Mark Disler said,

September 19, 2011 @ 4:32 pm

No home games in December and January. Home game on Nov. 30, next one on Feb. 3. That should be a challenge!

Mark Disler '74

Coco said,

September 19, 2011 @ 4:49 pm

John, what are the current RPI/Pomeroy/Sagarin ratings for the Tigers right now?

Jon Solomon said,

September 19, 2011 @ 8:05 pm

Princeton finished 2010-11 with a 45 RPI, 84 Pomeroy and 76 Sagarin.

Stuart Schulman said,

September 19, 2011 @ 10:40 pm

Four D-1 games is the median number over the past 25 years. It could be a lot worse.

This is one more than the number of D-I home games in 1992-93, 1995-96, 2002-03 and 2004-05. It is two more than the number of D-I games in 1993-94, 1994-95, 2000-01 and 1998-99 (if you exclude the NIT home game against Georgetown).

In 1990-91, the only non-conference D-I home game was against Loyola Marymount--in March. In 1984-85, the only two nonconference home games were against Franklin and Marshall and NYU--both D3.

I had to go back to 1985-86 to find a season with as many as 7 D-I home games.

My concern is that Harvard may be the best team on the schedule; will the nonconference games adequately prep the team.

Jon Solomon said,

September 19, 2011 @ 10:53 pm

I don't have a good answer to that question. I know the Ivy League had some sort of five year algorithm that dictated the schedule and its rotation, which I believe was in its final year for 2010-11.

The bigger question(s) to me:

What happened with the first Ivy trip at Columbia/Cornell being set for one weekend and then moved backwards two weeks because of Princeton's exams? Who didn't realize there was a conflict? Is it possible the Penn game was supposed to be at a different point in the Ivy schedule but when C/C skipped forward there wasn't the intended room for it anymore?

When Coach Henderson spoke at reunions about the schedule he mentioned the first four Ivy games being on the road, not five (e.g. Penn).

Jon

Brian Martin said,

September 20, 2011 @ 9:52 am

It appears to me from the delay releasing the schedule and the fact that Princeton and Penn released on the same day that they were trying to work out problems caused by moving the Cornell-Columbia games so late when most teams had already set their schedules. That shift left Penn with a long layoff before the Yale-Brown weekend games. It is hard to find non-league games in late January because everyone else is in league play. Penn may have tried to move a Big 5 game into that week but when they couldn't the fall back option was to play the Princeton game then. Someone at Princeton should have looked at the exam schedule a lot sooner.

Stuart Schulman said,

September 20, 2011 @ 12:16 pm

I'd be interested to hear a current or former player's perspective on starting with 5 on the road. To me, 5 to start on the road just means 7 of 9 at home to end the campaign.

Jon Solomon said,

September 20, 2011 @ 4:49 pm

Looking at Princeton's Fall Academic Calendar, exams run from January 18 to January 28. If Ivy play had started for Princeton the following weekend (February 3rd and 4th) then the final weekend of conference play would have been March 9 and March 10 - ending a day before Selection Sunday and making a Penn/Princeton game the next Tuesday impossible (not to mention any playoff provision).

That's why the first Ivy weekend had to be played before exams this season.

http://registrar.princeton.edu/academic-calendar/Fall-2011-2012.pdf

Completely understandable.

Why the first Penn game isn't February 7 or 14 is less understandable.

Randy Bergmann said,

September 20, 2011 @ 10:03 pm

If, as Stuart Schulman, claims, four nonconference home games is the median number of D1 games over the past 25 years, the question then becomes why? Why does Princeton schedule 10 or 11 or 12 road nonconference games and just four home games? And why can't Princeton, at the very least, schedule SOME games against teams with more sex appeal than Elon, Lafayette, Buffalo and Wagner? Given the home court advantage in basketball, and, one would think, the desire of the university to schedule teams that could draw some large crowds and generate additional revenue, it doesn't make any sense to me. What am I missing John?

Jon Solomon said,

September 20, 2011 @ 10:52 pm

I suggested ages ago (perhaps to Joe Scott? I don't completely remember) that Princeton should try and embrace all of the high mid major teams that protest nobody will schedule them (Gonzaga was a specific example I gave) and offer them all home and home (or even two for one deals in select cases) series. Promote yourself on Basketball Travelers' bulletin board as such, even.

http://www.basketballtravelers.com/game-schedule-board/?e_type=1

Some of these teams might not look as "sexy" as a Rutgers to the casual basketball fan, but they are out there and could potentially combine a game at Jadwin with another NY/NJ/PA team.

Mix with tournaments and untapped regional matchups.

While I fully understand and respect the need to fill gaps in a schedule, recent one-off games at GW, St. Bonaventure, Evansville, Tulsa and (especially) Towson are frustrating when there's nothing back home in return.

Jon

larry said,

September 21, 2011 @ 10:59 am

Trying to make lemonade: trips to Rutgers, Drexel, & Rider will fill the December void. Trips to Columbia & Penn in January can bridge the void until February 10.

Jon Solomon said,

September 21, 2011 @ 11:37 am

Both Monmouth and Towson have new head coaches this season. Perhaps they opted to go in a different direction - though as I wrote elsewhere Towson was mentioned as part of the 2011-12 schedule as recently as late May.

Could also be one or both of these games were deferred one year like Coach Johnson did with South Carolina his first year at Princeton.

Will try and find out about return games when I next talk with Coach Henderson.

Jon