Princeton Tigers
Overall Rank: #44
Conference Rank: #1 Ivy
Princeton has been to the NCAA Tournament eight times in the last ten years. That trend should continue this season. However, the Tigers will have to do it with a new coach. Courtney Banghart left after a dozen very successful seasons at Princeton and took the head coaching job at North Carolina. The Tigers brought in Carla Berube, who spent the last 17 seasons as the coach of Tufts University. Regardless of who is on the sidelines, this is a Princeton team that has more than enough talent to return to the NCAA Tournament.
2018-19 Record: 22-10, 12-2
2018-19 Postseason: NCAA
Coach: Carla Berube
Coach Record: 0-0 at Princeton, 384-96 overall
Key Departed Players (starters in bold)
Gabrielle Rush, Guard, 12.8 ppg
Sydney Jordan, Guard/Forward, 7.0 ppg
Key Returning Players (starters in bold)
Bella Alarie, Senior, Guard/Forward, 22.8 ppg
Carlie Littlefield, Junior, Guard, 13.4 ppg
Grace Stone, Sophomore, Guard, 4.2 ppg
Julia Cunningham, Sophomore, Guard, 4.9 ppg
Taylor Baur, Senior, Forward, 4.9 ppg
Lexi Weger, Sophomore, Guard/Forward, 3.5 ppg
Sydney Boyer, Junior, Forward, 3.4 ppg
Neenah Young, Sophomore, Guard/Forward, 3.2 ppg
McKenna Haire, Junior, Guard, 2.3 ppg
Kira Emsbo, Sophomore, Forward, 1.8 ppg
Maggie Connolly, Sophomore, Guard, 1.3 ppg
Abby Meyers, Sophomore, Guard, DNP last season
Key New Players
Maya McArthur, Freshman, Forward
Ellie Mitchell, Freshman, Forward
Maddie Plank, Freshman, Guard/Forward
Nicole Young, Freshman, Guard
Projection:
The star of the team is senior Bella Alarie. Last season the 6-4 wing averaged 22.8 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.8 blocks. Alarie can do it all and will likely be a very high selection in the 2020 WNBA Draft. Carlie Littlefield will be the leader on the perimeter. The junior guard averaged 13.4 points and 2.9 assists last season and is ready to take on an even bigger role in 2019-2020. The strange thing with this group is that there are not a ton of upperclassmen on the roster. Taylor Baur, Sydney Boyer and McKenna Haire are juniors and seniors as well, but the Tigers will have to rely quite heavily on a large group of talented sophomores. Grace Stone was the most impactful of the bunch as a freshman. She is not much of a scorer, but Stone started 29 games last year and proved to be a quality ball handler and defender. Julia Cunningham can add an outside shooting threat to the roster and the Tigers will be very happy to see the return of Abby Meyers. As a freshman two years ago, Meyers averaged 9.4 points and connected on 40 three-pointers before missing last season. With some talented freshman like Maddie Plank and Ellie Mitchell, Princeton has a lot of young talent that will lead to a very bright future. And with Alarie leading the way, there is a lot of experienced talent that can take Princeton back to the top of the Ivy League this season.
Projected Postseason Tournament: NCAA
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 70.9 (74th in nation, 1st in conference)
Scoring Defense: 63.7 (153, 5)
Field-Goal Percentage: 41.9 (102, 1)
Field-Goal Defense: 39.4 (137, 5)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 6.8 (95, 4)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 32.4 (126, 2)
Free-Throw Percentage: 78.0 (6, 1)
Rebound Margin: 2.2 (119, 4)
Assists Per Game: 15.4 (58, 2)
Turnovers Per Game: 14.0 (77, 2)
Madness 2020 WNBA Draft Rankings:
#6 Bella Alarie
Madness 2019 Women’s Basketball Recruit Rankings:
#47 Maddie Plank
#114 Eleanor Mitchell
