2013 Basketball Preview

LILIA XIE :: ASSOCIATE PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

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MEN’S BASKETBALL

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Following heartbreak, Reloaded Cagers seek Tigers go back to basics 5th straight Ivy title

By John Wolfe senior writer

Following a heartbreaking end to its 2012-13 season, the men’s basketball team will soon begin a new quest for the Ivy League title that eluded it by one game last spring. Nursing the loss of Ian Hummer ’13, the second-most prolific scorer in school history,

the squad has reloaded by adding six freshmen and three veterans returning from time off.

Senior guard Jimmy Sherburne, junior guard Ben Hazel and junior forward Dan Edwards will all be stepping onto the court for the first time since early 2012, following the one-year hiatus each took for separate reasons.

In his Media Day teleconference,

ANANDA ZHU :: FILE PHOTO

Senior guard T.J. Bray shot .427 from the field last season.

Inside

head coach Mitch Henderson ’98 made it clear that Sherburne and Hazel will be thrust immediately back into the spotlight, resuming their roles as the team’s primary ball-handlers along with senior guard and captain T.J. Bray.

Sherburne and Hazel will have plenty of backup along the perimeter, coming in the form of six freshman guard/forwards. In the backcourt, junior guard Clay Wilson and senior guard Chris Clement should continue to provide significant ballhandling and three-point shooting assistance from the bench.

Henderson asserts that the addition of seven perimeter weapons will provide added flexibility for his primary scorers. Junior forward Denton Koon, for instance, who was second on the team in scoring behind Hummer last year with 10.5 points per game, will be relieved of his backcourt duties in order to operate more freely off the ball.

More importantly, Henderson feels the additional support at the guard positions will help his team overcome a problem it suffered for much of last season: losing close games. Last year, seven of the Tigers’ 11 losses were decided by six points or fewer. Henderson attributes some of Princeton’s late-game struggles to his team’s inconsistent guard play, which he feels has improved during this offseason.

“Where ... last year we lost a lot of close games, a good heady guard takes you out of those situations,” he said. “At the end of See M. B-BALL page S2

Losing Rasheed and Hummer p.S4

By Damir Golac associate sports editor

It’s not often that a team goes into a season with high expectations after losing four of its five starters from the previous year, especially when one of those players is among the greatest the league has ever seen. That is exactly what the women’s basketball team is doing, however, as head coach Courtney Banghart has put together a team that has been picked to finish first in the Ivy League for the fifth-straight year.

The biggest storyline this season will be how the Tigers handle losing so much talent. The loss of four starters makes senior forward Kristen Helmstetter the only player on this year’s team who started a double-digit number of games last season.

The Tigers’ biggest loss was the graduation of forward Niveen Rasheed ’13, the two-time unanimous Ivy League Player of the Year and who led Princeton with 16.7 points per game last season, almost eight more then the second leading scorer on the team. Last year’s senior class was 54-2 in Ivy League play, tying it with Penn’s men’s basketball Class of 1996 as the winningest class in Ivy basketball history.

“Obviously, we’re a little inexperienced after the graduations, but what I love about this team is that they

are not using inexperience as an excuse,” Banghart said.

“They’re hungry, talented, and I’m really enjoying this team.”

Additionally, the team will have senior guard Nicole Hung back after she suffered a season-ending knee injury early last season — she started the first five games for the

Tigers before the injury kept her out from further action.

Hung and Helmstetter are the lone seniors and also the two co-captains.

“It’s definitely a different role; both of us have to adjust a little bit, but it’s exciting,” Helmstetter said. “The younger ones definitely look See W. B-BALL page S2

ANANDA ZHU :: FILE PHOTO

Senior forward Kristen Helmstetter is the Tigers’ lone returning starter.

Projected Starters p.S2

Top 5 Home Games p.S4

The Daily Princetonian

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THE STARTING LINES WOMEN’S

Wednesday november 6, 2013

BY KRISTEN COKE & EMILY TSENG :: DESIGN STAFFER & MANAGING EDITOR Though both coaches have indicated they will be using a lot of different looks this season, here are The Daily Princetonian’s projected starters for the beginning of the 2013-14 basketball season. Go online for a detailed interactive look.

