The recruits:
PF Pawel Buczak – 6-8 – Moorestown HS (Moorestown, NJ)
Buczak plans to join the program as an unrecruited player, and the high school tennis standout likely is headed for the junior varsity.
F/C Zach Finley – 6-9 – St. Thomas More HS (Rapid City, SD)
Finley’s high school team went undefeated in South Dakota’s middle classification, winning the Class A state title. He has excellent hands, good speed and athleticism, a well-developed Division I body, and passes very well for a big man. Consequently, Finley has been hailed as a savior of sorts for Princeton basketball — the latest in a long line of “point centers” in the program. However, he’ll need to work on his outside shot to be a truly effective center for Joe Scott.
SG Lincoln Gunn – 6-4 – De la Salle HS (Concord, CA)
Gunn’s De la Salle team was ranked fifth in the nation by USA Today and captured the CIAA state championship with a 33-1 record. Gunn has good size for a guard, to go along with a nice shot, solid passing skills, and great court instincts. Da la Salle runs a system and plays with a philosophy very similar to Scott’s, so the transition to the college game may be less difficult than for most players.
G/F Chris Petrie – 6-5, 180 lbs – The Hun School (Gettysburg, PA)
The nephew of Princeton legend Geoff Petrie was an early commitment for the Tigers. Scott undoubtedly will be hoping Petrie possesses some of his uncle’s genetics and soaked up some of the Princeton philosophy along the way. The scouting report on Petrie says he can pass, dribble, and shoot.
G Marcus Schroeder – 6-3 – De la Salle HS (Concord, CA)
A teammate of Gunn’s at De la Salle, Schroeder played the point in high school and while he’s a combo guard, there are certainly floor general skills there. In the CIAA championship game, Schroeder displayed an ability to confidently penetrate and find open teammates and showed off a nice shot. Most importantly, he is a tough, tenacious defender, which is a great way to curry favor with his college coach. Schroeder was a somewhat late addition to the class, getting in through regular admissions.
SG Blake Wilson – 6-4 – Haddonfield Memorial HS (Haddonfield, NJ)
Wilson originally was reported to have committed to Penn early last summer, but with the Quakers targeting Darren Smith at the same position, the shooting guard will attend Princeton instead, where he appears to be a better fit. A teammate of Duke-bound Brian Zoubek, Wilson’s Haddonfield team went 31-2, reaching the New Jersey Final Four. He is regarded as a strong shooter with good length, and while he needs to add some muscle for the Division I game, he should fare well at Princeton in the long run.
The fit:
This is a fascinating class for Joe Scott. The national recruiting “experts” don’t think much of the class, because Scott doesn’t go after the national recruits on the AAU circuit, but rather targets kids who he feels have the skills and mental makeup to play for him at Princeton. And judging from his comments in an interview with Jon Solomon of Princeton Basketball News, Scott feels that he loaded up his kind of players this year. In the interview, he stressed that these were recruits who possess a) a pedigree of playing for good coaches; b) an understanding of the game; and c) the flexibility to play multiple positions.
They’ll join a program coming off one of the most bizarre seasons in recent memory and with a gaping hole at point guard. Someone will have to assume the impossible task of succeeding Scott Greenman, who played a monumental role in the amazing turnaround after the exam break last season. Edwin Buffmire may get the first crack, but don’t be surprised if Schroeder isn’t in the mix at the point. He already looked like a Princeton point guard as a high school senior, and could see some serious minutes right away next season.
Gunn also appears to be deserving of playing time as a freshman, but he’s going to be competing with established talent on the wing, with Noah Savage, Luke Owings, Kyle Koncz, and Alex Okafor all returning. It will be interesting to see if Gunn jumps ahead of any of the upperclassmen in the rotation.
Perhaps the most intriguing question is what Scott does about the center position. Justin Conway was a revelation last year, playing a role second only in importance to that of Greenman in salvaging the season. The coaching staff clearly loves what the JV call-up brings to the program, and it may be difficult for them to push aside Conway for Finley. But all this winter’s hype of Finley almost certainly originated with that same coaching staff, so it’s pretty obvious they’re high on the big man. The senior Conway probably will get the chance to keep his starting job early on, but expect to see Finley in there plenty, assuming he develops his three-point shot.
The various national recruiting services aren’t going to rate this class very high, but they’re using very different criteria than Joe Scott. With Finley, Gunn, and Schroeder all projected to start by their sophomore seasons and possible fourth future starter in Wilson also in the group, this appears to be a quality haul for the Princeton program.
