Thoughts from a DC Princeton Fan

[PrincetonFan]

Here’s a few thoughts from a long-time Princeton fan:

1. Most Princeton folks I’ve heard from in last few days are thrilled with the JT3/Scott activity. The “Princeton mystique is enhanced by our coach moving on to the Big East, we get a great coach in Joe Scott coming home to Jersey, and another one of our guys (Chris Mooney) takes the helm at Air Force. Everybody wins.

2. JT3 is a terrific coach who did great things at Princeton. There are some “buts” however. His tenure, while good enough to make most fans happy, was a little less successful than that of his predecessors. We Tiger fans crave a return to the glory years we enjoyed in the 1990s with two first round NCAA wins over UCLA and UNLV, 5 near misses in the first round to storied programs (not least of which of course the 1989 classic), a number of 20 win seasons and top 20 rankings in 3 of those years (top 10 in ’97-’98). We thirst for that just as much as Georgetown fans appear to thirst for a return to the mid-1980s era. Thompson’s two trips to the NCAAs (lopsided losses to UNC and Texas) were not what we have grown accustomed to-the gut wrenchingly close losses and occasional victories in the Big Dance. A number of people blame Thompson’s “loosening” of the Princeton system for a perceived decline in competitiveness against big time programs. Joe Scott is expected to return a more “pure” form of the Princeton system.

3. The Princeton system takes time to learn and longer to perfect. When you get there, it is a thing of beauty to behold. (Watch a tape of the 1989 classic and root for Princeton this time. I promise you it will grow on you.) Getting there can be really ugly though. First year players rarely figure it out. To perfect the system, a team needs 2-3 guys that can shoot the 3 consistently, 1-2 guys that can drive the lane and dish to the wings, players that see the whole floor, lots of movement without the ball, and most of all a center that can pass, handle the ball, and shoot the J. You can throw out the traditional 1-5 positions. The Princeton system includes a “point center” and 4 guys that are nearly interchangeable. (Several of Princeton’s players got crew cuts before the 1989 game. The look makes the players seem even more interchangeable.)

4. Thompson is a great game coach with an uncanny instinct for his players. He coaches by instinct, making substations that often don’t seem to make any sense-- and often drove Princeton fans nuts—but usually work. Some of his decisions can even seem a little eccentric. He’ll pull guys who are hot and put in guys in tight situations who haven’t played in weeks. Sometimes he decides to go offense-defense substations in the middle of a half. He put a guy in once to jump center in overtime, he won the tip then hit a huge basket and then Thompson yanked him. The most telling stat of Thompson’s tenure was his unbelievable winning record in league games decided by 5 points or less. I may have this wrong but I think we won over 90% of those games.

5. Princeton fans will be rooting for you guys so take good care of our guy.

[TrueHoyaBlue]

Well, the head-scratching substitutions sounds like familiar unhappy territory to this hoya fan, but I like that with JT3 they usually work.

I also like what I hear about the adaptability. I figured that Princeton would be excited about Scott coming back because he runs the "pure" Princeton offense, which is exactly why I feel JT is a better fit for G'town than Scott would be.

[SFHoya99]

Thanks. Nice to know people thought well of JTIII. I think they are being a little hard on him for the tourney -- Texas just got hot, but otherwise it wasn't looking good for them.

As for the structure of the team (point center, four interchangeable guys), I think we'll see that to a certain extent. It makes me squirm a bit, because full conversion to that type of team in many ways means you've gone the full Princeton route -- that is, you can't compete on talent, so you'll do the best with what you got.

I hope we end up more with a modified form based on being able to have a bit more talent. I like having versatile talent, but I hope we can recruit good enough players to make JTIII want to modify a bit.

[PrincetonFan]

I missed one very important thing. You are way off base if you think the Princeton system is a slow down game. When Princeton had future NBA all stars Geoff Petrie, Brian Taylor, and Armond Hill in the early to mid 1970s, they often scored 90 points and occassionally hit for more than 100 with the Princeton offense. The system is about using the talent you have to take advantage of what the opponent gives you.

If Thompson could get his hands on some tape from the 1970s teams, his recruits would be salivating, not frowning, over the Princeton offense.

[Deleted]

I think people assume it's a slow-down because the only time they see it is once a year at NCAA tourney time. In that case, it looks like a slow-down since Princeton is playing teams that are more talented. And when you're playing a more talented team, you want to limit the number of possessions, no matter what your system.

[SaxaCD]

Not only did Texas get a little hot, but Princeton went stone cold, missing a bunch of wide open shots. When those aren't falling, the system won't bail you out. Princeton, like GU the past few years, has had some problem converting open looks, but the motion and the ball movement does at least generate better scoring opportunities. Princeton shot about 10% better in it's league games than GU did in its own, and that's a BIG difference, especially when so many games are close.

[JS]

PrincetonFan said:

He put a guy in once to jump center in overtime, he won the tip then hit a huge basket and then Thompson yanked him.

That was a great move. He sent the team's best leaper (Harrison Schaen) in to make sure Princeton won the tip, then took Schaen out in place of the team's leading scorer (Wallace) after Schaen was fouled posting up and made both free throws. Princeton scored the first nine points of OT and won the game.

The most telling stat of Thompson’s tenure was his unbelievable winning record in league games decided by 5 points or less. I may have this wrong but I think we won over 90% of those games.

They were 13-1 (92.8%), winning their last 12 in a row (plus 3-0 in League overtime games).

Jon

[hoyahoyasaxa]

That will be a big change from the past era! Think how many games we've lost the past few years by less than 5. Seems like quite a few (though those may stick out in my mind simply because they are the most frustrating).

[TrueHoyaBlue]

I'd say over the past two years we lost 10-15 games either by less than 5 points, or in the last minute of the ballgame.