Courtney Banghart's 10 on 10: Addie Micir '11

PRINCETON, N.J. - Recently finishing her 10th season, Princeton head coach Courtney Banghart sits with 208 career victories, 113 of which have come in the Ivy League. She is fourth all-time in the Ivy League in career and conference wins.

Banghart's 10 on 10: The Coaching Staff
Banghart's 10 on 10: The Class of 2013
Banghart's 10 on 10: The Alumni Weekend

To celebrate her 10 years at Princeton, the Ivy's all-time leader in overall winning percentage and conference winning percentage, laid out her 10 favorite memories. In a weekly article, Banghart's memories will continue with a look back on the career on Addie Micir '11.

Addie Micir is a basketball junkie.

Coach Banghart would say quotes or give trivia before practices and after a while Micir wasn't allow to answer because she always knew the answer.

She still remembers Devona Allgood's '12 back cut for an And-1 layup to beat Columbia in March of 2009.

She still remembers allowing just 27 points to Penn in the regular season finale as a senior which was the fewest points Princeton has allowed in a game since 1981.

Micir's basketball journey at Princeton began with an unusual twist. Coach Banghart was hired the May prior to the Newtown, Pa. native's arrival to the school. Micir, recruited by former Tiger head coach Richard Barron, who left to go to Baylor, went through some nerves in the first few weeks, but made the adjustment.

The three-time All-Ivy player did not score in her first career game (Nov. 9). Though she did grab a rebound as No. 4 Maryland took down Princeton, 76-52.

In her freshman campaign, Micir started eight consecutive games with highs and lows. The low was a zero-point performance vs. California (Dec. 8). Her best performance of the season came in the Tigers' Ivy League opener as she ripped off 22 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Unfortunately, an injury sidelined her for 10 games. She returned for three more matchups, wrapping up her season with a 14-point outing at Penn.

The Tigers went 7-23 that season. Their four wins in the Ivy League tied them for sixth in the conference.

"It was the first time I had ever experienced that type of losing," said Micir. In preseason meetings prior to her sophomore season, Micir commented, "I want to be in games. I don't like losing and I don't like getting blown out."

The Tigers were certainly in more games during the 2008-09 season. Princeton ended the year on a five-game winning streak, finishing Ivy League play at 9-5. During that stretch, the Tigers defeated Columbia on that Allgood And-1 layup mentioned earlier. Micir believes that play was the turning point of the program as it would it go on to more success in her final two seasons.

"We had some young women ready to make plays," said the second-team All-Ivy League player that season about the Columbia contest. Micir played every game as a sophomore, leading the team in minutes (34.1), points (11.8) and three-pointers (66).

Rutgers 60, Princeton 50 – December 6th, 2009.

The year prior, the Scarlet Knights won 83-35. While Princeton lost on this night in December of 2009, it proved things were different. "That was huge for our confidence," stated Micir. "We went on a tear from there on out.

A tear is probably an understatement. The Tigers rolled off 21 consecutive victories.

Three straight months without a loss. The average margin of victory was 21.2.

Princeton became just the third team in Ivy League history to go 14-0 and won the program's first outright title since 1978.

One of four players on the team to average at least 10.0 points per game (12.3), Micir was the team leader in minutes played (31.1) and three-pointers made (66) that season. Her 40.9 percent from the floor was a personal best at the time as was her 63 assists, leading her second straight second team All-Ivy award.

"We didn't know any better other than playing hard," revealed Micir. "It worked out well by the time we hit league play because we were firing on all cylinders. Our bench was amazing and that showed because of practice."

While the team knew it was playing in the NCAA Tournament, that didn't take away from the excitement of Micir, the basketball junkie.

After the game vs. Harvard, she played "One Shining Moment," her teammates said "What is this?"

"I think my favorite part from the NCAA Selection Show is how our coaches went right into coaching mode," the former player and now coach pointed out. "We were all excited to be a part of that. There has to be some stepping stones in order to get the program where it's at right now and we were part of that first group."

The raised expectations hardly stopped the 2010-11 squad as the Tigers began 8-3 highlighted by the team's first ever conquest over a Pac-12 team (USC). After a loss to St. Joseph's, Princeton ran off six more wins. During the victory over Davidson, the Tigers lost Niveen Rasheed, who was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year the year prior.

