With the NBA posting an age requirement for the first time this year, many recruits who might have gone pro are now spending at least a year in college. NBA players must now be 19 years old or at least one year removed from high school to play. McDonalds' All-Americans like Greg Oden and Brandan Wright will attend powerhouse programs Ohio State and North Carolina.
Princeton will not be getting any of these players.
But while the men's basketball team might not be pulling the McDonald's All-Americans of UNCs and OSUs of the world, the Tigers' Class of 2010 is impressive nonetheless. Coming into the Princeton's program are six players who have amassed a large number of individual and team awards, including state championships and all-state selections. Here's a brief look at who will be suiting up in Orange and Black next season:
Zach Finley
Finley, a six-foot, eight-inch power forward, brings what has been a fruitful high school basketball career to Jadwin Gym. This past season, the big fellow led St. Thomas More High School in Rapid City, S.D. to a perfect 26-0 record and its first South Dakota Class A championship after two years of losing in the semifinals. In the title game, St. Thomas More narrowly escaped with a 41-38 victory, paced by Finley's 18 points and 10 rebounds.
For the season, Finley averaged team highs of 20.1 points and 10 rebounds, while shooting over 63 percent from the field. He was named all-state and all-conference for both his junior and senior year.
Blake Wilson
Wilson, a 6-4 shooting guard, has had an extremely prolific career at Haddonfield Memorial High School in Haddonfield, N.J. Along with Duke-bound teammate Brian Zoubek, Wilson led his basketball team to 111-8 record over the duo's four years on the team. This year, the team finished 34-2 and won its third consecutive South Jersey Group II title.
Wilson averaged almost 17 points per game for Haddonfield, second on the team, while pulling down five boards and dishing out four assists. He shot 33 percent from behind the arc to compliment the post play of the 7-2 Zoubek.
Lincoln Gunn and Marcus Schroeder
While De La Salle High School in Concord, Calif. is best known for its record 151-game winning streak in football, its basketball team has had its share of success, as well. De La Salle finished this season 32-1, taking the California Division 1 state title. The Spartans were ranked second in California and in the top 10 of several national polls. Leading the way, offensively and defensively, were teammates Gunn and Schroeder, who will move on together next year to wear the orange and black.
Gunn, a 6-4 shooting guard, was the top scorer with 12.4 ppg in very balanced attack, the only player on the team to average double figures in scoring. He also recorded 4.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists in each contest, while shooting 51 percent from the field and 81 percent from the charity stripe. He led De La Salle with 15.1 ppg in the state playoffs and notched 16 in the championship game.
One of De La Salle's main strengths this season was its defense, which held opposing teams — many of which were the best in California and the nation — to a paltry 35.4 points per game. Schroeder, a 6-3 point guard, was considered to be the catalyst for the Spartans and the best defender on a defensively-oriented team.
Chris Petrie
Petrie, a 6-5 swingman, comes to the Tigers from just down the road at the Hun School of Princeton, where he led the Raiders to a 17-9 season. Petrie is following in the footsteps of his uncle, Geoff Petrie '70, who played for Princeton in the late 1960s and currently ranks seventh in all-time scoring for the Tigers. After playing for the Tigers, Geoff Petrie went on to share NBA Rookie-of-the-Year and appeared in two all-star games. Geoff Petrie is currently president of basketball operations for the Sacramento Kings.
The younger Petrie is quickly establishing a game of his own. The son of George Petrie, the head coach at Gettysburg College, Petrie is fundamentally sound, and is recognized as having good passing skills to go along with a nice shooting touch. Already a high school graduate, he has used this year to hone his skills as a postgraduate student at the Hun School.
Pawel Buczak
Buczak, a 6-8 power forward, led the Moorestown High School Quakers to a 15-12 record this past season, falling in the quarterfinals of the New Jersey Group III playoffs. Buczak, whose size often created matchup problems for opponents, was the team's leading scorer and rebounder. A talented athlete for his height, Buczak is also one of Moorestown's top tennis players.
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