By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Expectations are high for the Princeton University men’s basketball team.
And that’s quite all right with the Tigers.
“This is the most experienced team I think I’ve ever coached,” said Princeton coach Mitch Henderson, whose team will open the season on Monday night at Brigham Young. “We have seven seniors, six of which have played a significant amount of minutes and five of which have started at some point in their career, although I don’t think we’ll start all five of them.
“The junior class with Amir Bell playing significant minutes for us, we really have in terms of pieces, everything you’d want. I’d describe us as being very solid. That said, we’re going to rely very heavily on the seniors. In this league, and in college basketball, you win games with seniors. Last year, we lost Hans (Brase) early in the season and then we found our identity during Ivy League play. It’s a very confident group. I think they started to develop an understanding of how to win games.”
Princeton returns every significant player from the team that went 22-7 a year ago and qualified for the NIT. The Tigers also welcome back Brase, who started 29 games as a junior before missing all of last season with an injury.
“We have a lot of guys that can play,” Henderson said. “It’s fun. It’s challenging. It’s a very enjoyable group to be around. They like to compete. They like to play together. They like each other. If anything, I try to create some tension in practice. It comes from me. They have the will and they have the experience and now we sort of how to have those things come together. We’re going to rely very heavily on the seniors.”
The senior class has gone 59-30 over the last three seasons. This is the year they’d like to take it one step further and earn the program’s first Ivy title since 2011. They just missed out on a chance to win the league when they dropped a two-point decision at Harvard on the final weekend.
“Certainly it’s a tough blow at the end of the year to have your dreams ripped out right in front of you,” senior Spencer Weisz said. “We understand that we have a good core coming back and some great additions to the team. As much as we’re the same team, we’re a completely new team with Hans and the freshmen back. We’re looking forward to this year’s challenge and keeping last year in mind, but at the same time only looking forward and understanding we have a big task ahead of us this year. We’re looking to get after it.”
The biggest challenge Henderson and the Tigers may face this year is finding enough playing time for everyone on the roster. Seniors Weisz, Brase, Henry Caruso, Steven Cook and Pete Miller have all been starters during their careers. Junior Amir Bell is a two-year returning starter at point guard, while sophomore Devin Cannady played all 29 games last year and was third on the team in scoring. The deep roster also includes players like Myles Stephens and Alec Brennan who have played significant minutes.
“I have a plan and I’m not afraid to ditch the plan based on how it’s going,” Henderson said. “There is a structure in place and it’s some of the usual suspects — Steve, Henry, Spencer, Amir, Hans, Pete, Myles and Devin which you know about. And then we have some guys that you haven’t seen too much. Aaron Young has been very solid in the first few weeks of practice. He’s a junior. Alec Brennan is a big sized kid who’s a junior. I’m not mentioning a lot of guys.
“Last year, we played up at Columbia. Khyan Rayner played the entire overtime and we happened to go on an 11-0 run while he was in the game. He didn’t play the whole game. Everybody is going to get their number called at some point, but those eight I mentioned first, that’s the Princeton team right there.”
The experience and talent makes it tough for the Tigers to not have huge expectations for the season.
“I’m an optimistic person,” Henderson said. “I’m bullish in general. It’s hard to be remotely pessimistic with this group. It’s a really fun group to be around because they want to be good. We’re starting further ahead than we’ve ever started before because of the seniors.
“The team is one year older, we haven’t lost anybody. But what I told them is just because you have everyone back doesn’t mean it’s going to be the same thing. So there’s experience, but do they understand how to win every game? It’s the difference between a really good team and a great team. And I think we were really good last year. Going to the NIT, we were ranked in the top 50 towards the end of the season. That’s why we’re where we are now. I told them they should be excited about that, but other than the people in the gym now I don’t think too many people care about it.”
The Tigers were picked to win the league in the Ivy’s pre-season media poll. The league figures to be very competitive with the likes of Harvard, Yale and Penn contending for a title.
“Every year here there’s an expectation to win the title,” Henderson said. “That’s no different this year. We talk about it often and the guys walk in the gym and see 26 banners hanging. Those banners are there for a reason. That’s the expectation. March is a long way away. If we’re fortunate enough to be playing late in March, that’d be great. Hopefully in the NCAA tournament.
“We have very high expectations. It would be a big disappointment (to not win the Ivy League). We’re not going there now. Even if we’re fortunate to play in that final weekend in the Ivy tournament, which I hope that we are, it’s two games and hopefully we play our best.”
