Men's Basketball: Davis, Mavraides to lead Princeton

It has been seven full seasons since the men’s basketball team won its last Ivy League title. But this year could change that, as preseason predictions expect the Tigers to wrest back control of the Ancient Eight.

It has been a long journey for a team that won just six games only three seasons ago, but under head coach Sydney Johnson ’97, the Tigers have steadily won more and more each year since, culminating in last year’s 22-9 overall record and Final Four finish in the College Basketball Invitational postseason tournament. This year’s senior class will be the first one to have spent its entire collegiate career with Johnson, as he enters his fourth season coaching the team.

“We don’t feel like we’ve come full circle yet, until we win that Ivy League championship,” senior guard and tri-captain Dan Mavraides said. “It won’t be full circle until we complete that goal.”

Princeton returns the top five scorers on a team that finished second in the Ivy League and led the entire nation in scoring defense last year. However, the Tigers will have to replace the all-around influence of the team’s two best big men, centers Pawel Buczak ’10 and Zach Finley ’10. Sophomores Brendan Connolly and Mack Darrow are expected to try to fill the void left by Buczak’s and Finley’s graduations.

Replacing team co-captain and starting guard Marcus Schroeder ’10 will be another task entirely. Last season, Schroeder led the team in assists and was the primary ball handler, running the Princeton offense.

“We lost a lot of leadership, experience and seniority,” Mavraides explained. “But in terms of offensive production, we are returning our top five [scorers], and that’s comforting.”

In filling Schroeder’s absence, Mavraides will team with junior Doug Davis to form a strong pair that last year averaged more than 24 points per game between the two of them. Both have received preseason accolades, being named second team All-Ivy League in various publications. Mavraides and Davis will take over the guard positions that will likely form the offensive focal points of the squad.

The two guards will run the Tigers’ scoring through the tried-and-true Princeton Offense, which primarily features continuous backdoor cuts to the hoop. The style requires patience and a deliberate use of the entire 35-second shot clock, and leads to low-scoring games with relatively few possessions. This year, though, the Tigers expect to add a quick-score element to their offense by emphasizing scoring in transition.

“We’re looking to push the ball in the offense more than in previous years,” Mavraides said. “The Princeton Offense is our bread and butter, but we are trying to get some more easier buckets throughout the game.”

Experience will be key for the Tigers’ frontcourt, which features senior forward Kareem Maddox and junior forward Patrick Saunders, the other two tri-captains. Saunders is the rare big man with a quality shot, and Maddox’s athletic ability led to several highlight-reel dunks last season.

Sophomore Ian Hummer will also rotate among the forwards, after the three each averaged more than five points per game and played about equal minutes last year. The trio are prepared to increase their workload throughout the year.

Mavraides said the team’s primary goals are winning the Ivy League and going to the NCAA tournament, both of which appear eminently achievable after last year’s second-place Ancient Eight finish. He added that the squad would like to go undefeated at home after finishing last season 10-3 under the rafters of Jadwin Gymnasium.

Several media outlets chose Princeton as the preseason pick for the Ivy League title, including Athlon Sports, rivals.com, and a poll of Ivy League media representatives. The Ivy League’s reputation is higher than it has been recently, largely due to Cornell’s run to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament last year and former Harvard guard Jeremy Lin’s play for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. However, the graduation of Cornell’s three best players and the introduction of four new coaches to other teams in the league leave a wide-open spot at the top that the Tigers will try to take for their own. Harvard, Penn, and Cornell, the three-time defending champion, are expected to be the other top contenders in the league.

As in past years, Princeton will play the other Ancient Eight teams twice, once home and once away. The thick of the Ivy League schedule occurs in February, when the Tigers twice play Cornell and also host Penn and Harvard. Princeton will also participate in two in-season tournaments, the O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic and the University of Central Florida Holiday Classic.

The season begins Friday when Rutgers comes to Jadwin Gymnasium, continuing the long-held series between the two Route 1 rivals. The game garnering the most excitement now, though, is Sunday’s away matchup against No. 1 Duke, the defending national champion. Princeton will be Duke’s season-opener, and the game will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.

“It’s one of the toughest places to play,” Mavraides said of Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C. “It’s a great experience and we are all looking forward to it.”