TigerFan
PhD Student
Posts: 1885
Reg: 11-21-04
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03-22-16 08:36 PM - Post#205206
With rumors flying that both Tommy Amaker and James Jones are being courted for "bigger" coaching jobs, and the word about Mason entering the NBA draft (yes I know he plans to come back to school next season), I'm feeling a strong sense of deja vu.
In 2000, Princeton was on a roll having appeared in five straight post season tournaments-three NCAAS (winning two games), and two NITS (where it also won two games). The Tigers won 114 games in the prior five years, taking down a bunch of power conference teams along the way--Texas (twice), N.C. State (twice), Florida State, Wake Forest, Georgetown, Rutgers (four times) and, of course UCLA. They also beat a veritable alphabet soup of teams just a small notch below—UAB, UNCC (Charlotte), UTEP, TCU and UNLV.
What happened next? Head coach Bill Carmody left for Northwestern, Joe Scott (a great assistant coach and highly successful head coach at Air Force who ultimately proved to be a disaster as a head coach at Princeton) left, super center Chris Young signed a major league baseball contract, nullifying his basketball eligibility, and Spencer (the impossible dream) Gloger transferred to UCLA.
In short, the wheels came off. Princeton snuck into the NCAA tournament again in 2001 but did so as a 15th seed. An era of brilliant basketball was over.
I'm not wishing a similar series of events befall Harvard and Yale (well maybe just a little), but I am wondering if there are some changes ahead that could turn the Ivy League outlook on its head. For example, if Amaker does take a job at, say, Stanford, would some of his brilliant recruiting class follow him?
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PennFan10
Postdoc
Posts: 3584
Reg: 02-15-15
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03-22-16 11:52 PM - Post#205222
In response to TigerFan
I think there is virtually no chance Amaker goes to Stanford. That doesn't mean one of the other jobs won't go for him but he isn't going to Stanford.
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mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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03-23-16 07:58 AM - Post#205226
In response to PennFan10
Yeah, I've seen this floated a lot about Amaker, and it's simply not true. Just wishful thinking. I do think Jones could leave for the right job, but I don't know that there will be many where there will be mutual interest.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2691
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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03-23-16 09:06 AM - Post#205228
In response to mrjames
From a distance:
Coach Jones' stock is hopefully as high as it is ever going to foreseeably be.
Coach Amaker's is hopefully as low as it is going to be for at least the next 4 years.
If Coach Jones is a seller, the timing is right.
Coach Amaker should continue to monitor the retirement plans of Coach K.
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JadwinGeorge
Senior
Posts: 357
Age: 75
Reg: 12-04-15
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Re: Amaker and Jones
03-23-16 09:08 AM - Post#205229
In response to TigerFan
With respect, the wheels hardly "came off." Scott left prior to Carmody, probably because he had no clue that Carmody would succumb to Bienen's overtures. Chris Young's ineligibility had something to do with it, I am sure. JTlll got the job, almost by default, and won two titles before taking his father's "throne," which is what he always wanted. Hard to predict that Scott would turn out to be a disaster, but he did.
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TigerFan
PhD Student
Posts: 1885
Reg: 11-21-04
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03-23-16 09:21 AM - Post#205231
In response to JadwinGeorge
I was perhaps a little unfair with my word choice there. My point is that when those dominoes all fell, the Tigers descended from national prominence and a level of play comparable or superior to today's leading Ivies back down to the caliber of Ivies we saw in the mid-80s.
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