Up is lone option for Tigers
By: Bob Nuse
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
The third year under Joe Scott was supposed to be a step forward for the Princeton University men’s basketball program.
After going 15-13 in Scott’s first season, including a 6-8 mark in the Ivy League, the Tigers were only 12-15 a year ago. But that record included a 10-4 Ivy League mark and nine wins in their final 12 games.
This year started with a great deal of promise. Three impressive freshmen saw significant playing time, two as starters, and Princeton was 9-4 just prior to starting Ivy League play. Everything was clicking. There was a lot of hope for a successful run at an Ivy League title.
And then the bottom fell out.
It fell out worse than any other season in Princeton history.
The Tigers lost their first four Ivy League games and finished just 2-12 in the league. They went 0-7 on the road in league play and were swept in the season series by Penn, Cornell, Yale, Dartmouth and Brown.
They needed two overtimes to beat Harvard at home.
Since the Ivy League started play in 1956, Princeton has had one losing season in the league that was two years ago. The back-to-back losing seasons are the first for Princeton since 1947, when ironically the captain was Butch van Breda Kolff, who would go on to become the Tigers’ head coach years later. This year’s 17 losses are the most in a season for Princeton ever.
Individually, no one on the Princeton roster averaged more than eight points a game. The offense scored just 50.4 points per game, the lowest average in the nation.
After a 9-4 start, Princeton finished 11-17.
Does it get worse from here?
Hopefully not.
Princeton does return a solid nucleus. Luke Owings, Justin Conway and Edwin Buffmire graduate, each having made solid contributions during their careers. But freshmen guards Marcus Schroeder and Lincoln Gunn, who both started all 28 games, should be back.
Kyle Koncz, the leading returning scorer at eight points a game is back. So is Noah Savage, who led the team in scoring last year at 10 points a game, then spent more time on the bench than on the court this season.
Zach Finley and Kevin Steuerer each started at some point this season and should return as well.
If all of those players return, which is not always a sure thing at Princeton, they could join some of next year’s incoming freshmen in an attempt to get the program heading back in the right direction.
But these returning players don’t have a link to past Princeton success. Next year’s seniors are 38-45 in their three years, including an 18-24 mark in the Ivy League. They have yet to experience a real Ivy title run, where that final game of the season against Penn means something.
Hopefully that will change.
Hopefully next year brings excitement back to Jadwin Gym.
Hopefully next year brings the crowds back to Jadwin Gym. Only twice this season, against Rutgers and Dartmouth, did the Tigers draw more than 3,000 fans, with the Rutgers game drawing a season-high 4,415. The final game against Penn, usually a tough ticket, drew 2,952 fans.
The attendance figures may be the most telling of all the negative numbers for Princeton. The losing is tough. Losing in front of dwindling crowds is even tougher.
Princeton fans have been spoiled over the years. And the lack of support this season, even when the team was off to a good start, was glaring. But they have shown that when the team does well, they will show up.
On the bright side, when the bottom falls out, there is usually nowhere to go but up.

