1979–80 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team

The 1979–80 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team represented Princeton University in intercollegiate college basketball during the 1979–80 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The head coach was Pete Carril and the team captain was John W. Rogers, Jr.^[2] The team played its home games in the Jadwin Gymnasium on the University campus in Princeton, New Jersey. The team was the co-champion of the Ivy League, but lost a one-game playoff and failed to earn an invitation to either the 1980 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament or the 1980 National Invitation Tournament.^[3]

1979–80 Princeton Tigers men's basketball
Ivy League Co-Champion
Ivy League one-game playoff, Lost
Conference	Ivy League
Record	15–15 (11–4, 1st-t Ivy)
Head coach	Pete Carril
Captain	John W. Rogers, Jr.
Home arena	Jadwin Gymnasium
Seasons ← 1978–79 1980–81 →

1979–80 Ivy League men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Penn	11	–	3		.786			17	–	12		.586
Princeton	11	–	3		.786			15	–	15		.500
Brown	9	–	5		.643			12	–	14		.462
Yale	8	–	6		.571			16	–	10		.615
Harvard	6	–	8		.429			11	–	15		.423
Columbia	5	–	9		.357			10	–	16		.385
Dartmouth	3	–	11		.214			6	–	20		.231
Cornell	3	–	11		.214			5	–	19		.208
Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The team played a schedule that included eventual national champion Louisville, other members of the 48-team NCAA tournament field such as #3 seed St. John's, #4 seed Duke and #8 Villanova as well as the Big Ten Conference's Michigan State and the Big East Conference's Seton Hall.^[2][4] The team recovered from a slow start in which it lost its first five and eleven of its first thirteen games to post a 15–15 overall record and an 11–4 conference record.^[2] After splitting the regular season series one win apiece on home game victories and finishing tied with identical 11–3 conference records, Princeton and Penn Penn faced each other in a March 4, 1980, one-game Ivy League playoff game. Princeton lost the game which was held at the Kirby Sports Center at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, by a 50–49 margin, thus giving Penn the Ivy League Championship and an invitation to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. Princeton would avenge this loss the following year when the two teams finished tied for the conference regular season title again.^[2][3][5] The team was led by first team All-Ivy League selection Randy Melville.^[6]

References

1. sports-reference.com 1979-80 Ivy Group Season Summary
2. "Men's Basketball Record Book • All-Time Results". GoPrincetonTigers.com. Princeton Athletic Communications. June 12, 2009. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
3. 2009–10 Ivy League Basketball Media Guide. p. 30. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
4. "1980 Men's College Basketball Bracket". CBS Sports. Retrieved October 4, 2010.
5. Princeton Athletic Communications (June 22, 2009). "Men's Basketball Record Book • Men's Basketball in the Postseason". GoPrincetonTigers.com. Princeton University. Retrieved September 30, 2010.
6. 2009–10 Ivy League Basketball Media Guide. p. 36. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)