It was a BS narrative at least IMO. They appeared to be capping the # of BIG teams in the tourney. We are likely going to face the same issue this season so will have to increase our finish in conference.
Princeton
- Thread starter RU72
- Start date
It was a BS narrative at least IMO. They appeared to be capping the # of BIG teams in the tourney. We are likely going to face the same issue this season so will have to increase our finish in conference.
When we win this game, which we will, it will be one of the better OOC wins of the Pike era. With players like Ace and Dylan coming in we better seriously improve our scheduling, because these guys are going to want to go up against the best teams in the big venues, the same way Duke, Kentucky and Kansas do every year.
So basically you are saying we average one better OOC win a year. Not good.
Rutgers failed to get a NCAA bid because of a poor record at the end of the season which included consecutive losing games at the RAC.
Literally only in that it allows a subset of the fanbase to feel like it’s 1973 again
I literally wasn’t even born then. Meant a lot to me 30 years later than that.
Perhaps - honestly we'll really never know. Whatever the case, those were conference games and the the point some are making in this thread is that playing Princeton will impact the NET and somehow hurt our tourney chances. I feel otherwise.
My point (and I’m not a board complainer as you inferred about me in a previous post) is the high risk, no reward quality of the game with regard to NET. And no, I don’t get excited about the name as others here do. I don’t get excited over any Ivies really. Others like it and I made my point so I’ll shut up now.
Just ignore that Sweet 16 last year. A Sweet 16 team 20 miles down the road and a cool rivalry history and they are a Q3 school period is your argument? SMH
Pretty much. We really need to play some Q2 OOC teams, but we just don't.
2022-23: Q1 (0-1), Q2 (0-0).... best win was Wake (90)
2021-22: Q1 (0-1), Q2 (0-1).... best win was Clemson (81)
2020-21: n/a Covid
2019-20: Q1 (1-0), Q2 (0-1).... best win was SHU (15), Stephen F Austin (77)
2018-19: Q1 (0-1), Q2 (1-1).... best win was Miami (92)
Since NET started, we've played exactly 4 Q1 non-conference teams, and 4 Q2 non-conference teams. 8 opportunities in 4 seasons of playing non-conference games.... and we went 2-6.
We should be playing 3-4 Q1/Q2 non-conference games a year.
The prior year we beat SHU (would have been Q1/Q2 if NET existed). A win over a 110-120 NET Princeton this year would probably be our 7th best non-conference win under Pikiell... which speaks more to the lack of quality non-conference opportunities than to the strength of Princeton.
It’s a basketball game, what are we worried about?
I’d like to think we’re not afraid to play anybody, anywhere.
If we lose to Princeton and it turns out to be a bad loss, then we’re not as good as we think we should be.
I’d like to think we’re not afraid to play anybody, anywhere.
If we lose to Princeton and it turns out to be a bad loss, then we’re not as good as we think we should be.
During our 30 year tourney drought?
Give me more Q1/Q2/Q4 games without Princeton as opposed to playing them and dealing with that stretch again
We’re not making any progress with this and I’m convinced the people defending this game just have a willful ignorance toward the state of today’s selection criteria.
It’s bad scheduling putting a team that we were rivals of 25+ years ago on the schedule when they present no upside to the resume and a ton of downside, with a realistic chance of that downside costing us a tournament berth. That’s the long and short of it really, unless prioritizing this novelty game is more important than increasing the probability of the program’s success.
Well, clearly Pike disagrees. Why do you think he does? Out of willful ignorance??
I don’t know. I’d give him a 9-9.5 out of 10 as coach and think he should be here forever, but OOC scheduling has been a problem for the past couple of years (based on what we’ve observed and what the committee has said re: getting into the tournament), and is probably my only major complaint at this point. I’m guessing it will take a step up next year though so hopefully we just get through this and the other Q3 games unscathed.
I’ve made a few posts in seasons past that I didn’t care for Pike’s OOC scheduling and refusal to participate in Nov tournaments. I had a concern that some day it would bite him/us in the ass with the selection committee.
