surprising given he has been on the training table and weight program since june
despite all this…i have watched a lot of gator games on the sec network…he can flip a lot of stats on their head by hitting open looks and finishing open drives with consistency
bottom line: play like he did against mbeng and it will get better. he doesnt get guarded like that as the 5th option
He and Tosan have run up against the same problem: the lane is not that open for penetration and dispersal of the ball. I hope Xiavian can overcome this.
Tosan defends, rebounds, and hangs out in the corner on offense. Very little ball handling, which was his greatest talent.
It is kind of weird to watch a lot of tape on a guy dealing from the lane, decide that he’s a good player based on that, bring him in, and then never let him do his thing.
In retrospect, it was probably a mistake for Xaivian to choose a team with so many quality bigs. Condon and Haugh are elite. Chinyelu is very good. Even Handgloten is pretty talented off the bench. The paint was always going to be clogged and his touches were going to be much fewer.