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Representing the prestigious Ivy League Princeton University is the Princeton men’s basketball team. Known for their outstanding offensive performances, perfected under the guidance of former head coach Pete Carril, it will take more than just a sound offensive strategy for the team to win a bid for the March tournament.
With a shaky start to the regular season, they will have to put in some serious work during the post-season tournament. Currently sitting at 3rd behind Yale and Harvard, and only just ahead of Brown in the Ivy League conference rankings, Princeton needs to put up solid performances in the last two games of the season. Princeton basketball fans shouldn’t have much to worry about though, as they are no stranger to clutching up for big games and big tournaments.
Past Performances
The Princeton University basketball team is well known for the Princeton offense, an offensive strategy that emphasizes constant motion, back-door cuts, picks on and off the ball and disciplined teamwork. The perfection of this strategy led Princeton to have the best scoring defense 20 times since 1976, including every year from 1989 to 2000. The Princeton team’s regular season got off to a shaky start, losing 7 of the first 10 games. Their 2018-19 and 2017-18 seasons looked fairly similar – with slumps here and there as they played through the season.
The 2017-18 season has been one of the roughest for Princeton basketball in recent years, as the team finished the season 5th in the Ivy League conference, with a record of 13-16 overall and 5-9 in conference play. The year before in the 2016-17 regular season was a great season for them, as they finished first in their conference as regular season and conference tournament champions. They finished the regular season with a record of 23-7 overall and went undefeated in the Ivy League conference with a record of 14-0.
The team have been conference regular season champions 27 times in the Ivy League conference, have made 24 appearances in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, and 5 National Invitation Tournament appearances. They have made the last Four only once and have made the last sixteen 6 times, though the last time they went that far in the NCAA tournament was back in 1967.
The players are individually excellent players and eight different individuals have earned 12 All-American recognitions. Two of the three Ivy Leaguers to have played in the Olympics were from Princeton, four of the eight NBA and ABA championships earned by Ivy Leaguers and three of the highest NBA career point totals by Ivy Leaguers were also Princeton players.
But will the individual performances of the talented Princeton basketball roster be enough to carry the team to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, or will Mitch Henderson have to pull the team together to get them motivated and ready to secure their bid in the post-season tournament? Sports betting fans and Princeton fans should be paying close attention to the team going into the post-season, as they are surely eager to prove that they have the same potential to go as far as the teams from the past once did.
Meet the Team and Know Who to Watch
The Princeton basketball roster that will hopefully be representing Princeton University at the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament this year are:
0 Jaelin Llewellyn – G
2 Jose Morales – G
3 Ryan Langborg – G
4 Max Johns – G
5 Drew Friberg – F
10 Charlie Bagin – G
11 Konrad Kiszka – G
13 Will Gladson – F
14 Ethan Wright – G
15 Ryan Schweiger – G
20 Tosan Evbuomwan – F
22 Jerome Desrosiers – F
25Jacob O’Connell – F
31 Elijah Barnes – F
32 Keeshawn Kellman – F
34 Richmond Aririguzoh – C
35 Colby Kyle – F
The Princeton basketball program often features some of the most talented players in the Ivy League conference – one such player is Jaelin Llewellyn. Currently leading the team in average points per game at 14.8, and seeing more than 30 minutes per game, Llewellyn is going to be key to the offense being able to carry them in the upcoming tournaments.
Leading the team stats in average rebounds per game, with an impressive 7.4, is Richmond Aririguzoh. In addition to his outstanding defensive play, Richmond is no stranger to high scoring games either with 12.3 average points per game and a 61.7% field goal percentage. Richmond has made improvements to his stat sheet in almost every area since last season, so keep an eye out for him as he is likely not going to stop improving just yet.
Another exciting player to watch, and one to keep an eye out for, is Ryan Schweiger. Leading the team stats in assists per game and putting up 10.0 average points per game and 3.0 average rebounds per game, this Princeton sophomore could also be key to the team getting a good run in the NCAA tournament.
Recent and Upcoming Games
As we have mentioned already, the regular season for the Princeton basketball team started off a little rough with 5 losses in the first 5 games of the season. They picked up their first win of the season against Bucknell where they managed a winning score of 87-77. Their first conference win was away against their main Ivy League rivals Pennsylvania University, where they managed to take the game 78-64. The very next game saw Princeton facing off against Pennsylvania yet again, and Princeton managed to take the win in this game too, going 63-58.
Currently, Princeton are sitting in 3rd place in the Ivy League conference rankings, and have two remaining games in the season where they will face off against Ivy Leaguers Columbia and Cornell The team have already suffered a loss to Cornell earlier in the season, so this is a chance for them to get a revenge win against them. They played Columbia on the 9th of February and managed to take the win going 81-74 so Princeton basketball fans, and sports betting fans, can look forward to a likely win on March 7th.
As we move into the post-season and the conference tournaments, the team’s position in the conference rankings and their performances against some of the top teams in the conference might cause fans to worry. The Ivy League conference is tough at the top, but Princeton regularly finishes in the top 3 by the end of the regular season, so they have definitely shown that they can hang with the big boys. This should give sports betting fans, and anyone who is considering Princeton for their March college basketball tournament bracket, something to work with as the format of the tournament is single-elimination, and anything can happen on the day.
A solid defense will be key to taming them in the tournament, and one slip could let the Princeton offense through to make an impressive run into the later stages of the NCAA tournament. But they have to get there first.
