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Princeton University Athletics
2003-04 Princeton Men's Basketball Outlook
November 04, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 4, 2003
Princeton head basketball coach John Thompson is still a few years shy of 40, yet he clearly remembers what happened at the turn of the century.
Of course, we're talking about the first year of the 21st century, when Thompson and the 2000-01 Tigers won an outright Ivy League championship and earned an NCAA tournament berth. This being college basketball, only three players from that league championship team remain on the roster. But the 2003-04 preseason has jogged some of those memories for Thompson nonetheless.
"I think this team can be a lot like that team in a lot of ways," says Thompson, now in his fourth season as head coach. "There's a nice mix of quality experience and good incoming talent. If everyone here can mesh, and our older guys can do a good job of helping the younger guys, we have a lot of potential."
Despite what Thompson hopes are similarities in results, there are significant differences between the two years. And those differences should all add up to positives. THE EXPERIENCE
Three years ago, it was players like Nate Walton, C.J. Chapman and Ahmed El-Nokali mentoring the outstanding freshman trio of Ed Persia, Andre Logan and Konrad Wysocki. Three years later, the latter trio will need to provide the same type of leadership.
Start with Persia, a player who has spent a career making big shots and big plays in big games. Persia was also Princeton's best outside shooter a year ago-his 48 three-pointers and 40% three-point shooting led the team-and his 65 assists were second on the team behind Kyle Wente. A team captain his senior season, the 6-0 Persia will continue to handle a good deal of the ballhandling role for Princeton in 2003-04.
"This is the first year of his career that Ed has been truly healthy entering the beginning of the season," Thompson says. "But even with that, he's played a lot of basketball for us and contributed to a lot of wins."
Another Princeton player who has contributed to plenty of wins in his career is Logan, but not during the past two seasons. The 6-7 Brooklyn native, who is a junior, played in only three games last season, taking most of the year off due to recurring problems from a torn knee ligament suffered the year before. Logan, who has now had two surgeries to repair the knee, was leading Princeton in scoring through 12 games in 2001-02 and was second on the team in scoring early last season.
"With Andre, obviously, it comes down to whether or not he's healthy," says Thompson. "If he is, he's proven to be one of the better players in our conference. He understands how to play the game, is an excellent passer and has experience in big games."
Princeton's other player in his final year of eligibility, besides Persia, is Wysocki, who was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year during that 2000-01 championship season. A fiery competitor, the 6-7 Wysocki averaged 20 minutes per game last season and shot nearly 50% from the field after missing the season's first six games due to a preseason ankle injury.
"For us to be successful, we need Konrad to bring that fire to the court every game," Thompson says. "When he's focused on the tough things, like rebounding and playing solid defense, that's when the team has been most successful. And his experience will be big for us with so many young players on the team."
WHO ELSE IS BACK?
In juniors Will Venable and Judson Wallace, Thompson has the kind of inside/outside combination that can cause problems for any opponent. Either is capable of leading Princeton in scoring on any given night, as they showed often in 2002-03, and both can use their athleticism to be defensive stoppers as well.
The 6-3 Venable averaged better than 30 minutes a game as a sophomore, starting 26 of Princeton's 27 games, and averaged nearly 11 points and three rebounds per game. He was also the Tigers' best free-throw shooter and finished second on the team with 34 steals.
"I think that Will has come into this season extremely focused and ready to take even more responsibility for us," Thompson says. "A key thing for him this season is that he'll likely be given the toughest defensive assignment on most nights, and he'll have to be ready for that game in and game out."
Wallace played well for most of his sophomore season but broke out in the season's final weeks, scoring 20 or more points four times in Princeton's final five games. For the season, the Atlanta native averaged 11 points and 5.6 rebounds per game and earned honorable-mention All-Ivy honors despite playing only 25 minutes per game. He also showed the outside touch needed to effectively play the center position for the Tigers, shooting 37 percent (28-for-75) from three-point range overall, including an impressive 11-for-18 stretch in a three-game period against Yale, Brown and Cornell late in the year.
"Judson just needs to continue his development and improve on the great strides he's made already," says Thompson. "The center is the hub of our offense, and he has all the ability you would need to be a great player at the position. As he continues to grow and understand things, he will continue to make us better."
