Behind Enemy Lines: Princeton women's basketball coach Courtney Banghart

Princeton clinched its fourth consecutive Ivy League title at Jadwin this past weekend. The Tigers have had a strong run during coach Banghart's tenure and will head to the NCAA Tournament once again, trying to pick up their first postseason victory in Banghart's time with the Tigers. I spoke with Banghart about where she saw her team heading into the tournament and the upcoming Penn-Princeton season finale.

Daily Pennsylvanian: Your team clinched the Ivy League bid over the last weekend. What can you say about your senior class now having won the last four Ivy League titles and now preparing for their fourth NCAA Tournament?

Courtney Banghart: It’s hard to put into words. We always say here that within greatness lies consistency and I give them all the credit in the world for how they’ve remained consistent over a four-year period. Especially with that Saturday night in the Ivy League as the great equalizer, you play through midterms and play through all of that, it is remarkable. It is remarkably rare and it is really hard to do, so all of the credit to the kids.

DP: A lot of brackets have you projected right around the 8-9 matchup in the first round of the NCAA Tournament similar to last season. What can you say about where you think your team ends up and about possible first-round matchups?

CB: What I would say about the bracketology is that I went to one of those mock committee meetings a couple of years ago to learn more about it and what I would say about the bracketology this time of year is what happens when a hurricane comes in or a blizzard comes in. It turns everyone into a weatherman and everyone has their idea of when work should be cancelled, when roads should be closed, but really there are only those who are educated to make those decisions or just those who are making the decisions.

So I feel the same way with the brackets this time of year. Conference tournaments have really just begun and it is really hard to tell. We know that wherever we end up, we will face a good team.

DP: Now you are facing a Penn team that is still fighting for their postseason lives. What does this game mean to you not only with it against Penn but also trying to bolster your own resume heading into the final week of the season?

CB: Why we are glad that it is Penn that we are playing last is a lot of reasons. Part of it is that they are a team that plays really hard on both ends. And they are a team that we think is among the second-best teams in the league and a team we know we have to play well on both ends to beat. Of course, the second reason is that we have a lot of respect for their staff and what they’re doing. We were in their shoes only a few years ago so it is nice to play a team on the rise. And the third piece is that the Palestra is a great venue.

Wherever we play in the NCAA Tournament, it will likely be another great venue, so it is kind of the perfect team to prepare you for the next step. It is a road game with a great venue and staff we have a lot of respect for and a team on the rise like all NCAA Tournament teams are, and you also get a team that play well on both ends, so we just think it is a great matchup for us heading into the tournament.

DP: When we talked in January, we talked about how Penn was improving and then in Ivy League play, they displayed a lot of that and picked up nine wins. How is the Penn team you see now different from the one you saw two months ago?

CB: I think what makes Penn so good and how you could tell they were getting better quickly over the past few years in Mike [McLaughlin’s] tenure was that they are the second-best team defensively in our league. They play really hard and play really well together and are disciplined. They know their scout, they know their game plan and they have each other’s backs. They guard better players every day than they did a few years ago. They are getting better on a daily basis. And you throw it in that offensively they have a good system and a variety of attack points, plus they have good players and more players than they had in the past who can create their own shot so they are not as easy to shut down.

As I said, we’ve been in their shoes and year by year, they are just going to build a little bit better. I think they are absolutely going in the right direction and they are doing it the right way.