MEN’S WILL BARRETT ’14

ALEX WHEATLEY ’16

F

F G

BLAKE DIETRICK ’15

T.J. BRAY ’14

G

C

C JESS SHIVERS ’15

HANS BRASE’16

G

NICOLE HELMSTETTER ’14

CLAY WILSON ’15

G

F

F

DENTON KOON ’15

NICOLE HUNG ’14

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GOPRINCETONTIGERS.COM

With 1 returning starter, a new look Seniors returning from year off will see W. B-BALL playing time along with Bray, Koon Continued from page S1

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up to us, and it’s an honor to be able to help them and try to teach them.”

The team also added three new freshmen this season: guards Taylor Brown and Vanessa Smith and forward/ center Jackie Reyneke.

“They look good. They’re really athletic; they work hard, and I think they’ll all get a chance to contribute,” Helmstetter said of the freshmen. “They are freshmen, though, and when they come in there’s a lot of new things to learn with the different pace to the game, but I defi-

“Our strength, I wuold say, is versatility.” senior Kristen Helmstetter

nitely look forward to seeing them play.”

“The freshmen are really talented. They come from good programs in terms of winning backgrounds,” Banghart added. “We got who we wanted in this class, and we’re excited about that. They’re freshmen, so the sooner they can adjust to the college pace of play, the better.”

Junior guard Blake Dietrick is expected to be another important piece for the Tigers.

Dietrick is the only non-senior in this year’s squad to start a game last season but played the third-most minutes of any Tiger, just behind Helmstetter. She led the team in threepointers, scoring 52 baskets from beyond the arc, 15 more than any of her teammates.

Sophomore forward Alex Wheatley and junior guard Mariah Smith are expected to make bigger contributions this season, as both played

around 15 minutes per game last year despite never starting. Wheatley actually led the team in field goal percentage, making 55.4 percent of her attempts. No other Tiger shot better than 50 percent from the floor. Smith was great from beyond the arc, albeit only on 13 attempts, as she was tied for first on the team in three-point shooting with 38.5 percent.

The team is deep despite losing so many starters.

When asked about the starting lineup, Banghart stated that she truly did not know who all five starters would be, as the team is continually making large strides, and that the team that will play on Sunday, the team’s opening day, is different from the team that they have today.

The team is expected to be fairly different from last year’s squad, which is not surprising due to all the graduated talent. Last year’s offense was powerful, scoring 71.2 points per game — good for first in the Ivy League.

Princeton was also first in assists and second in field goal percentage. However, despite being at the top of the Ivy League, the offense was not on par with some of the better teams they faced.

“This team has shown so far that they really can score.

We’ve struggled there in the past few years. We had some players that were tough and physical and could really defend, but we couldn’t score with much ease. This team can score with ease, and that’s been a fun thing to see,” Banghart said. “Offense comes down to talent and playing together, and this group can really do that well.”

“Our strength, I would say, is versatility,” Helmstetter added. “We have a lot of different options, and we have shooters this year, which is really exciting.”

Defense was last year’s squad’s true strength, however, as Princeton had the best scoring defense in the league, only allowing 53 points per

game. Additionally, the Tigers dominated the glass, getting over 40 rebounds per game, and led the league in steals.

“Defensively, we have to get a little bit more prepared for the place, and we have to do a better job rebound-

“Offense comes down to talent and playing together, and this group can really do that well.” head coach Courtney Banghart

ing, which has been our staple for the past two years,” Banghart said. Those things come down to toughness and urgency and awareness, and we’re helping them with that.”

Princeton is looking to win the Ivy League and advance to the NCAA tournament for the fifth-straight year. The Tigers’ appearance in the tournament in 2010 was their first ever, but now they are starting to make a habit of it. Despite facing arguably its most difficult path to the tournament ever, with the improvements of both Harvard and Penn as well as the talent that left last season, Princeton remains confident that this year will be no different than the past four.

“If we keep [improving every day], this team could be really special in January, February and March,” Banghart said.

“I expect nothing but the best. [Hung and I] just hold our teammates to the highest standards,” Helmstetter said.

“We’ll focus on each game as its own individual game and hopefully come out with a win, another Ivy title and another chance to get a win in the tournament.”

M. B-BALL

the fact that Hummer, Darrow and Connolly provided more than Continued from page S1 a third of those rebounds, averag............. ing 10.7 together. Henderson recthe game where you just needed ognizes the issue but is hopeful somebody to get open, I think we about his team’s chances to resolve have that ability now.” it collectively.