Another solid member of the Princeton junior class is Northern California native Mike Stephens, who played in 20 games last year. Stephens, a 6-10 center, had one of the Tigers' best passing games in many years in a Princeton win over Ursinus last January, contributing 10 assists along with his eight points and four rebounds. The 10 assists were the most by a Princeton player since Kit Mueller had 11 assists against Brown in January 1991. "Mike played some valuable minutes for us in the paint last season," says Thompson, "and he'll continue to provide depth for us this year."
Scott Greenman was Princeton's only freshman on a 2002-03 team that featured a host of juniors and seniors, but the New Jersey native did see his share of playing time in the backcourt. The 5-10 Greenman averaged better than 10 minutes per game in 20 appearances and shot a solid 10 for 25 from three-point range.
"Scott has put in the time and effort to be a good player for us," Thompson says, "and he'll be a contributor to our success this season."
WHO'S NEW?
Though three of Princeton's five starters from a year ago return, not to mention players like Logan and Wysocki who have been starters previously in their careers, the biggest story for Thompson's team in 2003-04 may be a seven-member freshman class filled with promise and potential. It is a class that will make up half the Princeton roster, making it an important class in practice no matter how much it can contribute during games.
"I don't think there's any question that our young guys are going to need to contribute quickly," Thompson says. "I think that can happen. There's a nice mix in the freshman class and a lot of guys who come from successful high school programs and are used to winning."
In the backcourt, 6-4 Edwin Buffmire comes to Princeton from Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Ariz. A hard-working player with good ballhandling and shooting skills, Buffmire had an outstanding senior season at Saguaro, averaging 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists per game and earning Maricopa County and regional Player of the Year honors as well as first-team all-state accolades.
6-8 Patrick Ekeruo played center at Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward, Calif., near Oakland. The salutatorian of his high school class, Ekeruo also excelled on the court, earning first-team all-league honors in each of his last two years. He averaged 20 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and five blocked shots as a senior and 16 points and 10 rebounds his junior year.
Luke Owings, a 6-6 small forward from the outstanding Gonzaga program in Washington, D.C., will compete for playing time as a freshman. Owings, who was the valedictorian of his class at Gonzaga, was a first-team all-league and third-team all-metro pick for a team that won the D.C. and league titles in 2003.
The tallest of Princeton's seven recruits is 6-10 John Reynolds, who played at J.L. Mann Academy in Greenville, S.C. An athletic post player with good skills, Reynolds averaged 11 points and eight rebounds per game as a senior and was an all-region pick. He averaged better than 14 points as a junior in 2001-02.
6-7 forward Michael Rudoy was a four-year letterwinner at the Latin School of Chicago, helping his teams win four league championships and two regional titles. An honorable-mention All-America pick by Street & Smith's Magazine, he also was a first-team all-league, all-area and all-state pick as a senior and a two-time league most valuable player.
Harrison Schaen was a key player for the powerful Mater Dei High School program in Southern California and could contribute immediately for the Tigers. He averaged 11 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks per game and earned league Most Valuable Player honors for a team that won the state championship and finished 34-2 last season.
The final Tiger freshman is Wayne, N.J., native Max Schafer, a solid point guard prospect as a freshman for the Tigers. He played at De Paul Catholic High School and was a first-team all-state and all-area pick in 2003, leading his team to the Passaic County championship and the Parochial "B" state title game. Schafer averaged 21 points, seven assists and four rebounds as a senior.
THE IVY LEAGUE RACE
Like the 2000-01 season, and just about every year before and since, expect the Tigers to be in the thick of the Ivy League race. Princeton finished 10-4 in league play a year ago, marking the 10th straight year the Tigers won 10 or more league games. With UCLA finishing 6-12 in Pacific-10 play in 2002-03, Princeton's streak of 50 consecutive winning seasons in conference play is now the longest in NCAA Division I.
The Tigers will look to extend those streaks when their 14-game Ivy schedule begins in late January with the always-difficult road trip to Brown and Yale. Princeton then plays all seven of its Ivy home games in a 22-day span during the month of February, including the matchup with Penn at Jadwin Gym on Tues., Feb. 10. The last three games of the league season will be on the road-at Harvard and Dartmouth March 5 and 6 and at the Palestra against the Quakers to end the regular season March 9.
"It's a tough league schedule in the sense that the last three games are all on the road," Thompson says. "But hopefully we'll be used to those tough conditions considering it shouldn't be foreign to us at all by March."
