“I feel like I would have been throwing something away that I didn’t want to throw away,” forward Caden Pierce told the Daily Princetonian in November when asked about the possibility of transferring after the 2023–24 season.
Fast forward to July, and Pierce joins former standout guard Xaivian Lee and former assistant coach Brett MacConnell as marquee departures from the Tiger squad.
The former Ivy League Player of the Year in the 2023–24 season and second-team All-Ivy this past year announced on Instagram he will be sitting out his senior season to retain his final year of eligibility.
In the post, Pierce attributed significant change to Princeton’s team and the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) landscape in the NCAA as reasons to not play his final year. Top athletes in major sports, including basketball, now command hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars on the open market.
“Whether that [change] is teammates and coaches that I came in with leaving, or the broader landscape of college basketball evolving, all of these factors have led me to sit out my senior year of basketball at Princeton,” Pierce wrote.
Pierce expressed gratitude to the team and the Princeton community in his announcement.
“I am forever grateful to Coach Henderson, my teammates, and the broader Princeton Men’s Basketball community for the opportunity they provided me these past three years.”
Pierce’s comments indirectly referenced his close friend and fellow star Xaivian Lee’s transfer to Florida in April and to the decision of Head Coach Mitch Henderson ’98 to move on from former Associate Head Coach Brett MacConnell. Both departures shook up Princeton Basketball this offseason after the Tigers’ heartbreaking loss to top-seeded Yale in the Ivy League Tournament.
Lee and Pierce took the Ivy League by storm in their sophomore seasons, each averaging over 16.5 points per game. The two were the frontrunners for the Player of the Year Award, which was given to Pierce in the end.
In this past season, the pair led the team again in scoring and demonstrated themselves as seasoned leaders despite the team’s struggles. Lee’s departure is a clear loss of an integral part of Pierce’s Tiger career.
Recently hired by Stanford, MacConnell was the driving force behind Pierce’s recruitment and other previous Princeton stars as the team’s lead recruiter. The team’s choice to not extend MacConnell, well-respected and liked by players, adds more uncertainty to the upcoming season.
Henderson declined to comment on Pierce’s announcement and the upcoming season.
By retaining his final year of eligibility, Pierce now possesses the opportunity to play a year of basketball as a grad transfer at a different school. Under NCAA eligibility rules, student-athletes have five years to complete four full years of sports.
In the brief past since NIL was introduced, players at top academic programs like Princeton have had to weigh the value of a degree from their original school with the large sums available at larger programs with huge bases of alumni donors. The University has maintained the position that the value of a Princeton education outweighs the temporary NIL opportunities at other schools.
Pierce, by sitting out, tries a new strategy aimed at securing both benefits, and possibly the third gain of completing a graduate degree.
ESPN reports that Pierce intends to enter the transfer portal as soon as possible in the fall.
“It takes away the speed-dating process of the postseason transfer portal,” Pierce told ESPN. “It’s going to be more of a high school recruiting process, I’d like to think. Because I won’t be involved with the team, I can take some visits here and there, move at a slower pace, it won’t have to be so rushed."
Pierce’s numbers dipped last year as he struggled with a hurt ankle — an injury he told ESPN he could have sat out more and recovered for last season. Despite the down season, Pierce still remains a former Ivy League Player of the Year with a unique skillset that is sure to attract top schools.
He will get the chance to give teams a preview this summer as a part of Team USA’s U23 3x3 team. After that, however, Pierce will spend several months away from competitive basketball.
Without Pierce, the Tigers will not have a single senior on the roster this season, as transfers from Lee to Florida and forward Jack Scott to Duke left Pierce as the last man standing. The Tigers will need the crop of juniors and sophomores to step up to fill the absence of leadership and production.
Davis is the only returning player who played over 20 minutes a game last season. The Chicago native has demonstrated flashes of brilliance, putting up 17 points per game in the first five games of last season, but his minutes and production were inconsistent late in the season.
“Everyday I’m doing my best to grow as a person and a leader,” junior guard Dalen Davis wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “Obviously with the departure of any player from our team, but especially three seniors, it requires everybody else to step up and mature a lot faster, which I believe we will be ready for.”
Forwards Jacob Huggins and Jackson Hicke round out the junior class. The two have been solid rotation players and will now inherit the bulk of the responsibilities on the wing and in the frontcourt for the Tigers.
The sophomore class, led by forwards Malik Abdullahi and CJ Happy and guard Jack Stanton, showed promise throughout the season in individual spurts, yet none played more than 15 minutes a game. With holes open on the roster, the three underclassmen will be thrust in the fire from the start of the season.
Pierce’s decision to forgo his senior season of basketball for the Tigers closes the door on the legacy of the 2023 Sweet Sixteen and begins a new period of uncertainty for a program accustomed to finishing in the top of the Ivy League and vying for NCAA Tournament appearance.
While Yale brought back everyone excluding seniors and Penn hired former Iowa Head Coach Fran McCaffery in addition to bringing in new transfers, Princeton has headed in the opposite direction. The Tigers will enter the season as a hefty underdog to win the Ivy League title.
"It was inevitable that at some point we would see the departure of those three guys. While it’s earlier than expected, we still have a bunch of guys who are here for the next few years and eager to get started,” Davis wrote.
Harrison Blank is a head Sports editor for the ‘Prince’.
Please send any corrections to corrections@dailyprincetonian.com.
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