Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson and princetonbasketball.com editor Jon Solomon sat down at Jadwin Gym on Wednesday evening to review the last three games of the year and to look back at the 2007-08 seaon. This interview is 15:00+ in length.
Victoria Finley said,
We are unable to hear the interview after the first 30 sec. Anyone else having this problem?
Jon Solomon said,
You're the first to report this. I suggest pressing "pause" immediately after hitting play and letting the sound file load for a while before trying to listen to the whole thing. Let me know if this helps! - JS
steve silverman said,
Good interview, Jon. I was glad you asked him to self assess his coaching job this season, but was surprised at the way he ducked the question. Likewise, I was glad you asked him what he had learned this season about himself. I think that was a good and fairquestion. Unfortunately, he just didn't want to answer. I guess all the losses really have taken a toll on SJ. He seems genuinely pained and fatigued and clearly isn't in a mood to be introspective. I have appreciated the many statements that SJ has made during the year about how he recognizes how bad things have gotten and how the results are intolerable, and how things need to change, etc. There still seems to be some unspoken aspects of this story, though. It obviously isn't productive for SJ to talk about this in too much detail in public. Maybe some day we will all learn more about what caused the precipitous decline of the program to the historic low point it is now in. To me, there is still a bit of mystery to the whole thing. I just can't remember seeing a program fall so far and so fast without something dramatic precipitating it. Thanks again, Jon, for all of your efforts this season. It couldn't have been much fun this year. --Steve
David Lewis said,
Steve,
I don't think Princeton's fall is that much of a mystery. Coach Scott's first Ivy season was a disaster - with that talent, Princeton should have either won the league or competed down to the wire. I think the turning point was the Penn game at the Palestra when we led by 18 in the second half and then fell apart and lost in overtime. (That loss took so much out of me I haven't been back to the Palestra since). After that season, Scott got berated in the press and recruiting has suffered ever since. I think the main thing we have learned these past few years is that the system does not win games without great basketball players. I think for years we have been lulled into believing that Princeton would win with non-athletes because of superior coaching and an offense that befuddled the opponents. In fact, Princeton has won over the years because it had really good basketball players. The system helped against more athletic national powers but the real reason for Princeton's success was talent. I anticipate that recruiting will improve in short order and Princeton will again be the team to beat with Penn in the league. Davidson proved this year that academic schools can compete at a national level and that it only takes a few exceptional players to turn a program around. Didn't Princeton beat Davidson at Jadwin a few years ago? This was obviously before Stephan Curry's arrival. I think last year when Davidson lost by a few points to Ohio State in the first round CBS pointed out that Davidson had the highest SAT average of any starting five in the whole tournament - I think it was above 1400 (verbal and math). The point here is that notwithstanding the naysayers, Princeton can and should compete once again on a national level. I just wish Sydney Johnson would talk more about winning instead of being satisfied with just competing.
Jon Solomon said,
David,
A few things:
1. Princeton was already 1-3 in Ivy play when they lost the game you reference at the Palestra.
2. Princeton split a recent home-and-home series with Davidson, beating the Wildcats at Jadwin in Coach Scott's first season and losing at Davidson in 2005-06.
3. One minor correction - Davidson lost to Maryland in the first round of last year's NCAA tournament, not Ohio State.
Jon
David Lewis said,
Jon,
You are usually right but not this time. Last year, Ohio State beat Davidson in the first round 70-62. According to Tony Snow, a Davidson grad, Davidson's average SAT score for its basketball team this year (verbal and math only) was 1370. Last year was higher. All of their players graduate. This must be the highest average in the country. There is no reason why Princeton does not recruit these kids. They do exist.
Jon Solomon said,
David,
You're off by one year.
Davidson lost to Maryland 82-70 in the 2007 NCAA tournament, when Curry was a freshman.
Here's the story from the Davidson web site:
http://www.davidsonwildcats.com/news/mbball/2007/3/15/MBB031507.asp?path=mbball
Ohio State beat Davidson 70-62 in the 2006 NCAA tournament.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=264000043
The previous year, when Princeton beat Davidson at Jadwin, the Wildcats went undefeated in conference play but lost in the Southern conference tournament.
Jon
David Lewis said,
You're right. My apologies.
RSS feed for comments on this post
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
