Princeton is legit and always is. The NET argument is flat out absurd.It would never be a bad loss in the eyes of a Committee. To say that there is a no 111 attached to them in a vacuum is flat out wrong. I know plenty of committee members and there is a human factor as well. Does anyone seriously prefer Coppin State or Rider? People laughed at my touting of Tosan. He is a pro and Pierce is the best frosh in the metro area. And no,I am a Rutgers fan first and then a Yale fan because I rep one of their coaches.Yale was the best team in the Ivy this year. Please play the game. It matters to plenty of us alums and isn't about some crazy wine and cheese label. FDU is the Cinderella. Princeton is a legit Elite 8 threat.And our Brett Maconnell will be a head coach in 2 weeks.
A Cinderella and another who isn't
- Thread starter RU72
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Not sure why Princeton would schedule us to be honest. No benefit to them. Hopefully we can convince them
Congrats Richard. Nice call on Princeton. They played a heck of a game. Very nice win.
We should definitely play Princeton. Time to upgrade the schedule.
Princeton would schedule Rutgers because it would be a great game every year. Many of the most memorable games in Rutgers basketball history occurred with Princeton.
Glad we have you here, but you don’t seem to understand what is considered a schedule upgrade or a bad loss. Princeton would be a bad loss and would not be seen as a good win in most circumstances. One Sweet 16 run doesn’t change that.
Brett will be a solid hire.
Brett will be a solid hire.
Didn't you already acknowledge we're not playing them as long as Pike is here?
Regardless, hopefully we're upgrading the schedule...
Princetons NET is 111?
Yeah why in the world would RU schedule them? Literally no benefit.
Yeah why in the world would RU schedule them? Literally no benefit.
Nope not remotely a Cinderella. Arizona is better than them and would beat them 8 out of 10 times. There is no universe in which Missouri is better than them either playing as a team or coaching. Tosan,Pierce and Langborg would start for Missouri. Little doubt about that. I think that if they played 10 times Princeton would win 7 or so. What didn't surprise me was the rebounding differential of I believe 14 as Princeton is one of the toughest teams I have seen in a very long time.And no,I don't think Steve will ever play them.
If they were that good through the regular season, they wouldn't have been given a 15 seed. Last two times in the tourney, they got a better seed.
I get that you're high on Princeton, and they're playing very well in a rare year for them. But don't oversell it.
There have only been four 15-seeds in the sweet 16 in tournament history. They're pretty much the definition of a Cinderella story.
7 out of 10 vs Missouri, when they only won 71% of their games in the Ivy League? They lost to both Dartmouth and Delaware this year.
Because there is more to the season than NET! The aversion to risk on this board is ridiculous.
Of course this needed a new thread. It couldn't have continued the discussion in the other one because the OP started a new/different topic here.
Just checked and no injuries of note either. Their top 6 scorers have played all 31 games.
And even if they did have injuries, at this point in the season you are who your resume says you are.
They’re not a 4 seed masquerading as a 15. They’re a 14 seed (committee shafted them by a seed) who’s going on an exciting run.
False.
We just missed out on the NCAA tournament because regardless of the quality wins we had, we had to many Q3 losses.
Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 is determined by the opposing teams NET.
It’s not an aversion to risk. It is simply stupid to schedule Princeton.
Which I hope continues. They are great story this year, and there will be countless "clock struck midnight" metaphors when (if?) they eventually lose.
People here have short memories. The basketball rivalry with Princeton slowly declined over a period of a couple of decades. Fan interest waned along with it. Princeton's style of play was a big part of the reason - it simply wasn't fun to watch. Crowds at Jadwin dwindled and the place was like a morgue.
RU gains nothing by playing Princeton. The only reason this is being debated here now is because the Tigers are enjoying a nice run in the NCAAs. It's been years since people here expressed much interest in Princeton basketball.
RU gains nothing by playing Princeton. The only reason this is being debated here now is because the Tigers are enjoying a nice run in the NCAAs. It's been years since people here expressed much interest in Princeton basketball.
Princeton was closer to 135 to 140 on NET before playing Arizona and Missouri.
Is that because no one wants to play them?? Perhaps
But it doesn't help the schedule and just caters to those who want to see Princeton. They've made the tournament memorable and Mifch Henderson deserves credit for building a good program.
I don't see Power 5 teams lining up to play Princeton after these 1st 2 rounds
Is that because no one wants to play them?? Perhaps
But it doesn't help the schedule and just caters to those who want to see Princeton. They've made the tournament memorable and Mifch Henderson deserves credit for building a good program.
I don't see Power 5 teams lining up to play Princeton after these 1st 2 rounds
I’d rather attend a Rutgers vs Princeton game than a game against Merrimack or Coppin State for sure
Because of the risk of losing. Drop some meaningless game, pick up Princeton.
Does anyone remember how many Princeton fans were going to the Rac the last few years we played them
Answer not many if any....people forget the rivalry is long dead
Answer not many if any....people forget the rivalry is long dead
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You don't drop them for Princeton - you drop Temple or UMass-Lowell for Princeton. There will always be 4-5 teams rated 250 or lower on the schedule, and that's not Princeton.
