Title hopes rest on consistency

Proof of the athletic department's recent outfitting deal with Nike, the men's basketball team arrived at preseason media day on Monday modeling fresh new white home jerseys. But as the Tigers discussed their approach to the upcoming season, it sounded like more than just their uniforms had been stamped with the swoosh logo.

For head coach Joe Scott '87 and his players, the motto for this season might as well be "Just Do It" — just play basketball, just run the offense, just make shots. With seven of the eight Tigers who played the most minutes last season returning to the team, Scott feels that basketball should be among the simplest aspects of his players' Princeton experience.

"We just have to do what we do," Scott said. "Guys who have played some minutes and know what's expected of them, they just have to do the things that they can do and do those things consistently."

As Scott emphasized the need for consistency, the names that kept coming up were those of his three top forwards: senior Luke Owings, junior Noah Savage and junior Kyle Koncz. The three are projected starters and the most prolific long-range shooters on the team. They will be relied upon heavily to fill the scoring void left behind by Scott Greenman '06, last year's leader in points per game and a unanimous first-team All-Ivy pick.

"If Luke Owings can be consistent, if Noah Savage can be consistent, if Kyle Koncz can be consistent, it helps you weather those times when [the younger guys] are struggling a little bit if the older guys are holding it together," Scott said.

Indeed, while Scott incorporates a talented crop of freshmen into his system, the success of the veteran forwards will largely determine whether or not Princeton — pegged for another second-place finish in the Ivy League preseason media poll — can thwart Penn's plans for a third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.

As the Tigers swing the ball around the perimeter in the Princeton offense this year, Owings, Savage or Koncz are the ones most likely to stop and be rerouted towards the basket.

Considering that the three combined to shoot 38 percent from beyond the arc last year, this would appear to be a solid — but not spectacular — offensive outlook.

Cumulative percentages, however, do not do justice to the superb shooting skills that each player possesses. Nor do they capture the sometimes maddening inconsistency that plagued the trio last season.

Owings put together five games of 16 points or more and five games with three points or less. Savage hit 17 three-pointers in his first five games of the season, and then just 17 more over his next 11. Koncz broke out for career-highs of 20 and 23 points in two wins over Harvard but managed just 12 total points in the five games in between.

It may seem like such fluctuating scoring outputs would be a natural product of the Princeton offense, which has a patient philosophy based on taking what the defense gives them. But ask the Tigers, and they insist that they have no such excuse.

"It's on me," Savage said. "Some games you might only get two or three shots, that's going to be the way we play sometimes. But last year, there was no shortage of attempts. It was just a matter of Kyle being hot and me not being hot, or me being hot and him not being hot. You can't blame the system. Something we're going to work on is — instead of being feast and famine like we were last year — hopefully being feast and feast."

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If Savage and his fellow sharpshooters can provide the main course, the play of Princeton's final two projected starters will be even more of a treat.

Senior forward and team captain Justin Conway will look to build on one of the most surprising individual campaigns in Princeton sports history, having gone from walk-on to All-Ivy honorable mention pick last year.

Though no longer a mystery to the rest of Division I basketball, Conway will still be a wild card for the Tigers, as Scott tests him out at both forward spots in addition to the center position he occupied last year. It remains to be seen how much a season of experience will do for his already-impressive averages of 4.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game, each of which led the team in 2005-6.

"He's got to be good at what he did last year and get better at it this year," Scott said. "He's aggressive; he's strong; he's a competitor; he's tough; he's a good basketball player. It'd be nice to see him shoot the ball a little better, and we'll see if that happens."

Conway will be joined in the starting lineup by Greenman's replacement, freshman point guard Marcus Schroeder. Schroeder spent the past four years running a version of the Princeton offense at De La Salle High in Concord, Calif., and Scott is confident that the Tigers can thrive under his direction.

"He's going to run the team," Scott said. "Will that be the way Scotty Greenman did it? No. He's a different player; he's a totally different kid. He's a big, strong, six-foot, two-inch kid. What I like about him is he doesn't play like a freshman; he doesn't look like a freshman; he doesn't get tired like freshmen do."

Not that Princeton will be pressed for options should Schroeder require a breather. Senior guard Edwin Buffmire is a versatile sixth man capable of bringing the ball up the court when he's not busy subbing for one of the Tiger forwards.

Junior guards Kevin Steuerer and Matt Sargeant are also experienced backcourt options. Steuerer showed a penchant for the pretty backdoor pass when pressed into starting duty last year, and Sargeant looked good in nine starts as a freshman before a groin injury derailed his sophomore campaign. Along with Buffmire, they'll try to ensure that, no matter the personnel, Princeton's offense won't miss a beat.

"We're a much better offensive team," Scott said. "We move the ball better; we know our offense better; we run it much better."

In other words, the Tigers have the hard part covered. The logo on their jerseys will remind them where to go from there.