Some good basketball has blossomed in the "Garden State."
New Jersey college basketball has been a recurring theme over the last four years of the NCAA Tournament. Whether it's Rutgers' recent revitalization, Saint Peter's making a run in 2022 or Fairleigh Dickinson knocking off Purdue in 2023, there's been no shortage of Jersey guys causing madness for the rest of the country.
This year, 15th-seeded Princeton has been one of the darlings of the tournament, taking their Cinderfella run all the way to the Sweet 16, where they have a date with the Creighton Bluejays on Friday night.
But, this isn't the first time the Ivy League stalwart has made some noise in March — it's just been a while since the Tigers have had any kind of success, and it's been over 40 years since the team made it this far. The tournament also looked a lot different back then.
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Here's what to know about the Tigers, and their March Madness results in previous tries:
Where is Princeton?
Princeton is located deep in the heart of the "Garden State," resting in the eponymous Princeton, N.J., about an hour southeast of New York. Princeton is also roughly a half hour southeast of New Brunswick, N.J., which is where Rutgers University is located.
The school was founded as The College of New Jersey in the early 1700s in Elizabeth, N.J., but moved to Princeton in 1756, and changed its name to Princeton University in 1896.
Princeton is a member of the Ivy League, along with Harvard, Penn, Yale, Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia and Brown.
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Princeton basketball in the NCAA Tournament
While the Tigers have never cut down the nets at the end of March Madness, they've had their fair share of success in the tournament over the years.
Princeton has appeared in the NCAA tournament a total of 25 times, though they haven't reached the Final Four since 1965 — well before the tournament field was expanded to 64 in 1985.
Here's a list of the Tigers' tourney appearances, and the finishes of that tournament:
| Year | Finish |
|---|---|
| 1952 | Sweet 16 (16 teams) |
| 1955 | Sweet 16 |
| 1960 | First round |
| 1961 | Sweet 16 |
| 1963 | First round |
| 1964 | Sweet 16 |
| 1965 | Final Four |
| 1967 | Sweet 16 |
| 1969 | First round |
| 1977 | First round |
| 1981 | First round |
| 1983 | Round of 32 |
| 1984 | First round |
| 1989 | First round |
| 1990 | First round |
| 1991 | First round |
| 1992 | First round |
| 1996 | Round of 32 |
| 1997 | First round |
| 1998 | Round of 32 |
| 2001 | First round |
| 2004 | First round |
| 2011 | First round |
| 2017 | First round |
| 2023 | In progress |