While the program’s concerted “We weren’t particularly a great effort to stock its backcourt will rebounding team last year,” he pay dividends in some areas, it conceded. “But I think [sophomay come at a cost to others. Re- more forward] Hans Brase is gonsources in the paint, for instance, na make a huge step. I see Denton will be somewhat less abundant.

Koon filling up the void there. T.J. With the loss of the 6-foot-7- got almost five a game, so I see inch Hummer, 6-foot-9-inch for- that continuing. ward Mack Darrow ‘13 and 6-footHe added that he expects help 11-inch center Brendan Connolly on the boards from his guards as ‘13, who contributed a combined well as from 6-foot-10-inch fresh65.2 minutes per game last season, man forward Pete Miller, who he the 2013-14 version of the team is anticipates will play significant a markedly smaller one. Of the minutes during his rookie season. nine players added to this year’s Henderson has taken tangible roster, seven are 6-foot-5-inches or steps to improve his team’s reshorter. bounding numbers this year.

The size concern translates to Every day before practice, a new a rebounding one. Even with the tally is posted in the Tigers’ locker team’s height last year, they av- room noting how many times eraged just 31.0 boards per game each player should have boxed — the second-worst in the Ivy out during the previous practice League. Still less encouraging is and how many times he actually did. The tallies, which Henderson calculates daily by reviewing practice film, also include statistics on how many times players succeeded or failed at hustling back on defense.

For Clement, physically tracking these two facets of the game has provided special motivation.

“It’s good to have that accountability,” he said. “You’re seeing it, but your teammates are seeing it, too.”

While the team will certainly miss Hummer’s dominant post presence, Clement feels that his absence has forced the Tigers to MONICA CHON :: FILE PHOTO establish a heightForward Will Barrett led the team in three-point ened focus on funshooting percentage last year, shooting .516. damentals.

“We don’t have that one person — just by pure athleticism — that can really just bail us out,” he said. “We’re gonna have to talk a lot more on defense ... continuously move around, screen away and get our teammates open ... [the personnel change] can either be a blessing or a curse.”

Hazel adds that no single player — even the 2013 Ivy League Player of the Year — can make or break Princeton’s ability to score. “[Our offense] adjusts really easily to the personnel that you have,” he said. “Each person has a specific skill set that they can take advantage of ... and you can use the offense to play to your suit.”

Henderson stated that many of the points replacing Hummer’s 16.3 per game will come from three-point shooting. Last year, the team boasted a downtown percentage of 39.5, thanks in large part to current senior forward Will Barrett. Barrett led the nation in three-point accuracy, hitting a blistering 51.6 percent of his 93 attempts. Barrett and the rest of Princeton’s sharpshooters will help to compensate for the diminished role of the team’s inside presence.

What Princeton lacks in body size it makes up for in roster size. With 18 players, the squad is deeper than it has been in over eight years. In Clement’s eyes, the added cast members have radically improved the team’s pace and efficiency at practice.

“Every single drill, every single time we have a chance to scrimmage — you know that you’re competing for a chance just to be on the practice floor,” he said. “People are coming for each other’s throats.”

With lots of new faces, added finesse and an increased emphasis on rebounding even among its smallest players, this year’s rejuvenated squad will put its hard work to the test Sunday in Jadwin Gymnasium, where the Tigers will host Florida A&M in their season opener.

The Daily Princetonian

Wednesday november 6, 2013

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CLASS OF 2013’S STATISTICS AS A PERCENTAGE OF THE OVERALL TEAMS

90 80 70

MEN

WOMEN

59%

60 46%

50 40

33%

48% 45% 45% 42% 37% 35%

30

38% 30%

30%

20 10 0

MINUTES

POINTS

ASSISTS

REBOUNDS

STEALS

BLOCKS

KRISTEN COKE & DAMIR GOLAC :: DESIGN STAFFER & ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR

Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams face major questions after losing key members to graduation. Not only are stars Niveen Rasheed ’13 and Ian Hummer ’13 gone, but many players who made huge contributions while standing in their shadows have left as well. This graph shows how just how big a role last year’s seniors played, both on offense and defense.

After graduating stars, men and women left with big shoes to fill COLUMN Continued from page S1

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Despite missing more than half of her sophomore season due to an injury, Rasheed is fourth on Princeton’s all-time scoring list and third on its alltime rebounding list, and she is close to the top of practically every school record.

“We lost the most dynamic player in Ivy history,” Banghart said. “We lost a lot in Niveen.”