To his credit he seems to be have changed his approach after getting shut out of the tournament this year, and sought out at least a few higher rated opponents for 23-24. But as I posted the other day, he was late to do so and Q1 and Q2 available opponents were very hard to find. PU really was one of the best options available. Hopefully, they have a good season and NET, and our neutral site game counts as a Q2. Without getting PU to agree to this game Pike could have been looking at playing just another creampuff. Not playing PU would have been worse.
We are probably going to be the only team on Princeton's schedule that will be a q1/q2 game for them. If they lose to us , they'll need to go nearly undefeated against the rest of their schedule to be a Q2. And several of those games will need to be blowouts.
Seton Hall, Georgetown, and Mississippi State have a much better chance of getting into that q1/ q2 area with strong seasons, simply because their schedules are much tougher.
I'm just hoping we get out of there with a win, and then I don't have to think about Princeton anymore.
Me too. This game means very little now. Was talking about this with the lax guys. Princeton means something to them but it’s only because of the alums. It’s the B1G teams they really hate, namely OSU. I suspect it’s something similar in most programs.
Princeton with 8 losses was 111 (finished 93 with 9 losses after the tournament) last year. If they are 100 or better this year that’s Q3, which is a Q2 at a neutral site. It wouldn’t be impossible.
They benefited a lot from playing Yale 3x at 64 (their Ivy tournament game over them was their signature win), who had competitive games against Kentucky and Colorado. If Yale has strong performances against Gonzaga and Kansas this year, that will also help Princeton.
Now that Princeton is 5-0, 4 Road wins and the neutral against us. This loss doesn't look as bad as it once did.
Princeton 68 N Rutgers(4-1) 61
Princeton 74 @ Hofstra(3-2) 67
Princeton 70 @ Duquesne(4-1) 67
Princeton 82 @ Monmouth(2-2) 57
Princeton 76 @ Old Dominion(1-3) 56
Princeton 68 N Rutgers(4-1) 61
Princeton 74 @ Hofstra(3-2) 67
Princeton 70 @ Duquesne(4-1) 67
Princeton 82 @ Monmouth(2-2) 57
Princeton 76 @ Old Dominion(1-3) 56
So they beat another weak mid major. The thing isn’t how they’re doing now. It’s the weakness of their schedule overall. Yale may be the only other top 100 team they play. By year end their sos will weaken their Kenpom to the point where it’s a q3 loss for us. Princeton may be able to beat really good teams but won’t get the chance. Their Kenpom will suffer and so will our resume. This is the math and the core of why this was poor scheduling
They may indeed be a good team, but other than beating RU, a big ten team, those other four are 😴🥱😵
Yale(4-2) #72/#81, Princeton(5-0) #79/#54
Cornell(5-1) #119/#103, Brown(1-4) #159/#238, Harvard(5-1) #178/#127
Penn(3-2) #220/#180, Dartmouth(1-2) #240/#313, Columbia(4-2) #270/#256
Ivy League is a pretty respectable mid major early into the season, 12th rated conference out of 32.
Cornell(5-1) #119/#103, Brown(1-4) #159/#238, Harvard(5-1) #178/#127
Penn(3-2) #220/#180, Dartmouth(1-2) #240/#313, Columbia(4-2) #270/#256
Ivy League is a pretty respectable mid major early into the season, 12th rated conference out of 32.
No choice but to root for them to have a great season now. Glad to see them continuing to get wins.
It just sucks that this was game 1. Horrible match up for a team with a lot of new or young players. But hey, at least we got to play in Trenton
Also, the more we win the better their win against us will look in the rankings.
Impressive start for the Tigers considering Princeton has yet to play a game in their own gym.
Princeton is first D1 team in 15 years to start 5-0 with 4 wins on the road. This excludes Trenton win vs us as it was a neutral site game. Princeton yet to play at Jadwin.
I hope they do win 27 for our sake, but when you have five averaging over 30 minutes a game and very little bench production, they might get worn down as the season goes on, and a tightly called game might put them at a real disadvantage.
So when did Princeton join the BigTen? They are significantly better than at least half the Ivy League.
