Princeton University women's basketball coach Courtney Banghart talks to her team during a game against LaSalle in Princeton, N.J., January 4, 2011. PRINCETON BOROUGH — The 1998 Harvard squad is the only Ivy League women’s basketball team to win a game in the NCAA Tournament.
Princeton University women’s basketball coach Courtney Banghart believes that can change tomorrow afternoon when the 12th-seeeded Tigers take on No. 5 seed Georgetown in the Eastern Regionals at the University of Maryland.
“I don’t know if they’re aware of that,“ Banghart said of the league’s history in the tournament. “But they don’t see themselves as another Ivy team. They see themselves as the 2010-2011 Princeton Tigers. And I love that.”
She loves a lot about this team, which went 13-1 in the league and lost its best player to a knee injury in December. After a loss in mid-December at St. Joseph’s, Princeton went on to win 16 of 17 and is on a 10-game winning streak.
Princeton extended the Ivy League’s one-and-done streak last year, being the 12th straight Ivy team to fail to win even one game in the tournament.
But with a team that wins by a margin of 20 points per game, is fifth nationally in scoring defense and 22nd in assists per game (16), this group has enough numbers to make history.
“This team has enormous fight,“ Banghart said. “It doesn’t matter to them what name is on the jersey, whether it’s Rutgers, a league opponent or Georgetown. They just don’t care. It’s a chance to compete so I love that. It’s always a constant, and these guys are gonna defend.
“These guys will block out and they’ll rebound the glass hard, and they share the ball really well on offense. It’s about the most unselfish group I could ever surround myself with. Which,“ she added with a quick smile, “sometimes is good, sometimes not so good.”
She knows her team is going to have to take open shots in this game, because Georgetown’s up-close-and-personal defense will not yield many good looks.
“They’re gonna be three-quarters, full-court on defense, trapping, playing crazy, kamikaze defense. They want a messy game,“ Banghart said, “and we’re going to negate that pressure with skill, which I think we have.
“So as long as we’re poised it should be a good kind of match-up, because they’re such a different style. And it’s always fun to see who can do their thing better."
Banghart feels that having played in the tournament once before can also be a benefit. No stage fright. No wide-eyes at all the media.
“No matter what program you come from, the NCAA tournament that first time is a dream. It’s a totally different ball game. It’s the pinnacle of college athletics, I think. You’ve been watching this event your whole life and now you’re part of it. That takes a little while to digest,“ she said. “And they sort of digested that last year.
“This team sees this as another chance to play another opponent. We went 6-3 against post-season teams this year. We’ve played good people, so yeah, there’s no doubt in Tiger Town. If we do what we do better than what they do what they do, we’ll win. And I don’t think anyone will be surprised.“
Would she be surprised if they went on to set Ivy League history by knocking off host Maryland on Tuesday and thereby advancing to the Sweet Sixteen?
“Oh, no, not at all. And I’m not just saying that. I think every coach would hopefully have enough faith in their team that they’re saying, ‘Hey, this is a team that can win.’
“I am always such a brag on these kids,“ she added. “It’s been published that perhaps this is one of the best Ivy League teams in history, perhaps the best team in Ivy League history.”
Princeton has played through injuries all season, not the least being the loss of sophomore Niveen Rasheed, who was putting up 16 points and 10 rebounds before she went out for the start of the league season.
The rest of them simply went out and busted the Ivy stereotype by playing blue collar basketball. It is their work ethic that has allowed Banghart, “The time of my life.
“These are true student-athletes,“ she said. “They inspire me, every single day, and that’s awesome. We were handed some tough cards with injuries, and I think expectations dropped a little bit on the outside. But we don’t care about the outside. We care about between the lines, and between the lines we know what we can do.”