SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Beginning with the Ivy League men’s basketball tournament last week, Princeton seniors Tosan Evbuomwan, Ryan Langborg and Keeshawn Kellman knew that each time they took the court, it could be their last game for the Tigers.
On its face, there’s nothing unique about that dynamic. That’s how college sports work. But for this trio of starters, their four-year college careers have been anything but normal.
As freshmen in 2019-20, their season was cut short because of COVID-19 just before the Ivy League tournament was set to begin, taking away the chance to play their way to the NCAA tournament. In 2020-21, the Ivy League canceled the entire winter sports season. Last season, they were upset as the top seed by Yale in the Ivy League championship game.
Altogether, it put a lot on this season, because despite having NCAA eligibility remaining, the Ivy League hasn’t budged from its position to limit its athletes a four-year window to compete. It’s something that Princeton, as an institution, also believes in, according to coach Mitch Henderson.
“We have [two] other seniors that have eligibility. Each one of these guys has an extra year,” Henderson said. “It doesn’t change anything for us. We’re very much about the four-year process.
“Princeton, we’re about the growth of the student-athlete over the four-year process. I hope that’s not saying we’re a stick in the mud. It’s very much who we are. We expect them after senior year to be able to kind of go out and make pretty serious contributions in their communities.”
However, it’s still tempting to think about what this team could look like with another year together — or what this team would have looked like had the players with NCAA eligibility remaining last season returned. Three of its five leading scorers last season — Jaelin Llewellyn (Michigan), Ethan Wright (Colorado) and Drew Friberg (Belmont) — all transferred, along with a fourth in Max Johns, who landed at Duke.
It’s possible they all could have left on their own volition, but the decision wasn’t theirs to make. The truncated time at Princeton made last year’s championship game even more painful.
“We could barely watch the [NCAA] tournament,” Henderson said.
Perhaps it makes this run even more special. The Tigers are just the second Ivy League team to advance to the…
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