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PRINCETON WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM IS PERFECT IN MANY WAYS
LA Daily News
March 19 2015
Courtney Banghart began coaching Princeton's women's basketball team
in 2007. She noticed a lot of other Princeton teams were winning. So
when someone on campus took an Ivy League title, Banghart got her
players to send congratulatory notes.
A winning contagion, she hoped, would kick in.
Since then, the Tigers have won five of six Ivy League championships.
This season, the notes and the interviews and the commemoration
came from everywhere. Princeton is 30-0 in a very good year to be
30-0 because, for two months Kentucky's men have been identified as
"one of two" teams sporting the magic 0. Thanks to Stanford's upset
of Connecticut, Geno Auriema does not coach that other undefeated team.
Banghart does.
The difference is Kentucky is supposed to win the NCAA tournament.
Princeton is not. The Tigers are seeded No. 8 in their region. If they
beat Green Bay, they play top-seeded Maryland, at Maryland. Still,
it is the highest seed ever for an Ivy League team.
"A lot of people talk about the pressure involved," said Annie
Tarakchian, who went east from Chaminade College Prep in West Hills,
just as Michelle Miller did from Pasadena Poly. "But we've embraced
being undefeated. To us, pressure is a privilege."
The pressure disappears when you exercise the privilege of beating
everyone else into vapor. Princeton got those 30 wins by an average
margin of nearly 25 points. Their rebound margin was more than 10 a
game, and their opponents shot just 24.7 percent from the 3-point line.
There are five juniors on this team. Miller was the diamond of that
recruiting class. She scored more points during her California high
school career than anybody except Cheryl Miller, and she posted a 5.0
GPA, and she was a league champion freestyle swimmer and second-team
all-state in volleyball.
"But I'd been involved in basketball since the fourth grade," Miller
said. "I liked the other sports, and it really helped me to have some
new challenges, and to take a break from basketball."
Miller also said she's learned to "be more of a leader" at Princeton,
where Banghart, a 3-point artist herself at Dartmouth, never lets a
team-building opportunity slip away. Four players, including Miller,
had committed in 2012 and were on campus when Tarakchian visited. When
Tarakchian took her recruiting visit, Banghart got the four together
and said, "Sign her."
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Banghart was already enchanted by Tarakchian's instincts. At 6 feet,
she knew where the rebounds would fall, and she passed and cut and
shot. Banghart saw Larry Bird in all of that.
"I just didn't know when we'd have a chance to recruit somebody with
that type of understanding," she said.
Tarakchian did sign, but it took a while for her holistic game to
settle down.
"I had to go through an identity crisis," she said. "I was having
trouble matching up with people on the court, but then I began to
realize that I can be a problem for them, too."
Tarakchian now averages 10.1 points and 9.2 rebounds and shoots 48.5
percent from long range, and is also second on the Tigers in assists.
It goes back to an episode late last season, when Banghart could
no longer tolerate Tarakchian's unwillingness to shoot. Instead,
Tarakchian would get the ball, put it over her head and look for
a cutter.
Banghart finally said, "If you do that again, I don't want you on
the bus." Since hitch-hiking can be a frigid proposition in the Ivy
League, Tarakchian scored on her next three possessions.
Since it's Princeton, all these players will become seniors, and
their stories are all over the lot.
Miller is on a pre-med track. Alex Wheatley is majoring in ecology and
evolutionary biology. Blake Dietrick, the leading scorer, also plays
lacrosse. Freshman Leslie Robinson is the daughter of ex-Oregon State
coach Craig Robinson, which means she's also Michelle Obama's niece.
Tarakchian is the daughter of immigrants from Armenia, and speaks
Armenian and Russian. Her dad Arshak brought the whole family over,
including his grandmother, Pati. Annie was enthralled with the stories
she told and the life she lived, and began volunteering at senior
centers. She hopes to pursue a career in gerontology when this is over.
"It's an incredible place," Banghart said. "The key is to be present
-- to give everything to basketball when it's time, and then give
everything to academics and the other things when it's time to
do that."
The Tigers are hoping to extend time to its limit, but to call it a
"pursuit of perfection" is to invite disappointment.
