No shortage of surprises for Scott, Tigers

After a traumatic first two seasons in Old Nassau, Princeton basketball coach Joe Scottfinally seemed to get his program moving in the right direction. By the end of last year, his Tigers were 10-4 in the Ivy League after a horrific start.

Now, as basketball teams around the nation begin practicing, it looks like the personnel woes that have beset the Tigers could continue.

Gone from Princeton's official varsity roster are sophomores Geoff Kestler and Alex Okafor, along with senior Patrick Ekeruo.

Junior Harrison Schaen, who took a year off from school following his freshman season but came back to play last year, also apparently decided not to return to the team after quitting in the spring.

Of the now-missing players, Ekeruo was the most productive last season, averaging 3.7 points and 2.0 rebounds in 17.2 minutes at the forward position.

Kestler played in 10 games, starting nine, and averaged 18 minutes and 2.6 points. Schaen and Okafor each averaged about 12 minutes last year.

If no further changes are made, the departures will likely put more pressure on bench players Edwin Buffmire and Mike Strittmatter, along with several freshmen who, Scott has said in interviews, are expected to contribute.

That may or may not include freshman Nick Lake, a new addition to the Tigers roster who was almost a complete unknown until now. Lake, a 6-foot-5, 190-pound guard out of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., was not an official recruit of Scott's. It is not clear whether or not his addition is related to the apparent departures of the other players.

Missing out

Fans looking for Harvard to make a resurgence on the hardwood should brace for a setback around midseason.

Two-time All-Ivy center Brian Cusworth, a 7-foot big man who started 20 games last season, is now in his final semester of eligibility and will not stay with the team into the second semester. (Cusworth is in his fifth year after taking a semester of his sophomore season off due to injury.)

With him, the Crimson will lose a presence in the paint that accounted for 13.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per game on a team that ranked second in the Ivies in rebounding margin last year.

Harvard's frontcourt was expected to be thin this year after the loss of All-Ivy selection Matt Stehle, a 6-8 forward who placed third in the league in scoring last year.

Cusworth will miss the final 12 games of this year, all of which are Ivy matchups - including both of the Crimson's games against Penn.

Playing for next year

Penn isn't the only school that's been shoring up its Class of 2011.

Yale picked up a point guard in the 6-0 Porter Braswell, who hails from New Jersey and was considering Penn, among others. Elis coach Joe Jones also got Raffi Mantilla, a 6-3 two-guard out of Illinois, announced the same week.

Dartmouth picked up big man Clive Weeden out of Northfield, Mass., while T.J. Carey of Oyster Bay, N.Y., chose Harvard over interest from other Ivies.

Princeton, meanwhile, got swingman Jason Liberman of Roslyn Heights, N.Y., and point guard Jeff Peterson of DeMatha Catholic, whose teammates will play for schools such as Georgetown, George Mason and Clemson.

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