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Princeton blows out Pacific, proves they will contend with Harvard in the Ivy League

TJ Bray

In Ivy League basketball circles, which soon expanded to national basketball circles at the conclusion of the 2013 NCAA Tournament, all of the talk during the summer months revolved around Harvard. Rightfully so, to an extent. The Crimson returned virtually their entire team, along with welcoming back Kyle Casey and Brandyn Curry. They were the prohibitive favorites to win the Ivy League with no other school figuring to seriously challenge them.

However, let’s pause the love-fest for what Tommy Amaker has going on in Cambridge for just a moment, and take a look at Mitch Henderson and the Princeton Tigers.

Picked to finish in the middle-of-the-pack by many of the experts after graduating last year’s Player of the Year in Ian Hummer, Princeton has looked anything but that projection. After a 70-67 loss to Butler in the second game of the season, the Tigers haven’t lost. In the process, they have knocked off two of the Patriot League’s top teams (Lafayette and Bucknell), George Mason, and consecutive BCS teams in Rutgers and Penn State. Tonight, they ran Pacific out of the gym in Las Vegas.

No one will argue that Princeton has played the toughest of schedules, but to be sitting at 9-1 at this juncture of the season sends a clear message to the rest of the Ivy League that Harvard isn’t the only legitimate team. Look no further than tonight against Pacific, who came into the game with an 8-1 record and fresh off a double-digit win at Utah State. Princeton toyed with them tonight, beating them 83-58. Up next is another tough test against Portland tomorrow night, who also hails from the West Coast Conference.

The offense that Mitch Henderson has implemented is something one would find on basketball instructional videos. 6-foot-5 point guard T.J. Bray is one of the best at his position you’ve never heard of, while forwards Denton Koon and Hans Brase play as well on the perimeter as they do inside.

Harvard is still the most talented and, for now, the top team in the Ivy League, but let’s not crown them champs just yet. It’s a long-shot that the league would receive two bids to the NCAA Tournament -- years ago it would be foolish to even drum up such a notion -- but tonight’s result keeps the possibility alive.

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