ALBANY, NY– Princeton reintroduced us to Ivy League basketball when the 15th seeded Tigers stunned second-seed Arizona, 59-55, in the first round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
The victory spoke volumes about a league that is consistently under seeded even though Harvard won two first round games as a 14th and 13th seed, defeating New Mexico and Cincinnati in 2013 and 2014. The next year, the 13th seeded Crimson lost a first -round game to fourth seed North Carolina, 67-65, after leading the game with a minute to play. A year later, 12th seed Yale defeated fifth seed Baylor, 79-75, in the first round before losing to fourth seed Duke, 71-64, in the round of 32. in 2019, the 14th seeded Bulldogs pushed LSU before losing 79-74 in the first round.
The league has been more than competitive in post season although it’s hard to tell if the selection committee noticed.
The committee has missed on several mid-majors this year. In retrospect, they seemed too locked into the P6,
Instead of praising the league for the fact it had six teams capable of winning it four team Ivy tournament and accepting the fact the Ivies have talent that is rarely recognized until stars transfer to Power 6 schools a fifth year in the Covid era after graduation. And qualified coaches like James Jones of Yale, Mitch Henderson of Princeton, Tommy Amaker of Harvard, Steve Donahue of Penn, Brian Earl of Cornell and Mike Martin of Brown.
Maybe that will change if the lawsuit brought by two Brown students opens the door for the Ivies, who have traditionally existed on need- based aid, are forced to offer scholarships.
Why couldn’t Penn or Princeton, which both went to the Final Four in 1965 and 1979, turn into the next Duke.
For now, it’s time to celebrate what Princeton– a 16 point underdog–accomplished against a trendy pick to make the Final Four. This was the 11th time a 15-seed won at least one game in tournament history .In 2022, fellow New Jersey school St. Peter’s made the most improbable run to the Elite Eight, knocking off Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue before losing to North Carolina.
The Wildcats, coming off a win over UCLA in the Pac-12 Tournament, did not score in the final 4:45 of the game when Princeton went on a 9-0 to steal their glory. Arizona looked like it had the game wrapped up, taking a 10-point lead twice in the second half, including with eight minutes to go, The Tigers got their first lead of the game on a field goal by Ryan Langborg just over two minutes left and used a late game run to become headline news in the New York Metro area. They won despite the fact they didn’t make a free throw until there was just 21 seconds left and shot 4-for-25 from three-point range. They outplayed an Arizona team that was more athletic and has three players in its rotation who are 6-11 or bigger.
Princeton seemed unfazed. The Tigers outrebounded Arizona, 38-37 and had six blocks to Arizona’s one and played with more energy down the stretch.
Senior forward Tosan Evbuomwan from England led the Tigers in scoring with 15 points and had 7 rebounds and 4 assists for Princeton, which was a gritty reflection of Henderson, the former Princeton captain who was a sophomore on the team that authored a famed upset of defending national champion UCLA in 1996. A framed picture of Henderson’s victory leap after that game hangs in the school’s practice facility.
Now, his team is making its own history.
“It may be an upset on paper and to the country, but it is not to us,” Henderson said.
“Pretty surreal feeling,” guard Matt Alocco said. “To beat a great team like that on this stage is a pretty special thing. But also I can’t say I’m surprised. This team has been good all year, so gritty. On paper, its going to look like a big upset. But we
believe in each other and we think we’re a really good team. When we play our best then I think we can beat anybody in the country.”
Why not?
This has been a crazy year in college basketball. And the tournament has already been filled with surprises. Thirteen seed Furman defeated Virginia on a last second shot. Tenth seed Penn State put on a clinic in a blowout victory over Texas A & M.
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd was left to ponder why his bigger team could constantly take the ball inside and only go to the line seven times. But he had to give Princeton credit for making the right time.
Reality might hit Saturday when Princeton plays Missouri in the second round. But for now, it’s euphoria. Anything is possible.
