By Alex Wolff '79
EVERYONE agrees that Tiger basketball coach Pete Carril has the game down to a science. His winning formula requires a handful of feisty ballplayers and, as a catalyst, an occasional bona-fide talent. Taking the acceptable reagents who manage to pass West College quality control each year, he mixes well and heats with vocal exhortation. The product of his laboratory legerdemain always seems to violate the Law of Conservation of Matter: more comes out than is put in.
But this season, Carril has a lot of unmarked vials: a supply of seniors who have gathered more splinters than rebounds over the past two years, a freshman and three sophomores who are getting their first exposure to major college play, and only three players with much varsity game experience. As a result, the irascible alchemist, Don Pedro, is improvising, substituting, even platooning. More than ever before, he is teaching. He is not yanking players in fits of pique when they make mistakes; he is merely going through his fits of pique.
January 15, 1979
Don Pedro's Alchemy
Controversial play against Rutgers
This serendipity prompted Carril to call time out. Though normally averse to the zone -- "Playing man-to-man is when you prove you are one" -- he nonetheless told his players to stay in it. For the remainder of the game, Don Pedro made delicate adjustments to keep his team in equilibrium: when things began to get out of control. he mixed in a bit of a more stable element -- a Dave Blatt '81 or John Lewis '79 or Tim Olah '79. And when he needed a spark. he poured in something less stable, a Tom Young '79 or Randy Melville '81. The win had a special meaning for Carril. who lost twice to Villanova in the previous two years by a total of three points.
Moreover, the victory in Philadelphia's Palestra over a formidable and physical opponent was a confidence-builder for the Tigers, who had gotten off to a shaky start. They won their opener at Colgate, 76-69, with centers Bob Roma '79 and Young splitting 40 points between them. Their first home appearance, against a tough Wagner team, was close until the outset of the second half, when the consistency of senior forward Roger Schmitt's jump-shooting and a 10-point scoring spasm led by Young and Steve Mills '81 broke the game open. But they fell apart, 71-51, against St. John's in Queens and fell short, 67-65, in their second-period come-back attempt against Seton Hall in Jadwin.
Despite Roma's career-high 29 points and 19 rebounds, Seton Hall's foul shooting down the stretch -- especially one-and-one conversions by Howard McNeil, a sinister-looking freshman with a sinistral shot -- did Princeton in. An appropriate epitaph might be "One half does not a whole game make," a saying Carril jokingly attributes to Shakespeare. Yet another of his Quixotic maxims -- "One half the coach ideas doth give" -- might better sum up the value of those last 20 minutes.
Impressed with the efforts of sophomores Blatt and Melville, Carril started both against Manhattan. Blatt, who seems nearly ambidextrous, gave a solid performance at guard, while Melville, a dramatic leaper who has won over the fans with his spirited dives for loose balls, provided the explosive element. When the Jaspers, trailing 14-13 midway through the first half, went into a press, Roma heaved the ball to Melville streaking down the court. The pass was short and a Manhattan defender got two hands on the ball, but Melville tore it away and punctuated his trip to the basket with an exclamatory dunk. He led Princeton in the 76-59 triumph with 18 points.
Even after its Villanova upset, Princeton was the underdog going against Fordham. For the first half, Fordham out-patienced the Tigers at their own style of play, walled Roma off from the ball, and accumulated a 26-16 lead. Again Carril found the right solution, injecting his 6'4" co-captain John Lewis '79, who proceeded to steal a lazy backcourt pass and glide the length of the court for a lay-up, took a marvelous feed from Roma in the lane for two more, and then brought Princeton within one with a 20-footer from the left side. Lewis finished his act by scoring the Tigers' last four points -- on two knee-shaking, heart-stopping one-and-ones -- in the final minute to salvage a 38-37 win.
FACING Rutgers at Piscataway, Carril started Young in the middle and Roma at forward, a formation he had toyed with in the preseason but quickly abandoned, to the chagrin of the Jadwin faithful, who clamored all last year for just such a line-up. (The Tiger offense requires forwards to free themselves without the benefit of screens; the coach felt Roma was too big and too slow to play in the forecourt.) But against Rutgers' zone and enormous frontline that includes all-America center James Bailey, Carril decided he needed both of his big men. The first half saw Roma calmly laying in jumpers from the left side, freshman Neil Christel doing the same from the right, and Young taking lob passes inside when the zone was slow to react. By intermission, Bailey had just two points, and Princeton held a 29-23 advantage.
Rutgers went into a press in the second half and forced the Tigers to commit several costly turnovers. With 6:41 left, the Scarlet Knights pulled ahead. Then, with less than a minute remaining, Christel appeared to tie the game on a left-handed drive, but an official whistled a charging foul and refused to allow the basket. Carril and his assistant, Tony Relvas, were convinced Christel let the ball go before any contact occurred, in which case the basket should have counted. (See photograph above.) Carril stormed onto the court in protest and was promptly assessed a technical, then Relvas was charged with another and, finally, Carril drew a third.
That gave Rutgers six foul shots, two for each technical, but guard Tom Brown missed four of five while Carril danced in neck-grabbing histrionics on the sideline. Rutgers sent another player to the line who hit the sixth, extending the Knights' lead to four points. In the final seconds, Tim Olah '79 sank two jumpers, but the Tigers had to foul to get possession, and Rutgers stayed ahead, 54-51.
The atmosphere of conflict that surrounded the Rutgers game gave way to amity four days later when Butch van Breda Kolff '45 -- the man who led Princeton basketball to national prominence during the '60s and picked Carril as his successor -- invaded Jadwin with his University of New Orleans Privateers. Both squads played patiently on offense. fiercely on defense -- and shot atrociously. Neither side scored in the first five minutes, and New Orleans came away with a 53-45 win largely because it shot a little less poorly than the Tigers in the second half. After the game, the coaches adjourned to Andy's Tavern, where they talked basketball into the wee hours of the rainy December morning.
No doubt they discussed the similarities between their current charges, both young teams still finding their stride. Recently a sports writer asked Carril, who has started nine different players this season, whether his line-up was in flux." The coach answered, "Yeah, it's all fluxed up. I feel like I have six designated hitters." Only Roma and Christel, one a senior and the other a freshman, have started every game. While Roma has been the constant and catalyst, consistently in double figures, many of the "designated hitters" have played key roles, contributing crucial passes, a big steal, or a clutch shot. And so the alchemist continues to experiment with his formula, trying to find the most effective combination for each opponent on his schedule.