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Princeton men, women cap 20-win, runner-up seasons

The Princeton University men's basketball team will return all its starters and top reserves, graduating only one player.

PRINCETON -- They both won more than 20 games. Both finished second in the Ivy League, each losing twice by the slimmest of margins. Both played in the post-season, and both came very close to advancing.

Though the similarities were many, the returning rosters are dramatically different.

The Princeton University men's basketball team will return all its starters and top reserves, graduating only one player. In addition, the Tigers welcome the return of senior-to-be Hans Brase, a starter who missed this season with a knee injury.

Conversely, the Princeton women's team loses four of its starters and a top reserve.

The five seniors did more than just win a lot of games, they were also a part of the Ivy League's winningest team ever (31-1 last year), were on two league championship teams, last year won the program's first-ever NCAA tournament game, and this year became the Ivy League's first at-large team selected to the NCAA tournament.

The men's season ended last week in the National Invitation Tournament with an overtime loss to Virginia Tech. Princeton had a two-point lead and possession with under a minute left in regulation before committing a turnover.

The women led for most of the first half in Friday's NCAA Tournament opener and trailed by a point at halftime. They led by one point with four minutes left in the third quarter, and trailed by five points with a minute left in the game. They wound up losing to West Virginia by nine.

Women's coach Courtney Banghart didn't waste time complimenting her team in the press conference immediately following the game.

"Hopefully people got a chance to see for their own eyes what Princeton basketball is all about: A bunch of winners, a bunch of fighters, a bunch of dreamers, a bunch of teammates, and a bunch of warriors.''

"Those things, over a four-year period - they just stretched the limits of what the Ivy League's perceived limits were. That's really special. It's hard to create history,'' Banghart said, "in a league that has so much tradition. And the fact they did so in such convincing fashion year after year, it's just really special to be part of that.''

The senior class began to make an impact as freshmen, and alongside players like Blake Dietrick, Niveen Rasheed, Kristen Helmstetter and Meg Bowen strung together a record of 97-23.

They finished 23-6 this year, losing twice to Ivy champ Penn, NCAA entrants Ohio State and Seton Hall and to NIT selection Dayton.

"Every year is different,'' Banghart said, "and when leadership changes and roles change you never know how long it will take to adjust or how they're going to fill them. But in true fashion they found their way.

"A lot of people will miss the seniors terribly, but a good program reloads and doesn't rebuild, and we're looking forward to the reload. We'll have to have a really good offseason and the young guys will have to be ready to contribute early in their careers. But I like what I have in the locker room.''

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Princeton Virginia Tech Basketball
Steven Cook (25) of Princeton drives past Zach LeDay (32) of Virginia Tech in the first half of an NIT opening round NCAA college basketball game in Blacksburg Va., Wednesday, March 16 2016. (Matt Gentry/The Roanoke Times via AP) 

So does men's coach Mitch Henderson.

With a five-year record of 96-53 at his alma mater, Henderson's teams have never finished below third place in the league.

The 22-7 record this season included a 12-point win over Ivy champ Yale, and five of the losses came to NCAA tournament teams Stoney Brook, St. Joseph's, Maryland, Miami and Yale (by 4 points). The other loss was by two points at Harvard.

With a starting lineup of four juniors and a sophomore, like Banghart, Henderson was not at all surprised by the way they competed.

"You never know exactly what a season is going to be like, but they were focused on the things that make you successful over the course of a season. For the most part we stayed with it,'' he said, "which is testament to the approach and what they did over summer and their mind set coming in.

"The next step now is the next ten percent, the biggest leap for us; and we've got to make that leap now. Experience doesn't mean you can't grow,'' he added, "and I think if anything is important to this group it's that they're eager to grow, stay humble and keep pushing.''

The way the season ended, with a pass out-of-bounds that ultimately contributed to the game going into overtime, isn't what defined this team.

"Now that I've had a few days, there were so many great moments,'' Henderson said. "But the season overall (did not end) where we wanted to be. The turnover was costly, but I think there were a lot of moments in that game where we put ourselves in a position to win.

"There's more to this team than just the record. They're hungry and they want to be good. Those are the keys to me, having a team on the cusp of being very good.

"I think the standard is right where it needs to be; challenging for the league title. We were a missed basket here, a missed rebound there and a tip-in away from a title, and that's where we need to be.''

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