Season preview: Princeton touts stability after Sweet 16 run
Season preview: Princeton touts stability after Sweet 16 run
That new Sweet 16 banner helps Mitch Henderson and Princeton with high school recruits. Funny enough, so does conference realignment.
PRINCETON – I like to fire up my 15-year-old PlayStation 3 now and again to play Dynasty Mode in NCAA Football 12 or NCAA Football 14, among the last college sports-themed video game titles made before a decade-long hiatus. (Non-gamers, bear with me for just a moment.)
Dynasty Mode essentially has you take over a program for as many seasons as your heart desires, and one of your primary duties is to recruit fictional high schoolers to commit to your school. In this bygone pre-NIL era, the gambit was to pitch different attributes of your Big State U. and figure out which pitches resonated with which kids. You had your strengths and weaknesses – letter grades for everything from Proximity to Home and Early Playing Time to Fan Base, Television Exposure and Conference Prestige.
The most nebulous of these, in my opinion, was Program Stability. The internet says this rating would go up when you signed a contract extension and retained your coordinators. In real life, stability in college athletics involves much more than that.
In our era of constant, football-driven conference realignment, basketball programs can be left in the dust in one way or another. Maybe you’re Memphis, left out of the “Power Six” leagues despite your basketball team deserving better. Maybe you’re UCF, unanimously projected to finish 14th of 14 in your inaugural hoops season in the Big 12, which invited you because of a few years of football success.
You know who doesn’t have to lose sleep over realignment or the transfer portal? The coaches of the Ivy League, where thanks to academic tradition above all, stability reigns.
“I think conference realignment’s helped us with families and kids that are looking for some stability,” Mitch Henderson said last week at Princeton’s media day.
Then he gazed up toward the rafters. “Look at that (Sweet 16) banner. It means a lot to us, and I think it means a lot to recruits.”
Henderson confirmed he’s poked around in the transfer portal, but not because he was searching for a quick fix at the five.
“I looked at it a lot and sort of shook my head,” Henderson said. “I saw the health and well-being of all the coaches in the spring, which looks like a nightmare.”
As the Tigers try to build on last season’s run to the Sweet 16, the program is leaning on this stability, this traditional way of going about constructing a roster and developing each player year over year. Steering clear of transfers isn’t the norm in college hoops, but at Princeton it doesn’t need to be.
Even stable programs face challenges replacing their best players. Princeton no longer has Tosan Evbuomwan as its focal point. And with big Keeshawn Kellman also having graduated (he’ll play a postgrad year at Florida Gulf Coast), the frontcourt is the Tigers’ biggest current question.
“We really figured out a way to play with Tosan and his skill set,” Henderson said. “Now we have to figure out a way to play without Tosan, and the skill set of this group.”
What might that look like? Expect senior Zach Martini to assume a starting role down low. At practice on Oct. 16, 6-foot-9 Philip Byriel, who has played just 64 minutes over the past two years, was getting significant run with the presumptive first team. The Tigers also expect their tallest player, 6-foot-10 Vernon Collins, to make strides after an injury disrupted his freshman season.
Size, or a lack thereof, didn’t stop the Tigers from rebounding the ball a season ago. Forward Caden Pierce, listed this year at 6-foot-7, ranked third in the league at 7.3 rebounds per game and was Ivy Rookie of the Year. He was a rebounding machine while playing primarily on the wing. Could a new role closer to the paint be in his future?
“Coach does such a good job, he pushes me every single day,” Pierce told me. “He always tells me to try new things. Don’t be afraid to mess up because at the end of the day, it’s how you get better.”
Guard Ryan Langborg is also gone, but Princeton has backcourt experience ready to slide into the starting lineup if called upon. Blake Peters had his breakout moment with 10 3-pointers in March Madness, and spark plug Xaivian Lee led Canada at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup this summer with 14.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.
They join Matt Allocco, who said “it’s hard to believe” he’s now a senior. For the uninitiated: Allocco’s nickname is Mushmouth (more frequently just Mush) because he’s a talker, Henderson’s favorite quality of his. That communication will be crucial for this year’s younger squad.
“The more people who talk, I think the better we’ll be,” Allocco said. “I think it increases our intensity and our concentration. And then in big games — we played in a lot of big games, especially at the end of the year. It gets loud. So we gotta start building that habit now. Hopefully we play in a lot of those big games this year.”