The immortal Bill Bradley ’65 may have Hummer beat for the title of best Princeton men’s basketball player of all time, but Hummer has a solid claim to the No. 2 spot — that’s where he is on the all-time scoring list, 75 points above third-best Doug Davis ’12.

And they weren’t just the best ones in the Orange Bubble. Rasheed was Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2010 and a two-time unanimous Ivy League Player of the Year. She averaged 16.3 points per game over her career, leading the league in scoring for her final two seasons. Hummer was also named Ivy League Player of the

“T.J. is the heart and soul of our program and has been for three years.” head coach Mitch Henderson ’98

Year in 2013, earning his second unanimous All-Ivy selection and setting a new record by being named Ivy League Player of the Week seven times.

The reason their loss will be felt so acutely is not simply the awards and jaw-dropping statistics they racked up but what their teams accomplished during their time at Princeton.

The men’s team came up short last season, but Hummer’s teams won an Ivy title, made two solid appearances in the College Basketball Invitational and nearly pulled off a stun-

ning upset of fourth-seeded Kentucky in the 2011 NCAA Tournament. Rasheed led her team to four straight Ivy League titles and its first, second, third and fourth NCAA Tournament appearances.

Additionally, both Hummer and Rasheed were, unsurprisingly, the leaders of their teams. Even from the stands, you could tell that they were clearly in charge when they were on the court, and when the game was on the line there was never a doubt as to who would step up.

So the question is, “Where do we go from here?” When Davis and Devona Allgood ’12 graduated, they left Hummer and Rasheed behind as their obvious successors. This year, it’s not quite so simple.

On the men’s side, there are four returning starters and at least two players who could adequately fill the gap left by Hummer: senior guard T.J. Bray and junior forward Denton Koon. Long overshadowed

by Hummer, each has shown flashes of greatness, just maybe not the same kind as Hummer’s. Two inches shorter than Hummer, Bray had just two blocks to his captain’s 23 last season, but he took plenty of points off the board with his 51 steals, far and away the most on the team.

Head coach Mitch Henderson ’98 went as far as to say, “T.J. is the heart and soul of our program and has been for three years,” and though there are probably plenty who would disagree with that characterization, he’s right to be confident that Bray will do a fine job leading the team.

Koon played 132 minutes fewer than Hummer as he worked his way into the starting lineup, and though he averaged significantly fewer points, he displayed a longrange accuracy that, frankly, Hummer couldn’t match: a .532 field goal percentage and a .432 mark from three point land, which was far better than Hummer’s .292. Henderson indicated that he would be using Koon differently this season, but even if we see less of him on the perimeter, you can bet that the junior will be turning heads with his accuracy.

It’s a little tougher to guess

who the next star of the women’s team will be, given that Rasheed’s 16.7 points per game average was almost double that of her highest-producing teammate. That teammate, senior forward Kristen Helmstetter, is the Tigers’ only returning starter, as the supporting cast which fed off of Rasheed’s energy has lost many key members to graduation.

“We’ve spent some time over the last three years creating offense with players that struggled to score ...” head coach Courtney Banghart “I think there’s a lot of people that won’t recognize some of the people who are going to be really important to us,” Banghart admitted at the preseason press conference.

Helmstetter played far fewer minutes than Rasheed and took far fewer shots, but she edged the Ivy League Player of the Year in shooting percentage and had a three-point percentage more than .100 higher. Meanwhile, junior guard Blake Dietrick, like Koon, came out of relative obscurity in 2012-13. While starting only six games, Dietrick was still fourth on the team with eight points per game, and the graduation of Rasheed and her classmates means that Dietrick will see far more time.

“We’ve spent some time over the last three years creating offense with players that struggled to score, and now we definitely can score in this group,” Banghart said.

Banghart emphasized that her team was used to “reloading,” pointing to a number of freshmen and senior guard Nicole Hung, who returns after missing all of last season with an injury.

If this sounds like grasping at straws instead of facing the fact that two of the most entertaining players in Princeton history have graduated, that’s because it sort of is. The reality is that nobody is going to replace either of these players outright — as

Banghart said, it will be done “by committee.” It’s a little comforting, however, to take a look behind the figures that dominated Princeton basketball for four years and see that there are still players who are plenty fun to watch waiting in the wings.

The Daily Princetonian

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Wednesday november 6, 2013

By Stephen Wood sports editor

“The nature of collegiate athletics, not to be cliche, is that you have turnover,” women’s basketball head coach Courtney Banghart said at her team’s preseason press conference.

