Princeton / Harvard reception.

January 14, 2008 at 11:00 am
Filed under Basketball, Princeton

This is something I look forward to every year. If you're going to attend this game, get your tickets from Bob and enjoy an excellent reception afterwards. - JS

Princeton Men's Hoops at Harvard
Friday, February 22, 2008 - 7:00pm

Reserve your tickets for the game and traditional post-game celebration now. Light buffet catered by Nellios of Lexington and refreshments will be served. Coach Sydney Johnson and the Princeton team will attend the gathering.

Game time is 7:00pm. Party immediately afterwards at Dillon Field House (next to gym).

Tickets purchased in advance for the game and party are as follows:

$18 for members of princetonbasketball.com, PANE, PVC or Friends of Princeton Basketball.

$15 for Young Alum PANE members and their guests ('03-'07)
$7 for children under 16
$25 for non-members

Tickets for the party only are $10 with a reduced rate of $5 for children.

Please send a check payable to PANE to Bob Ruxin '76 at 8 Larchmont Lane, Lexington, MA 02420 with a self-addressed, stamped envelope by February 1st to secure your seats.

For more information prior to Feb. 15, please email Bob Ruxin.

After Feb. 15, email David Ventola.

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David Lewis said,

January 15, 2008 @ 8:43 am

Joe Scott has alredy won seven games in a program that won only four all of last year. This suggests that the main problem he had at Princeton was poor recruiting. Was it just bad luck or does the Admissions Department bear some responsibility for Princeton's present inability to compete at the D-I level? Carril said recently that the problem was the cost of tuition and tougher admissions standards. Carril probably knows more about the problems with the present state of Princeton basketball than do fans who simply complain that Joe Scott was not a good fit at Princeton. If the problem is institutional and not the coach (which I tend to believe) Princeton has to decide how competitive it wants to be. If we want the teams of the past, we must get the players of the past. If the school wants to de-emphasize athletics and basketball in particular that's fine but expectations and the schedule should be set accordingly. Do not continue to schedule games against Duke and Arizona State and other top D-I programs if the school wants to go in a different direction. It's not fair to the players or the fans who devoutly follow the program.

larry pinder said,

January 15, 2008 @ 8:56 pm

Thank you Dave. Some of our friends should be required to read your post four or five times.

Patrick Ying said,

January 16, 2008 @ 12:47 am

I have also wondered what the effect of the admissions office on the ability to recruit. However, let's not forget that Joe Scott inherited a talented squad, a team that won the Ivy League with a 13-1 record, losing only Ed Persia to graduation, (with Savage, Koncz, Sargeant and Steuerer as freshmen) and went 6-8 in the Ivy League. That unprecedented year was not a result of institutional problems.

Michael Braun said,

January 16, 2008 @ 3:32 pm

I'm going out on a limb and suggest a very simple explanation of why recruiting might have been down the last couple of years: the team wasn't winning. After the 2005 Ivy collapse, the tough (and highly publicized) losses in the fall of 2005, the injuries in 2006-07, and subsequent lack of success, perhaps players thought that Princeton might not be that great of a place to play. I'm not sure how that's an institutional problem.

But was recruiting really down? Jeff Peterson was admitted to school, by the admissions office. Would we be even having the conversation had he not bolted for the Big Ten? Coaches have talked about recruiting quite a bit over the past few years, and I don't remember either of them ever mentioning tighter admissions standards (relative to other schools in the league, since admissions is tougher nationwide in general) as a problem. They do mention financial considerations a lot.

By the way, I wouldn't say this team has an "inability to compete at the D-I level" (many of these scores aren't blowouts). Regarding scheduling Duke and Arizona State, the plan to go to Maui was made 2-3 years ago, when the coaches thought that this would be the breakout year. Even Sydney Johnson has said that he wouldn't have created a schedule this tough for this team, had he been able to do so. One data point does not constitute a trend.

My point is that there are many, many reasons that Princeton basketball is in the state it's in that are a whole lot more plausible than lack of institutional commitment.

Jon Solomon said,

January 16, 2008 @ 3:46 pm

How this discussion ended up in the Princeton / Harvard Reception comments, we may never know...

As long as this drums up interest for Bob's event, I'll keep the conversation open.

Jon

David Lewis said,

January 16, 2008 @ 10:34 pm

Just because some of the scores have been close does not mean that Princeton is now fielding a competitive D-I team. One of our two wins was against an Iona team at home that only won one game last year. I don't know what Princeton's RPI is right now but it's probably above 300, which would be an all-time low. I could be wrong but I have trouble believing that Princeton's recruiting woes are the result of two losing seasons. Often top recruits want to go to schools where they can come in and contribute immediately. With all that Princeton offers and the basketball tradition, top players should be applying in droves, especially with the thought that they could start as a freshman. Jeff Peterson is an aberration since his basketball stock increased dramatically in his senior season and he eventually had an opportunity to play regularly at Iowa. One major reason that recruiting may be down is the fact that Princeton recently scrapped early decision. How many top D-I players are going to forego applying early decision somewhere else so that they might be able to play at Princeton? If a top student athlete - someone Princeton has gotten in the past - has a chance to apply early to Davidson, Northwestern or Bucknell to name a few, get the process over with in November and get a full scholarship, why would he want to wait to take a chance on Princeton? I think that the scrapping of early decision will have a greater negative impact on Princeton basketball than the lack of scholarships. To make matters worse, I think only Princeton, Harvard and Yale that have done away with early decision. This means that we are going to have a recruiting disadvantage within the league as well. I understand why the university decided to give up early decision but this certainly is not going to help the athletic department.

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