THE REST OF THE SCHEDULE
As usual, Princeton will prepare for the Ivy season with a non-conference slate that features several national powerhouse teams. Of course, the Tigers have been more than competitive in almost every one of these games the past few years, including near misses at Texas last season and against Maryland the year before.
"This is nothing new for us, obviously," says Thompson, 48-34 in his three years as head coach at Princeton. "We try to play the best opponents we possibly can and we play these games to win, not just to come close. That has been our attitude in the past and it will be our attitude this year."
The highlights of the non-conference schedule include a trip to Duke Dec. 17 to face the Blue Devils and a matchup with Oklahoma at the Touchstone Energy All-College Classic in Oklahoma City Jan. 3. Both of those games will be televised nationally by ESPN2.
The matchups with those perennial Final Four contenders aren't the only strong ones on the Princeton schedule, however. The Tigers play Jan. 10 at Minnesota, which reached the NIT semifinals in 2002-03. At Fresno State's McCaffrey Classic in early December, Princeton first-round opponent is UC Irvine, which won 20 games in 2002-03, as did the host Bulldogs, whom Princeton plays on the tournament's second day. The Tigers also host perennial Patriot League power Holy Cross the day after Thanksgiving.
PARTING SHOT
"It's business as usual for us," says Thompson, now in his ninth year overall on the Princeton coaching staff. "Our schedule is tough, but it's nothing we haven't seen before. Our staff and our players know what kind of success is expected and we are committed to making it happen."
2003-04 TIGER BASKETBALL FACTS
The 104th season of Princeton men's basketball begins Nov. 21 against Colgate
Safe at Home
Princeton begins the 2003-04 season with consecutive home games for the first time since the 1989-90 season. This year, the Tigers host Colgate Nov. 21 and Holy Cross Nov. 28.
On the Tube
At least 10 of Princeton's 27 games this season will be telecast regionally or nationally, including two games (at Duke, vs. Oklahoma) on ESPN2. The Tigers will also appear on CN8, which reaches cable systems from Maryland to Massachusetts, four times this season.
Travelin' Men
The Tigers will travel more than 5,500 miles on an airplane before the second week of January-to Fresno, Calif., in early December and to Oklahoma City and Minneapolis in early January.
Youth is Served
Seven freshman are listed on the Princeton roster as the 2003-04 season begins. The Tigers haven't had that many freshman on their roster since the 1998-99 season, when there were also seven.
Movin' On Up
Senior guard Ed Persia ranks ninth on Princeton's all-time three-point shooting list with 110 entering his senior season. If he were to repeat last year's performance (48 threes), he would finish fifth on the all-time list.
For Starters...
Princeton doesn't have a player on its 2003-04 roster that has started every game of any one season, but it does have six returning players who have started at least eight games during their careers.
Happy Birthday, Jadwin
Princeton will host Southern Vermont on Jan. 26, 2004, the 35th anniversary of the first game played in Jadwin Gymnasium. The Tigers defeated Penn by a 74-62 score that day in front of 5,500 people in the new building.
Who's It Gonna Be This Year?
In each of the last three seasons, the Tigers have faced a team that has gone on to reach the NCAA Final Four. Duke won the national title in 2001, Maryland won the championship in 2002 and Texas reached the national semifinals last season.
Just Wait a Couple Years
Princeton needs just 57 victories to reach the 1,500-career-win mark as a program. Since beginning varsity play in the 1900-01 season, the Tigers have 1,443 wins in 2,316 all-time games, an impressive winning percentage of better than 62%.
California Dreamin'
Four Tiger players hail from the State of California-Patrick Ekeruo, Harrison Schaen, Mike Stephens and Will Venable.
The Jadwin Effect
Entering the 2003-04 season, Princeton had the following home winning streaks against Ivy League opponents-Yale, 10 games dating back to 1993-94; Dartmouth, 16 games dating back to 1987-88; Cornell, 18 games dating back to 1985-86; Columbia, 10 games dating back to 1993-94; Harvard, 14 games dating back to 1989-90.
Coach-Speak
Head coach John Thompson enters the 2003-04 season needing just two wins to reach the 50-win plateau for his career. He will become the seventh coach in 104 years of Princeton basketball history to accomplish that feat.
Captain, My Captain
Senior Ed Persia and junior Judson Wallace are the Tiger team captains for the 2003-04 season. Wallace joins Chris Young, Sydney Johnson, Chris Mooney and Mike Brennan as Tiger players in the last 20 seasons to be named team captain prior to their senior season.