Princeton Stirs Enthusiastic Reaction

UCLA is no longer part of the Southeast Regional bracket, but the Bruins’ 43-41 defeat at the hands of Princeton on Thursday night was a major topic of discussion during Friday’s news conferences for the four surviving teams in Indianapolis.

“The win last night was a fitting tribute to [Princeton] Coach [Pete] Carril and to what he means to basketball,” said Jim Calhoun, coach of the top-seeded Connecticut Huskies, who play No. 9 Eastern Michigan in a second-round game at the RCA Dome.

“I think it’s a win for college basketball. I do think the way they play the game is a throwback. It’s wonderful to see five kids play as a unit and do some wonderful things.”

No. 5 Mississippi State, 13th-seeded Princeton’s second-round foe, seemed properly chastened by the UCLA result.

“They do so many great things on offense, and they have a great match-up zone on defense,” Bulldog Coach Richard Williams said. “I think it’s a match-up zone. I had trouble figuring it out myself last night. It is very difficult to prepare for Princeton in one day, because we just don’t see a lot of teams like that in our league.”

Said Mississippi State forward Dontae Jones, “I can’t help wanting [Princeton] to get a win for their coach, but I prefer [playing] UCLA over Princeton any day.”

And the response by Carril, the master himself?

“Oh, we always hear that,” Carril said. “If we’re so tough, why doesn’t everybody play like us?”

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UCLA could fill its assistant coach vacancy--probably with current Oregon State assistant and former Bruin guard Michael Holton--by this weekend. Lorenzo Romar is leaving Jim Harrick’s staff and will take over the Pepperdine program starting Monday. . . . Harrick said he wanted to put forward J.R. Henderson back in the game late in the second half, but Henderson, who looked wobbly in the early going after recovering from strep throat, said he wasn’t ready. “I mentioned it to him,” Harrick said Friday. “He said, ‘I’m really cold and stiff,’ so I didn’t put him in.”

The Bruins hope to land two recruits but must wait for the players to qualify academically. One player who orally committed last year as a junior, 6-foot-5 point guard Olujimi Mann of Santa Ana Valley, probably won’t end up at UCLA. Harrick said that he is hoping at least one player--probably Fontana wingman Corey Benjamin--can qualify, but Harrick said the qualifying process for their potential recruits might last past the mid-April recruiting period.