That makes it sound simple, but her team and the men’s basketball team will see more than their share of turnover as their seasons get underway this weekend. Each has graduated a player who became synonymous with Princeton basketball.

You could make an argument for both Ian Hummer ’13 and Niveen Rasheed ’13 being the best Tigers to ever play their sport, or at least the best in decades.

See COLUMN page S3

VICTORIA MAJCHRZAK & EMILY TSENG :: ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR & MANAGING EDITOR

Top 5 Men’s Home Games Top 5 Women’s Home Games 1

Princeton vs. Harvard Saturday, Feb. 22: The Tigers will have faced Harvard once already at this point in the season, and a win over the Crimson in this game would be great for their hopes of dethroning the defending Ivy League champs. Harvard was the unanimous pick to win the league in the preseason poll, but the Crimson has not beaten the Tigers in Jadwin Gymnasium in their past 24 encounters there. The game will also air on ESPN3.

2

Princeton vs. Penn Tuesday, March 11: Besides being a huge rivalry game for the Tigers, the final home game of the season could have very important implications for the Ivy League. Princeton will take on a Penn team projected to finish second in the league despite going only 6-8 in league play last season. Last year’s senior class became only the fourth class in the Jadwin Gym era to win all four of its home games against Penn, and now this year’s senior class will try to become the fifth.

3

Princeton vs. Yale Friday, Feb. 28: The Tigers will be looking for revenge when they take on Yale at home this year, as last year’s meeting in Jadwin between the two teams ended with the Bulldogs breaking the Tiger’s 21-game Ivy League home winning streak. The loss was Princeton’s only home loss against an Ivy opponent. The Bulldogs were projected to finish third in the preseason poll, so this game will likely have important implications for the two teams.

4

Princeton vs. Columbia Friday, Feb. 7: Princeton’s first Ivy home game of the season will come against a Columbia team that they have beaten eight straight times. The Tigers will have already played three Ivy road games by this point, and they will be glad to be return to Jadwin, as eight of their previous 10 games will have taken place on the road. The Lions were picked to finish last in the Ivy League by a very slim margin, obtaining 37 points while Cornell and Dartmouth received 38.

5

Princeton vs. George Mason Tuesday, Nov. 26: The matchup against the Patriots will be the Tigers’ fifth game of the season and their third at home. Princeton should be in good form by this point and will have a good test against a George Mason team that is arguably the best non-Ivy team the Tigers will play in Jadwin this season.

1

Princeton vs. Harvard Friday, Jan. 31: The Tigers have gone a very impressive 54-2 in Ivy League play over the past four seasons. Both those losses, however, have come against the Crimson, including a 58-55 loss last year in Cambridge that snapped Princeton’s 33-game conference winning streak. The Tigers were picked to finish first in the Ivy preseason poll, but Harvard is not far behind, and this game will likely be a must-win.

2

Princeton vs. Penn Tuesday, March 11: Before the men’s team takes on Penn in its last game of the season Tuesday night at 8 p.m., the women’s team will do the same at 5:30 p.m. The doubleheader should be very exciting for Princeton fans, but the Tigers hope that they will have clinched the Ivy League by this point. Regardless, the Quakers, predicted to finish third, will be eager either to play spoiler or to defeat Princeton for the Ivy title.

3

4

5

Princeton vs. Marist Sunday, Nov. 17: While the Tigers were almost perfect in Ivy League play last season, five non-conference losses in the first half of the season prevented them from being seeded higher in the NCAA tournament, something that would have been very helpful for a squad that has lost in the first round of the tournament each of the past four years. Marist was among those losses, and a win this year would be huge for the Tigers. Additionally, the game will be Princeton’s home opener.

Princeton vs. Yale Saturday, Feb. 15: Yale rounds out the top half of the league, the weakest of the four teams that received at least 90 points in the preseason poll. The game will be approximately halfway through conference play and should give us a good indicator of how good a squad the Tigers are by this point.

Princeton vs. Delaware Sunday, Dec. 15: Avenging last year’s loss to Delaware, like beating Marist, could really benefit Princeton’s postseason chances. Last year’s game was the closest game the Tigers played all season, as they lost by a single point. Although Delaware lost a great player in Elena Delle Donne, it is still a strong team, and a Princeton win would be helpful in proving that the Tigers deserve a higher seed in the NCAA tournament.