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Top 25 teams at Jadwin the past 35 years.

Since Saturday night's victory over Harvard I've received multiple inquiries that were variations on the same question:

"Between beating Notre Dame in 1977 and last weekend, how many Top 25 teams did Princeton actually play at Jadwin Gym?"

While schools like BYU (81-82), Penn (93-94) and Xavier (00-01) were all ranked either before or after specific visits to Mercer County, these appear to be the only then-ranked teams that have played the Tigers on their home floor in the past 35 years.

The most common misconception when I was doing my research is that Loyola Marymount was highly regarded when they came across the country to close the 1990-91 season. In fact the Lions had a 16-14 overall record. Which reminds me, I need to scan some shots from that game next...

Full list after the jump. Add your memories from any and all in the comments!

January 3, 1977 vs. #2 (AP) Notre Dame - 76-62 W
December 3, 1977 vs. #16 (AP) St. John's - 43-40 L
January 8, 1980 vs. #17 (AP) St. John's - 44-42 L
December 22, 1996 vs. #12 (AP) North Carolina - 69-60 L
December 12, 2001 vs. #4 (AP) Kansas - 78-62 L
February 13, 2010 vs. #22 (Coaches) Cornell - 48-45 L
February 11, 2012 vs. #25 (AP) / #21 (Coaches) Harvard - 71-62 W

Coco said,

February 13, 2012 @ 3:47 pm

It is pretty amazing that given the relative status of Princeton basketball through the years, that in the past 35 years only seven ranked teams have come into Jadwin prior to Saturday. Eliminate the two regular league opponents-- Penn and Cornell-- and that leaves an average of one ranked opponent every seven years.

I know most of the excuses offered: Princeton pays too little, Princeton is too tough to prepare for, beating Princeton does little for your stature while losing hurts, etc.

Maybe it's time for the Alumni Throw Down, where a group of well heeled alumni offer a tantalizing pay day for any ranked team Not Afraid of entering Jadwin. My hat is still off to Kansas for daring to visit Princeton (and the Palestra not long thereafter). The Carolina visit was a home&home deal, partly instigated by the university's 250th.

So...Class of 2019, once you've been admitted, are you ready for some basketball?

Scott Elliott said,

February 13, 2012 @ 4:16 pm

Boy, this reminds me what a nemesis St. Johns was back in the day. The Tigers seemed to always lose close ones to them, both home and away. The Carneseca- coached St. Johns teams were really tough.

I'm surprised Rutgers, who was playing Princeton every year while they were nationally-good in the late 70s, isn't on this list. We must have been at their place the years they were ranked high. Or maybe their run of success was spent after 77.

I am surprised there were almost no ranked teams that came in during the 80s. But it's a good reminder of how the Ivy had really slipped to being viewed as a backwater, not the kind of place a powerhouse program would go to play on the road, before Princeton and Penn put the league back on the national map in the late 80s/early 90s.

I'm also surprised not to see the Carlisemo Seton Hall teams of the late 80s here. I think Princeton was playing them home-and-home in that period. But maybe 1988-89 was a road game.

Jon Solomon said,

February 13, 2012 @ 4:29 pm

Scott,

Rutgers has been ranked in the AP poll in just four seasons: 74-75, 75-76, 76-77 and 78-79.

http://www.collegepollarchive.com/mbasketball/ap/teams/by_season.cfm?seasonid=1979&teamid=153

There are a few horrific Princeton schedules in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

For example, in 86-87 there was one DI opponent at Jadwin between the season opener versus F&M on 11/29 and 1/30 (not that different from what the Tigers suffered through this year). In 90-91 the first home true game was in January versus Yale and in 92-93 there was a lone game against Loyola (Md.) at Princeton prior to conference play!

Oof.

Jon

Jon Solomon said,

February 13, 2012 @ 5:20 pm

I should add that while I was able to get AP data going back to '77, Coaches Poll data is harder to find and I was only able to cross-reference specific teams like 2010 Cornell and 1995 Penn.

Stuart Schulman said,

February 13, 2012 @ 5:35 pm

Jon--

I'm doing this from memory, so caveat emptor. But I am pretty sure that the Coaches poll dates back to right about 1980 when ESPN and USA Today came to be. Also right around 1980, the AP poll changed from a Top 20 to a Top 25. So there could have been some teams that would have been ranked 21-25 that came to town without being nationally ranked, when under current procedures they would have been.

Jon Solomon said,

February 13, 2012 @ 5:39 pm

Apparently, prior to ESPN/USA Today/CNN it was the UPI poll.

The historical data I found doesn't include "others receiving votes" information until polls of a very recent vintage but that's a good point about Top 20 versus Top 25.

Jon

Scott Elliott said,

February 13, 2012 @ 6:07 pm

I sort of thought maybe Rutgers' run of success had mostly petered out by 77. I bet PU played them on the road in 77 and 79 when they were ranked and at home in 78 when they were not ranked. I just remember those Rutgers games were always packed and hotly contested in the late 70s.

In the 80s almost all of Princeton's big national wins were in the NCAAs, it seems. Then the G'Town game changed everything in 89. That made playing Princeton cool in the 90s.

Jon Solomon said,

February 13, 2012 @ 6:36 pm

You're right!

Lost at Rutgers the week before they were ranked in the Top 20 in 74-75.

Lost at Jadwin to the Scarlet Knights when they were #5 the next season.

RU was out of the polls by the time Princeton went up there in 76-77.

Beat'm at home in 77-78. Rutgers was not ranked that year.

Again the Scarlet Knights had dropped from the Top 20 before Princeton went there in 78-79. They returned to the Top 20 in the final poll of that season #18).

An actual Top 25 win I had forgotten about: Consolation game victory over #16 South Carolina at the Cotton States Classic in late 1988. I thought Georgia (who beat Princeton the night before) was the ranked team in that tournament.

Phew.

Jon

Mark Disler said,

February 13, 2012 @ 10:11 pm

If you make this a 40 season reach back...December, 1971: Princeton defeats #2 North Carolina with Bob McAdoo, in Jadwin. The scene of Roger Gordon's 45 foot buzzer beater to end the game. I think those Taylor led teams may have beaten Penn top 25 team, and I think Villanova was top 25 when he led us to a win at a jammed Jadwin.

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