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Princeton University Athletics
Basketball History
May 23, 2000 | Men's Basketball
1901
Princeton plays the first game in its history on Jan. 20. The Tigers defeat the New Jersey State Schools 21-5 in a game played in Trenton.
1903
Princeton and Pennsylvania meet for the first time.
1916
Princeton wins its first-ever league championship, tying Pennsylvania for the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League title.
1925
Princeton wins 19 straight games, setting a school record that would not be broken for 73 years.
1947
Willem (Butch) van Breda Kolff, who would coach Princeton during its glory days of the '60s, serves as team captain under Franklin Cappon.
1952
Princeton makes its first-ever NCAA tournament
appearance, falling to Duquesne in the first round in Chicago.
1952
Bud Haabestad becomes the first player in school history to pass the 1,000-point mark.
1959
Princeton wins the first of its 22 Ivy League titles.
1963
Bill Bradley leads Princeton to the Ivy League title as a sophomore. Bradley averages 27.3 points per game, which would be his lowest single-season average.
1964
Bill Bradley leads Princeton to another Ivy title. He then captains the U.S. Olympic basketball team to the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and earns the Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete.
1965
Bill Bradley leads Princeton to the NCAA Final Four. Bradley, the national player of the year, scores 58 points in the consolation game victory over Wichita State to finish his career with 2,503 points.
1967
Princeton sets a school record with 25 wins, a record that would stand for 31 years.
1969
Princeton goes 14-0 in the Ivy League and makes the first of 11 NCAA tournament appearances under Pete Carril.
1971
Geoff Petrie is named NBA Rookie of the Year.
1972
Brian Taylor, who earns ABA Rookie of the Year honors a year later, averages 25.0 points per game, the highest single-season average by any Tiger ever other than Bill Bradley.
1975
Princeton wins the NIT championship.
1976
Armond Hill becomes the first Princetonian to win the Ivy League Player of the Year award. Princeton goes 14-0 in the Ivy League and loses its NCAA tournament opening round game by one to undefeated Rutgers, who goes to the Final Four.
1977
Frank Sowinski is named Ivy League Player of the Year.
1978
Princeton becomes the 12th team to reach the 1,000-win plateau.
1983
Craig Robinson is named Ivy League Player of the Year after sharing the award the year before.
1989
The 16th-seeded Tigers come within a pair of Alonzo Mourning blocked shots of defeating No. 1 Georgetown in the NCAA tournament. Princeton led by as many as eight before losing 50-49 in the highest-rated college basketball game in ESPN history. Bob Scrabis is named Ivy League Player of the Year.
1991
Kit Mueller is named Ivy League Player of the Year for the second straight year. He is the only player in league history to win the award outright twice.
1992
Princeton's senior class becomes the only one in school history to win four Ivy League titles. Sean Jackson is named the Ivy League Player of the Year, Rick Hielscher is named the Ivy Rookie of the Year.
1996
Pete Carril wins his 514th and final game as Tiger head coach as Princeton knocks off defending champion UCLA in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Sydney Johnson is named Ivy League Player of the Year, becoming the first player so honored without averaging more than 10 points per game.
1997
Princeton goes 14-0 in the Ivy League in its first season under Bill Carmody. Pete Carril is inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
1998
Princeton moves to as high as seventh in the national polls for the Ivy League's highest ranking in nearly 30 years. The Tigers set school records with 27 wins and 20 straight wins. Steve Goodrich is named Ivy League Player of the Year and an All-America.
1999
Princeton rallies from a 27-point deficit in the final 15 minutes to defeat Penn 50-49 in the fourth-largest comeback in Division I history. Princeton makes its third NIT appearance, defeating Georgetown and N.C. State before losing to Xavier. Brian Earl is named Ivy Player of the Year after becoming the all-time leading three-point shooter in league history.