While the loss of Rasheed was crushing, the Tigers kept on winning. After an 11-3 non-conference portion of the schedule, they extinguished Penn, Brown and Yale. A loss at Harvard was the only conference blemish while the Tigers steamrolled the rest of the league, winning each game by at least 13 points.

Princeton was 16 games under .500 during Micir's freshman season. It was 50-8 in her last two years with two Ivy crowns.

"What was really special about the team my senior year was how deep we were," declared Micir. "I think it was the mentality that we all had to go out and do this while being on top of our game."

Micir put the exclamation point on her Princeton career as she was the unanimous choice for the Ivy League Player of the Year, the first in program history. She led the league in three-pointers (77) and assist/turnover ratio (2.2), finished third in assists (92), sixth in field goal percentage (.444) and ninth in scoring (12.1).

"Personal accolades never really fazed me," said the three-time All-Ivy player. "I just wanted to be part of a team and leave the program better than I found it."

It was a unique four seasons for Micir. She spent time in a variety of roles, as a freshman, she was a point guard and off-guard so scoring wasn't a priority for her. Then as a sophomore, she shifted in to a hybrid spot where she spending time at both guard spots and the power forward where shooting became more a necessity. Her senior campaign was a culmination of her efficiency as she set new career marks in shooting percentage, three-point field goal percentage and graduated as the program's all-time leader in free-throw percentage.

"She could do everything on the floor -- shoot with accuracy and range, pass to the right player at the right time, advance the ball the length of the floor to start the break, and could handle the ball in various spots on the floor," said Banghart about Micir. "She played every position on the floor, and did all of them really well. She was the epitome of versatile and would fill whatever spot we needed."

The former Tiger's basketball career didn't end after Princeton's loss to Georgetown in the first round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. She graduated with a degree in Psychology and signed professional contract in August of that year with Residence De Walferdange of the Luxenbourg-Diekirch League.

The experience of being a professional overseas is something that the 1,000-point scorer will never forget. "It was amazing," said Micir, who finished with 1,188 points and left Princeton tied for ninth all-time. "I didn't get a chance to travel abroad so I was excited to use basketball to travel."

There were still some differences from what she was use to at Princeton. The team practiced three times a week for up to an hour a day. It played once a week. In her second season, Micir played in the Netherlands and was one of just three Americans in the league. When the experience finished, the Newtown, Pa., native had visited 14 different countries.

As for the next step in this basketball junkie's life, coaching was something she gave serious thought to during her senior season. "As I started training in the summer, a couple of opportunities in the coaching world came up, but coaches Banghart, (Milena) Flores and (Melanie) Moore said that if I still had the itch to play to do it, because once you get into coaching, it's hard to do both," said Micir.

Fast forward to the Netherlands as Micir was preparing for life after basketball. An assistant position at Dartmouth had opened with the change of a new coaching staff. The former Tiger turned to her former head coach for advice. Banghart told her to go for it and that she was in no way being disloyal to Princeton.

Micir finished playing in the Netherlands and then spent a week traveling in Croatia with her father before heading on an interview to Hanover, New Hampshire three days after getting home.

She got the job.

"When I came in, I immediately got into recruiting," said the new assistant coach. "The AAU world had changed drastically since when I played. The first time I went recruiting and went to a venue, there was 60 courts and hundreds of teams so my head was spinning."

"Anyone who plays competitively knows it's not always easy becoming a coach," Micir alluded. "Coach Belle (Koclanes) allowed me to play a little more in practice and coach that way to not only show our team the level that we need to aspire to be, but help me find my voice."

The X's and O's part of coaching is something that Micir always loved as she always picked coach Milena Flores' brain about as an undergraduate. The former player also made mention of her love for breaking down game film, but it's not always easy. "It's still an adjustment," Micir cited. "You have to put on heels, not Nike sneakers."

Micir was one of many players who helped shifted the culture of the Princeton's women's basketball program.

She saw 7-23. She saw what .500 looked like. She saw Ivy League titles. She saw numerous individual accolades. What does she see now, looking back at her career?

"I'm enormously proud," said the 2011 Ivy League Player of the Year. "When you're in it, you don't truly realize how special it is. Senior year, I was asked that question a lot, we had such good people and people in the right positions to be successful."

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Princeton University Athletics

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Courtney Banghart's 10 on 10: Addie Micir '11

Related Videos