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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Tight Finish Forecasted in Ivy League Preseason Men's Basketball Poll
October 21, 2015 | Men's Basketball
While receiving the most first-place votes, Princeton was picked third in the Ivy League's preseason media poll, the league office announced Wednesday.
Princeton and Columbia each received six first-place votes from the 17 media members polled, with two media members coming from each team's media market and one national writer. Yale received the other five first-place votes and was selected first with 117 poll points, three more than Columbia and nine more than Princeton.
Eight points were awarded for each first-place vote, seven for second place and so on.
The Tigers are aiming for their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2011, while the two teams above them in the poll are looking to end longer droughts. Yale, which was within an Ivy playoff win of representing the league last year, last went in 1962 and Columbia last went in 1968.
Yale's selection was its first since the league began a preseason poll for the 1985-86 season, and it's also the first time that the team picked first did not receive the most first-place votes.
The Tigers are the only Ivy League team that returns all five starters, a group that includes senior Hans Brase, juniors Spencer Weisz, Pete Miller and Steven Cook, and sophomore Amir Bell. Cook and Weisz were second-team All-Ivy League picks a year ago.
The complete Ivy League preseason poll is below:
| Team | Points (1st votes) |
| Yale | 117 (5) |
| Columbia | 114 (6) |
| Princeton | 108 (6) |
| Harvard | 96 |
| Brown | 54 |
| Dartmouth | 50 |
| Penn | 48 |
| Cornell | 25 |
The Ivy League's preseason media teleconference was held Wednesday. Here are quotes from Mitch Henderson's portion of the call:
We're excited. We've got a large amount of our returners back from last season. I feel like a lot of the pieces that we have returning can do a lot of different things. We were, I think, a very polished and good offensive team and an improving defensive team. We always try to put a lot of emphasis on the work you do in the summer, and so far I feel like the guys have been focused on what we want them to do, and that's getting better every day. I think that we have a senior in Hans Brase who is kind of approaching the year the way we want him to. Strong leadership from him, and then our junior class is very good. Pete Miller, Henry Caruso, Spencer Weisz, Steve Cook are all guys we expect to make pretty major contributions for us.
On having all five starters returning:
I think every year I like to see and watch and make sure, what do they do? What are they working on? Where are they today? I think when the rubber hits the road, we know who's going to be there for us. It doesn't make it any easier. I think each team is very different, but we have a lot of consistency coming back. In Hans, we've got I think one of the best rebounders in the league. We've got great shooting returning, so I think we can score, and everybody's one year older, so a lot of experience. So, yeah, it makes it a little less hard, and the guys are focused, so that's the main thing you want, is that they're focused on the things that make you win.
On sophomore guard Amir Bell:
Just look at Amir's first 15 games as a college basketball player. It's not pretty in terms of statistics, but the improvement he made over the course of the season – he started every game as a freshman – 77 assists to 48 turnovers over the course of the year, and I think that number was maybe lopsided the other way early in the season. I didn't mention him earlier, but Amir factors in so heavily into what we're doing. He makes us go. He's so improved. He played a ton of basketball over the summer. We outlined a lot of things that he needed to get better at in the spring, and he's addressed all those things. I'm pleased with where he is, and he's got to be okay with attempting and trying to be the best guy as a sophomore, because he's capable.
On the closeness at the top of the Ivy League preseason media vote:
The league is very good, and I think that I'm not surprised that it's close. I think that the teams that you see up there at the top – people are having a hard time because they just don't know, but I think the coaches of each of these teams in the league know who's good and who's going to be hard, and from my perspective, everybody's good. With predictions, we're like everybody else. We're trying to focus on the day-to-day, but all I can say is I think it's as good of a league as it's ever been, and I think the league's always been good. It's always been very good, but it's particularly strong now. Just being on the road with all the other coaches in the league over the summer, there's just a lot of good players in the league, so I'm excited.
On injuries to key players:
Injuries affect teams. Last year, we lost Denton Koon to a torn MCL, and he was a major part of our team, so we took a huge hit. Just like Harvard will do, the next guy has got to step up. I know that they'll be doing that too. With that said, I do think, like I said earlier, that the league's quite strong. While there are certain players that are very key contributors to those team, I do think it's the best team that's going to fight it out to the end.
On the sophomore class:
I think there's plenty of opportunities. I think that those guys that you just mentioned, all four of the sophomores that we have are highly competitive and they're going to help us. I think you go into this league looking at who's going to help you win, and from my perspective it's a day-to-day evaluation process. But Jackson Forbes is much improved, Alec Brennan the same. He's a 6-10, 6-11 very athletic, mobile center and kind of has all the things that we really like out of our bigs, and I think has a chance to be a very good player. You saw a lot of Amir last year, but you're right, it's a sophomore class that's really going to help us. We see these guys, all of them, making contributions in some way for us, and what I like is that they're focused on what they can do to help us win. I think that both Alec, because of the position he plays, and Jackson, because of the position he plays, will make us a better team. But that doesn't have to take anything away from Aaron and Mike LeBlanc. It's a strong class. Brennan has something that is sort of hard to find in this league. He's got length, he can block shots, he gets rebounds, he can make long shots, he can defend kind of every position. We're expecting a lot out of him.
On junior forward Steven Cook:
Steve is very focused. He's intense. He works really hard. You just see a young man developing into just a very good player. He shot 40 percent from 3 last year, 45 percent from the field, (3.4 per game in) rebounds, he got a ton of steals. All those things are just a little better. Steve's got an edge, and it's very hard for everybody in the program to guard him. What we wanted him to work on over the summer, he's done those things. He's a junior now, so guys are listening to him more and he needs to continue to make sure he's saying the right things to his teammates.