What Princeton has done, so far, is perfect the pursuit.
http://www.dailynews.com/events/20150319/princeton-womens-basketball-team-is-perfect-in-many-ways
LA Daily News
March 19 2015
Courtney Banghart began coaching Princeton's women's basketball team
in 2007. She noticed a lot of other Princeton teams were winning. So
when someone on campus took an Ivy League title, Banghart got her
players to send congratulatory notes.
A winning contagion, she hoped, would kick in.
Since then, the Tigers have won five of six Ivy League championships.
This season, the notes and the interviews and the commemoration
came from everywhere. Princeton is 30-0 in a very good year to be
30-0 because, for two months Kentucky's men have been identified as
"one of two" teams sporting the magic 0. Thanks to Stanford's upset
of Connecticut, Geno Auriema does not coach that other undefeated team.
Banghart does.
The difference is Kentucky is supposed to win the NCAA tournament.
Princeton is not. The Tigers are seeded No. 8 in their region. If they
beat Green Bay, they play top-seeded Maryland, at Maryland. Still,
it is the highest seed ever for an Ivy League team.
"A lot of people talk about the pressure involved," said Annie
Tarakchian, who went east from Chaminade College Prep in West Hills,
just as Michelle Miller did from Pasadena Poly. "But we've embraced
being undefeated. To us, pressure is a privilege."
The pressure disappears when you exercise the privilege of beating
everyone else into vapor. Princeton got those 30 wins by an average
margin of nearly 25 points. Their rebound margin was more than 10 a
game, and their opponents shot just 24.7 percent from the 3-point line.
There are five juniors on this team. Miller was the diamond of that
recruiting class. She scored more points during her California high
school career than anybody except Cheryl Miller, and she posted a 5.0
GPA, and she was a league champion freestyle swimmer and second-team
all-state in volleyball.
"But I'd been involved in basketball since the fourth grade," Miller
said. "I liked the other sports, and it really helped me to have some
new challenges, and to take a break from basketball."
Miller also said she's learned to "be more of a leader" at Princeton,
where Banghart, a 3-point artist herself at Dartmouth, never lets a
team-building opportunity slip away. Four players, including Miller,
had committed in 2012 and were on campus when Tarakchian visited. When
Tarakchian took her recruiting visit, Banghart got the four together
and said, "Sign her."
Advertisement
Banghart was already enchanted by Tarakchian's instincts. At 6 feet,
she knew where the rebounds would fall, and she passed and cut and
shot. Banghart saw Larry Bird in all of that.
"I just didn't know when we'd have a chance to recruit somebody with
that type of understanding," she said.
Tarakchian did sign, but it took a while for her holistic game to
settle down.
"I had to go through an identity crisis," she said. "I was having
trouble matching up with people on the court, but then I began to
realize that I can be a problem for them, too."
Tarakchian now averages 10.1 points and 9.2 rebounds and shoots 48.5
percent from long range, and is also second on the Tigers in assists.
It goes back to an episode late last season, when Banghart could
no longer tolerate Tarakchian's unwillingness to shoot. Instead,
Tarakchian would get the ball, put it over her head and look for
a cutter.
Banghart finally said, "If you do that again, I don't want you on
the bus." Since hitch-hiking can be a frigid proposition in the Ivy
League, Tarakchian scored on her next three possessions.
Since it's Princeton, all these players will become seniors, and
their stories are all over the lot.
Miller is on a pre-med track. Alex Wheatley is majoring in ecology and
evolutionary biology. Blake Dietrick, the leading scorer, also plays
lacrosse. Freshman Leslie Robinson is the daughter of ex-Oregon State
coach Craig Robinson, which means she's also Michelle Obama's niece.
Tarakchian is the daughter of immigrants from Armenia, and speaks
Armenian and Russian. Her dad Arshak brought the whole family over,
including his grandmother, Pati. Annie was enthralled with the stories
she told and the life she lived, and began volunteering at senior
centers. She hopes to pursue a career in gerontology when this is over.
"It's an incredible place," Banghart said. "The key is to be present
-- to give everything to basketball when it's time, and then give
everything to academics and the other things when it's time to
do that."
The Tigers are hoping to extend time to its limit, but to call it a
"pursuit of perfection" is to invite disappointment.
What Princeton has done, so far, is perfect the pursuit.
http://www.dailynews.com/events/20150319/princeton-womens-basketball-team-is-perfect-in-many-ways