Martini, Princeton’s only other senior, said he aims to replicate Allocco’s leadership style.
“I think just trying to be as encouraging as possible with everyone,” Martini said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys in the mix, a lot of guys who haven’t played from last year’s team. Just trying to help them learn how to win – and I’m also trying to learn how to win more.”
Deven Austin, a tremendous cutter off the ball, was having a strong freshman campaign in 2022-23 before suffering a mild concussion, followed by a serious leg injury. Henderson said they’re happy with Austin’s rehab progress. But don’t expect to see him in the lineup to start the season.
“I saw the doctor on Friday (Oct. 13),” Austin told me. “He told me I’m a little ahead of schedule, so now I’m looking forward to seeing him again in mid-January, see what he has to say after that.”
It was bittersweet for Austin to go on the dream tournament run with the Tigers without being able to make an impact on the court. You figure he’d love the opportunity to run it back when he is healthy.
Princeton does not have an easy path to return to that Sweet 16 glory. Yale, which took 14 of the 16 first-place votes in the Ivy preseason poll, is an imposing squad that returns almost everyone from last season. There’s no room for both schools in the NCAA Tournament, it’s either-or – and everyone will give the Tigers their best shot.
“Last year I feel like we were the sleeper, like no one expected us to do that,” Austin said. “And now we have that target on our back now, so I feel like if we make it back to that point, no one’s gonna be saying, ‘Oh, it’s just Princeton.’ They’ll be like, ‘OK, let’s take them serious.’
“I’m really hoping that a lot of teams really open up their eyes to the Ivy League. Like, the Ivy League is growing and we’re really good. And kind of just hoping that this year we set that tone.”
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Thanks for stopping by on this Monday morning. Check this out: We’re now just two weeks away from Nov. 6. Here’s what’s happening that night:
Princeton vs. Rutgers in Trenton
Saint Peter’s at Seton Hall
NJIT at No. 13 Miami
Monmouth at George Mason
Fairleigh Dickinson at Buffalo
Immaculata (Division III) at Rider
Monmouth at Rutgers women
Duquesne at Princeton women
Speaking of all that, let’s cover a few more notes in Cleaning the Glass before we get going:
Henderson never lost to Rutgers as a player, going 3-0 in his four seasons at Princeton. He probably doesn’t have to explain to his players what the renewal of the rivalry means. “It’s so nice that’s it’s the opener,” Henderson said. “… It’s so good for the local community, so good for New Jersey basketball. Like Rutgers and Seton Hall, we think of ourselves in that vein, our alums do. I loved that game when I was a student.” As for why it’s being played in Trenton? “I’m not sure (Rutgers) wanted to do a home-and-home,” he said. “I hope that we can keep doing it. I love that we are playing in Trenton. I think that’s a great venue and I’d loved to keep going with stuff like this.”
Where a Sweet 16 banner and a stable future as an Ivy League power helps Princeton on the recruiting trail, it sure didn’t make scheduling any easier for Henderson. “We usually got, ‘Don’t ever call me again,’” coach Mitch Henderson before simulating the ‘click’ of the other line hanging up on him. “It’s been really difficult for us. I’m like, ‘Tosan is graduating!’” They still managed to find some quality opponents, including Hofstra and Furman, the latter of whom upset Virginia in the NCAA Tournament last March.
I polled some Princeton players with my favorite preseason question: Who is someone we aren’t talking about now who will surprise us this season? The majority of respondents pointed to guard Dalen Davis, the highest-rated freshman in this year’s class (and according to 247Sports, the third-best signing Princeton has ever had). Pierce played against Davis growing up in the Chicago area and made sure to point out his team beat Davis’ in the high school state championship. “I poke at him a little bit for that here and there,” Pierce said. “But yeah, he’s super talented. Super tough kid. But offensively he’s super electric. He gets to his spots, knocks down shots, but also gets his teammates involved. We’re really happy to have him.”
Meanwhile, Rutgers played its charity exhibition Saturday at St. John’s and lost in double overtime. Cliff Omoruyi had 16 points and nine rebounds, but the more eye-catching stats came from the Scarlet Knights’ top two freshmen. Jamichael Davis put up 16 points and six boards with no turnovers, and Gavin Griffiths made three triples en route to 14 points. Disclaimer: I did not attend this game and there was no live stream available, so rely on sources who were there for a better understanding of how Steve Pikiell balanced trying to win with trying out certain players in different situations.