100% wrong. I have been advocating the game since 2017. It is moot obviously, because Steve won't play it ever. It is the only game at the RAC except Seton Hall, which would generate 3 days of true buzz. It was posted here that no one is lining up to play Princeton. No one and our one traditional rival are not consonant. Of course a Clemson could care less about playing them. But Indiana,Maryland,Duke and a host of Power 5 teams have and will play them because they are always good and a true test. Yale is at Kansas,Gonzaga and most likely Michigan State this season and Yale will be the Ivy favorite. Princeton will open with a KenPom and NET in the high 70's or low 80's in October.Mitch is not Pete and plays a high octane offense with a healthy dose of back cuts. Play it 2-1 at the RAC and enjoy a December 8 or so game instead of watching a non-sensical 83-51 thrashing of Podunk U.
Prior to the tournament, Princeton's best wins were #64 Yale (who they went 1-2 against) and #132 Cornell (who they beat twice). They had two Q4 losses (279 Dartmouth and 225 Delaware) and three Q3 losses (86 Hofstra, 173 Navy, and 183 Brown).
They really don't care to play a "tournament caliber" schedule because they are in a one-bid league and won't ever be picked as an at-large. The toughest OOC game they scheduled this year was 58 Iona (loss). Last year, it was 57 VCU (also a loss). They didn't play the prior year due to Covid, but before that their toughest OOC game was 54 Arizona State (another loss).
Seton Hall was considered a bad loss this year and they were a bubble team in February
As far as "traditional rival" - they're a "traditional rival" in football, too, but we'll never play them again on the football field. I think "traditional rival" is trending more toward "historic rival" or "past rival" at this point, like Lafayette/Lehigh.
The Rutgers of the 60s-70s was in a different competitive landscape than today. We were an independent and would regularly play Princeton, Bucknell, Colgate, Fordham, Lehigh, Columbia, Delaware, Gettysburg, etc... There were no such things as computer rankings of teams that impacted tournament selection, it was all subjective. There weren't mega-media-rights deals where every game had video broadcast somewhere on cable or the internet, with multi-million dollar coaching salaries hinging on getting selected for the tournament and achieving tournament success, and NIL rights deals altering the landscape.
Unfortunately, college basketball has largely moved to a point where sentiment doesn't factor into scheduling decisions. Maryland abandoned the ACC, and USC and UCLA are abandoning west coast "traditional rivals" - it's about $$$ more than tradition. Right now, scheduling Princeton would be 100% based on sentiment - and even then, sentiment from a shrinking portion of the aging fanbase - and doesn't materially help Rutgers achieve its goals. If there were a big donor movement to make the game happen, there might be more of a chance simply because money talks.
The Rutgers of the 60s-70s was in a different competitive landscape than today. We were an independent and would regularly play Princeton, Bucknell, Colgate, Fordham, Lehigh, Columbia, Delaware, Gettysburg, etc... There were no such things as computer rankings of teams that impacted tournament selection, it was all subjective. There weren't mega-media-rights deals where every game had video broadcast somewhere on cable or the internet, with multi-million dollar coaching salaries hinging on getting selected for the tournament and achieving tournament success, and NIL rights deals altering the landscape.
Unfortunately, college basketball has largely moved to a point where sentiment doesn't factor into scheduling decisions. Maryland abandoned the ACC, and USC and UCLA are abandoning west coast "traditional rivals" - it's about $$$ more than tradition. Right now, scheduling Princeton would be 100% based on sentiment - and even then, sentiment from a shrinking portion of the aging fanbase - and doesn't materially help Rutgers achieve its goals. If there were a big donor movement to make the game happen, there might be more of a chance simply because money talks.
If we’re just casually throwing out there that a 15 seed would beat any at-large team 70% of the time, we just aren’t living in anything resembling reality.
72 , you have some type of " penis envy ' for the Ivy League. You won't see any power school feeling the need to play them. And you're conveniently forgetting the years we were criticized for playing them when there's nothing to gain. Only Ivy League wannabes who live in the past advocate that. Seton Hall or any other regional major program won't even entertain playing them.
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The selection committee has made it clear in their words and actions that NET is just one piece in the puzzle. RU is a textbook example - by NET alone we shouldn’t have gotten in last year and should have gotten in this year.
Given that we are always going to schedule some Q3s and Q4s, PU being a Q3 should be a non-factor in any scheduling decision.
Given that we are always going to schedule some Q3s and Q4s, PU being a Q3 should be a non-factor in any scheduling decision.
Princeton is as much of a 15 as I am. They were homerically underseeded. I assume that you watched the game? Princeton is more talented at 3 positions. Maybe more. Tosan was the best player on the floor and they out rebounded Missouri 40-26! You can't think that Gates is a better coach than Mitch. It was in essence an 8-9 type game.
NET is far less important than many opine. Steve told me in February that it is only one of 14 factors and he is accurate. People continually underestimate out of conference schedule which the committee segregates out from overall strength of schedule.
Could Princeton have been a 14? Maybe, sure. The point still stands. 9 seeds are at large locks. Princeton was rightfully not even in the same universe as the bubble.
It’s not a rivalry anymore …and I know your perspective going back to the early 70s
The game stopped mattering when we went to the big East in the middle 90s and seton hall became our New Jersey rivalry
That’s closing in on 30 years ago
And I believe we won 13 out of the last 15
Without a ncaa team
They are just another team
Maybe play them once in the RAC . That’s all. Nothing more
The game stopped mattering when we went to the big East in the middle 90s and seton hall became our New Jersey rivalry
That’s closing in on 30 years ago
And I believe we won 13 out of the last 15
Without a ncaa team
They are just another team
Maybe play them once in the RAC . That’s all. Nothing more