Photo courtesy of Dave’s Joint.
By David Cordova.
When one thinks of the Ivy League, they’re thinking of people that may be nerds and are smart. But in reality, they’re just as talented as anyone else. Especially on the basketball court. On the Division I level, that conference has shown that they have no fear when it comes to playing against the schools in the Power Six conferences.
One of the Ivy League’s teams showed that last March in the NCAA Tournament and continues to show that they can play with the best of them. Meet the Princeton Tigers, the conference’s powerhouse team.
For many years, the Tigers have been one of the most storied programs in all of college basketball. In their history, the Tigers have played in 25 NCAA Tournaments. One of their most famous hoops alums is Bill Bradley, who played with the Tigers from 1962-65 and was a two-time Olympic gold medalist and won multiple awards such as Academic All-American, first-team All-American (twice), UPI College Player of the Year, Sporting News Player of the Year (twice), Helms Foundation College Player of the Year and lastly, the Final Four Most Outstanding Player award in 1965, when he led the Tigers to a 23-6 record. He would go on to play in the NBA and would be a part of two championship teams with the New York Knicks in 1970 and 1973. He would be one of 10 Tiger alums to go on and play in the NBA.
From 1967-96, there was also the legendary head coach, Naismith Hall of Fame member Pete Carril, who invented the Princeton offense that changed the game. In 29 seasons, he led the Tigers to 13 Ivy League championships, 11 NCAA Tournament appearances and one NIT championship. In his final season, in 1995-96, he led the Tigers to an upset of UCLA, in the first round, which is considered one of the greatest upsets of all-time.
However, last season’s team definitely exceeded the expectations of many with their play on the court. Led by head coach Mitch Henderson, who is now in his 11th season at the helm and is also an alum of the program (Class of 1998), that group finished the season at 23-9 overall and 10-4 in Ivy League play and won the conference championship, and would then go on to win two major games in the Big Dance, knocking off two high-major teams in No. 2-seeded Arizona and the No. 7-seeded Michigan before losing in the Sweet 16 to Creighton.
This year’s Tigers are back and are already rolling with optimism. Something that can be said about the Tigers is that they are disciplined and are always ready to outwork bigger & stronger players. They may not have the biggest front-line, but they have players that are always ready to put in work on the court.
The story starts with their backcourt of senior Matt Allocco (17.5 points per game), sophomore Xaivian Lee (18.8 points per game) and junior Blake Peters (10 points per game). In the front court, there are the two forwards in sophomore Caden Pierce (13.7 points and 11.7 rebounds per game) and senior Zach Martini (7.5 points per game).
There are also contributors in sophomore guard Jack Scott (2.8 points per game), freshman guard Dalen Davis (1.8 points per game) and sophomore forward Vernon Collins (1.3 points per game).
In the season-opener at the CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton, New Jersey on Nov. 6th, the opening day of college basketball, they drew a very familiar opponent that they hadn’t seen in 10 years in Rutgers, a high-major opponent from the Big Ten that they have had a big history with. In 121 meetings with the Scarlet Knights, the Tigers have compiled a 76-45 record.
From the opening tip, the Tigers were on a mission, as they dominated as Martini and Pierce held their now in the paint area with Rutgers’ Clifford Omoruyi, and fought for rebounds and putbacks. And the torrid scoring of Lee & Allocco was on point that game, as three-pointers and layups were not hard to come by. When all was said & done, Princeton would go on to win 68-61.
Fast-forward to the present day, as the Tigers are currently 7-0 on the season heading into tonight’s game against Bucknell, as they have knocked off Hofstra, Duquesne, Old Dominion, Monmouth, Northeastern and Bucknell. During the rest of their non-conference season, they have some good games coming up with Big 5 powerhouses Drexel (Dec. 5th) and St. Joseph’s (Dec. 10th), as well as games against two Division III schools and also games against Furman (Dec. 2nd) and Delaware (Dec. 30th) before Ivy League play starts on Jan. 6th at home against Harvard.
Despite being the defending conference champs, the Tigers have been picked second in the Ivy League preseason poll behind Yale. However, as of late, the Tigers have been showing and proving, which they plan on doing moving forward. For awhile, they’ve been the hunters. Now they’re the hunted. Will they make it back to March Madness? Time will tell. But for now, we’ll have to sit and watch them do their thing on the court.
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