Kestler, Okafor headline Class of 2009

When an Ivy League team loses five seniors, including two three-time all-Ivy selections and four of its top seven scorers, and is still picked to finish third in the Ancient Eight, either the other Ivies have decided to field squads of individuals with mascot aspirations or that team must be pretty confident that its underclassmen can pick up the slack. At Princeton, head coach Joe Scott '87 asserts that the men's basketball team's new crop of freshmen is ready to step up and play decisive roles.

"We're throwing them out there, throwing them into the fire and having them grow up," Scott said. "I am pretty confident that ... they're going to help us this year but definitely even more in the future."

Of the five freshmen on the roster, two have already stood out as players who can make immediate impacts. According to Scott, both shooting guard Geoff Kestler and small forward Alex Okafor will be in the six-man rotation.

"It has been shown in practice that those two freshmen are going to play; they deserve it," Scott said. "They're the kind of guys that, with time, are going to get better and become really good players."

Kestler, a six-foot, three-inch shooting guard, hails from Mt. Lebanon, Pa. At Mt. Lebanon High School, Kestler holds both the season and career scoring records. He led the team to a 22-8 record and the Penn 4-A State Championship Game during his senior season while averaging 24 points, six rebounds and four assists per game.

Okafor is a 6'6" shooting guard from San Jose, Calif., where he attended Archbishop Mitty High School. His senior year he was a McDonald's All-America nominee, in addition to being named third-team All-Area by the San Jose Mercury News and honorable mention All-Bay Area by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Despite their success in high school, both players still need to prove their mettle at the college level, and both have areas of their game that need developing.

"Okafor and Kestler are guys who can score in different ways, but now you are talking about freshmen. Can you count on freshmen scoring?" Scott said. "I think it's going to be a year of getting better and having Okafor learn how he can score in the post. And Kestler has a knack for putting it in the hoop, but he's got to learn how to do that in the context of playing defense and offense and knowing the score and how much time is left. That's all part of the growing pains of being a freshman."

Though Okafor and Kestler are not expected to be the cornerstones of either the offense or the defense, both will need to contribute in order for the Tigers to be successful.

In addition to Okafor and Kestler, Princeton has a pair of centers who could see significant action coming off the bench. Six-foot, eight-inch Michael Strittmatter comes to the Tigers from Brophy Prep in Phoenix, Ariz., where he dominated the area. He averaged an impressive double-double, with 23 points and 10 rebounds, in his senior season and earned Region Player of the Year and second-team All-State accolades.

Noah Levine attended the Hill School in Pennsylvania for a year after attending Friends' Seminary in New York City. He averaged 13 points and seven rebounds per game at the Hill School and was an All-Mid-Atlantic Prep League selection.

With the return of sophomore forward Harrison Schaen, however, Levine and Strittmatter will have to work hard to earn playing time.

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A fifth freshman, 6'2" guard Jason Briggs of Olmpia, Wash., will also spend most of his rookie year watching thanks to the Tigers' strong backcourt depth.

Still, the new blood can only help Princeton. The Tigers are optimistic about the new freshmen and the possible contributions they could make.

"[The freshmen] go out there and attack the ball, go after rebounds, do all the things that you don't really have to know anything about to do," captain and senior guard Scott Greenman said. "You don't have to run an offense to rebound and play defense. In terms of the little things and the intangibles, they're doing a very great job."

These freshmen are also Scott's first recruiting class, and their success will reflect on how well he picks players for his specific system.

Princeton can only hope that the freshmen rapidly learn Scott's style of play and make immediate contributions since its hopes of Ivy League respectability may depend on just that.