Every basketball season at Princeton begins with the same goal: Win an Ivy League championship. This weekend, both the men’s and women’s programs have an opportunity to accomplish their primary mission by winning at least a share of the regular season Ivy League title. All they have to do is close out the regular season with a win over their most enduring rival, the Penn Quakers.
With championships on the line for both Princeton teams, let’s take a look at the prospects for each program winning a new banner and earning the right to cut down the nets on Saturday:
The miraculous men of Princeton basketball
The Princeton men’s basketball team has enjoyed spectacular success this season and nothing that happens on Saturday or beyond can diminish that.
The Tigers enter the weekend with a gaudy record of 23-3, their highest winning percentage since the 1997-98 season when a legendary Princeton squad led by a senior guard named Mitch Henderson went 27-2, won the Ivy League title with an unblemished 14-0 record, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Henderson, now in his 13th year at the helm of Princeton men’s basketball, should be a shoo-in to win recognition this year as the Ivy League Coach of the Year.
Henderson probably should have won the same award two seasons ago when he guided his squad to an undisputed league championship; instead, the honor went to Henderson’s close friend and former teammate, Brian Earl, who’s done a brilliant job of rebuilding the program at Cornell.
Henderson could have won the Coach of the Year award last season as well when he steered Princeton to its first back-to-back championship since 2002 , but Yale’s James Jones got the nod after his team swept the Tigers during the regular season and equaled Princeton in the standings.
After losing three outstanding starters to graduation, including Tosan Evbuomwan, a once in a generation talent, no one considered Henderson’s squad a favorite to repeat as league champions this season. That burden fell upon Yale, a team loaded with talent up and down its roster.
But Henderson has taken a roster severely limited in depth and forged it into a juggernaut. The Tigers are top-ranked in the nation in turnovers per game, second-ranked in free-throw shooting percentage, seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio, third in fouls per game, 17th in scoring defense, 11th in three-pointers per game, and sixth in winning percentage.
Henderson couldn’t convince any power conference opponent to play his Tigers during nonconference play except for Rutgers, and the Tigers pounded their in-state rival on a neutral court in their season opener.
Henderson then guided his team to eight more victories, nine straight overall, tying the all-time program record for consecutive wins to open the season. All but three of those wins came on the road. Now nearing the end of a long campaign, the Tigers currently are riding an eight-game winning streak, sixth longest in the nation.
Can the Tigers make it nine straight on Saturday evening at the Palestra?
The stakes couldn’t be higher. Should the Tigers win, they would secure at least a share of their third straight Ivy League title, a feat the men’s program has not accomplished since Henderson led his team as a player during that legendary 1997-98 season.
But the regular season finale at Penn worries me. The Quakers, currently sitting in seventh place, have endured one of their worst Ivy League campaigns in recent memory, winning only three conference games and failing to qualify for Ivy Madness for the first time in program history.
Beating Princeton and denying the Tigers a chance to win another league title would make Penn’s season. Moreover, the Quakers have built some momentum after rallying last Saturday to upset a rising Columbia squad that was playing for a possible berth in the Ivy League Tournament.
And let’s not forget that this Penn team registered the best win of any Ivy team during the non-conference season by beating a then nationally-ranked Villanova squad on Nov. 13, at the Palestra.
Penn has the talent to throw a monkey wrench into Princeton’s magical season and the Quakers will be playing with house money on Senior Night when the Tigers invade the Cathedral of College Basketball in hunt of a league championship.
Though Princeton hasn’t lost at the Palestra since 2018, something tells me this game will go down to the wire. I’ll take the Tigers with their indomitable will to win to find a way to pull this one out, but it may take an overtime session (or two) before Princeton’s men earn the right to cut down the nets on their chief rivals’ home hardwood.
The Powerful Princeton women’s basketball team
Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of how many consecutive Ivy League championships the Princeton women’s basketball team has won. The answer is five. If they defeat Penn at Jadwin Gym on Saturday afternoon, it will be six.
Unlike the men’s team, the Princeton women’s team was considered a strong favorite to repeat as league champions this season and so far they haven’t disappointed.
During the offseason, coach Carla Berube scheduled an extremely challenging slate of nonconference games to make her team battle-hardened for the Ivy campaign and postseason and that strategy has paid off in several ways.
First, the Tigers rose to the challenge and won a boatload of games against high end opponents, nearly all of them on the road. Triumphs over nationally-ranked Oklahoma, Middle Tennessee State, Rutgers, Seton Hall and Villanova established Princeton as a national power and earned the Tigers a robust NET-ranking that all but assures them of a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Second, Berube’s squad used the gauntlet of nonconference games as a measuring stick and an opportunity to build confidence.
The value of that confidence building cannot be underestimated, especially in the postseason.
The Tigers are going to face adversity in the upcoming Ivy League and NCAA tournaments, but in those moments of doubt, this talented team is equipped to summon the courage and spirit needed to prevail. For that, the players can thank their coaching staff for giving them the preparation they needed to achieve their goals and become champions.
The Princeton women close out their regular season on Saturday afternoon at home against the talented and plucky Penn Quakers. If the Tigers win, like the men, they clinch at least a share of the Ivy League regular season title and earn another banner for the rafters at Jadwin Gym.
The visiting Quakers don’t have much to play for. They’ve already punched a ticket for the fourth and final slot in Ivy Madness, and if they manage to upset Princeton on Saturday, their likely reward would be a first round matchup at the Ivy League Tournament against the host and hottest team in the conference, the Columbia Lions.
I’m not saying the Quakers won’t play their hearts out to beat Princeton on Saturday. I’m certain the Red and Blue would love nothing more than to deny Princeton a sixth consecutive regular season title and build even more confidence and momentum heading into the Ivy League Tournament.
But Princeton has more to play for on Saturday than Penn. The Tigers are in the process of regaining their mojo after dropping a jarring decision to Columbia two weeks ago at Levien Gymnasium. They need a win on Saturday to nail down the first item on their “to do” list, which is to win a sixth consecutive regular season title.
And Saturday is Senior Day for one of the greatest trios of seniors in Princeton basketball history: Kaitlyn Chen, Ellie Mitchell and Chet Nweke. There’s no way this coaching staff and this special group of players fail to send off one of the greatest senior classes in program history without a title-clinching win over a rival. Princeton will win the game and cut down the nets at Jadwin Gym on Saturday.
It’s been another exceptional season for Princeton basketball. As the Ivy campaign comes to a close, Princeton Nation is tingling with anticipation of a possible two-banner weekend. After that, the roar of Ivy Madness ensues. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.