The 1963–64 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team represented

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in intercollegiate

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

during the 1963–64 NCAA University Division men's basketball season.

Butch van Breda Kolff Willem Hendrik "Butch" (sometimes "Bill") van Breda Kolff (October 28, 1922August 22, 2007) was an American basketball player and coach. He played four seasons for the New York Knicks before becoming a head coach at Lafayette. Ultimately, he co ...

served as

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

and the team

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was William Howard. The team played its home games in the Dillon Gymnasium in

Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...

. The team was the champion of the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

, earning an invitation to the 25-team 1964 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The team posted a 20–9 overall record and a 12–2 conference record. The team won its NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament East region first round contest against the

VMI Keydets The VMI Keydets are the athletic teams that represent the Virginia Military Institute. All sports participate in the NCAA Division I, and all but three compete in the Southern Conference (the exceptions being men's and women's swimming and diving ...

by an 86–60 margin at The Palestra on March 9, 1963, before losing in the second round at the

Reynolds Coliseum William Neal Reynolds Coliseum is a multi-purpose arena located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, on the campus of North Carolina State University. The arena was built to host a variety of events, including agricultural expositions and N ...

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, North Carolina, to the

Connecticut Huskies The UConn Huskies (or Connecticut Huskies) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Connecticut, with its main campus located in Storrs, Connecticut. The school is a member of the NCAA's Division I and the Big Eas ...

52–50 on March 13. Then, the next night at the Coliseum in the consolation game, they lost to the 74–62.

Bill Bradley William Warren Bradley (born July 28, 1943) is an American politician and former professional basketball player. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was a United States Senate, United States senator from New ...

, who for the second of three consecutive seasons led the conference in

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with a 33.1 points per game average in conference games, was a first team All-Ivy League selection. In addition, Bradley was a consensus first team 1964 NCAA Men's Basketball All-American selection by numerous panels: First team (

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National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the men's basketball head coach for the Univ ...

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, ''

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'', Converse, NEA,

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). Bradley also won a gold medal at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

. Bradley joined Arthur Loeb (1921–22 and 1922–23) and Cyril Haas (1915–16 and 1916–17) as the school's only two-time

All-Americans The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

would repeat as a consensus first-team selection and become the school's only three-time men's basketball All-American selection the following year. Bradley established the current Ivy League single-season scoring records of 936 points and 32.3 points per game overall and 464 and 33.1 average in conference games, surpassing Chet Forte's 1957 totals. Bradley also repeated as the conference leader in rebounding with a 13.0 average and led the conference in

field goal percentage Field goal percentage in basketball is the ratio of field goals made to field goals attempted. Its abbreviation is FG%. Although three-point field goal percentage is often calculated separately, three-point field goals are included in the gene ...

with a 52.5%.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1963-64 Princeton Tigers Men's Basketball Team Princeton Tigers men's basketball seasons

Princeton Tigers The Princeton Tigers are the athletic teams of Princeton University. The school sponsors 35 varsity teams in 20 sports. The school has won several NCAA national championships, including one in men's fencing, three in women's lacrosse, six in me ...

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...