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Open Thread.

November 7, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Filed under Basketball, Princeton

We're seven days from the start of the 2009-10 Princeton basketball season and 10 days out from the first home game at Jadwin Gym.

I'm going to try something new and do occasional "Open Thread" posts during the season where subscribers can share their thoughts and I'll try to respond where I can to further the conversation.

Use the Comment Subscription Manager to keep track of when there are new posts.

For this first "Open Thread," let's get the discussion going:

What are your expectations for the Tigers this season?

How do you handicap the rest of the Ivy League?

What will it take to unseat Cornell?

What player(s) do you expect to make a significant improvement from 08-09?

What is the key to success this year?

Start typing.

Previous post: A decade of season openers.
Next post: Sunday News:

James Moore said,

November 4, 2009 @ 2:15 pm

I am excited to watch Pawel continue to improve. His development has been fun to track over his career. I am also excited to see how Comfort looks after a full offseason of conditioning.

This is one of the deeper Tigers rosters in a while, and I am interested in how Coach Johnson will work the freshmen (esp. Hummer and Barrett) into the rotation. Jon, any word on how the freshmen are looking in preseason?

Jon Solomon said,

November 4, 2009 @ 2:21 pm

Coach Johnson sounded very impressed at Media Day with how quickly the freshmen have picked up what the staff has been teaching, especially compared to last year.

The players I spoke to shared similar sentiments.

Robert Enoch, Jr. said,

November 12, 2009 @ 7:41 pm

I just graduated last spring, having attended nearly all home games and a number of away games the past four years as a member of the Band and was even conductor for Coach Johnson's inaugural season. Similar to my disappointment in seeing only two posts here, it was very sad to see the Jadwin Jungle deteriorate from what it was my freshman year (see photo two entries down) to last year -- only two or three people per game.

I hope the team can continue its progress so that support and awareness of the Princeton basketball program can be restored to its former glory. (I can tell you the Band is aching for another trip to the Big Dance!)

I remember being very surprised at the heightened level of play demonstrated by Dan Mavraides and Patrick Saunders in the season-closer at the Palestra last spring. Mavraides has nerves of steel during a series of clutch free-throws. Those growing talents, combined with the many minutes of experience from players Lake, Schroeder, Buczak, Davis, and Maddox, should make this year's team much better than last, and hopefully they can give the Big Red and the Quakers a run for their money. The fact that they graduated only two guys should make the team much more mature, more experienced, and most importantly more consistent, which was perhaps the team's biggest weakness last year.

I'm a little concerned, however, that Buzcak and Finley will be totally out-athleted under the hoop by a ridiculously beefed up 7'0" Jeff Foote from Cornell.

Jon Solomon said,

November 12, 2009 @ 9:27 pm

Robert,

First of all, welcome to princetonbasketball.com!

Coach Johnson sounded pleased with the development of Saunders and Davis in the interview we taped today and it appears that the freshman class has meshed well with the returning core group.

If you haven't listened to this week's Q&A and the audio from Media Day, you should check it out. The team sounds like they feel pretty good about where they are.

I still think Cornell is too tough to be unseated, but this could be a fun year.

Time to get some rest and then head to Michigan!

Jon

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