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Princeton University Athletics
Mueller Named Player Of The Decade
December 17, 1999 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 17, 1999
As decades go, the 1990s were about as much as any Princeton men's basketball fan could want.
The Tigers won Ivy League championships in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1997 and 1998 and produced five players who won six Ivy League Player of the Year awards between them. Princeton had at least one first-team All-Ivy player each year and a total of 15 first-team All-Ivy selections. Princeton had three 14-0 Ivy League seasons this decade, Princeton had two in its history prior.
Princeton was nationally ranked in 1991, 1996, 1997 and 1998, and the Tigers gave the Ivy League its highest national ranking in 30 years when they rose to No. 7 in 1998.
The 1990s saw legendary coach Pete Carril retire and enter the basketball Hall of Fame and his replacement, Bill Carmody, get off to one of the best career starts in college basketball history.
The Tigers enter the UAB game having won 208 games in the 1990s, the most in any decade in its history.
Beyond that, Princeton also had some of its greatest wins ever in the 1990s. The 76-48 win over Loyola Marymount in 1991 helped usher in the decade, and the second half of the decade saw three games as memorable as any in program history with the 1996 Ivy playoff win over Penn, the 1996 NCAA tournament win over UCLA and the 1999 win over Penn that saw the Tigers rally from 27 points down in the final 15 minutes. The 1998-99 season saw Princeton finish second to Penn, but Princeton appeared on national television eight times, won the prestigious Rainbow Classic in Hawaii by beating three national powers in three nights, had the huge comeback win over Penn and won a pair of NIT games.
Jadwin Gym, which finished its fourth decade of service, never saw crowds like it did on a night-in, night-out basis as it did in the past 10 years. In short, it was a great decade for the Tigers.
Beginning with Matt Lapin in 1990, Princeton put class after class of great players on the court for the decade.
Princeton Athletic News put together a panel of 13 media members to vote for the All-Decade team and the Player of the Decade. Voting was done on a first-team and second-team basis with no regard for positions, and it was open to all players who played in the 1990s. The results of the voting were, as might be expected, very interesting. Four players received votes for Player of the Decade, but Kit Mueller had more than the other three (Steve Goodrich, Sydney Johnson, Brian Earl) combined. Four of the five first-team selections were players who won the Ivy League Player of the Year Award, but the fifth was a player who was never named first-team All-Ivy League.
A total of 16 players received at least one vote. Mueller and Steve Goodrich were unanimous first-team selections, and Sydney Johnson and Brian Earl were named first team on 12 of 13 ballots.
Sean Jackson, the 1992 Ivy Player of the Year, was a second-team pick. So, too, was sophomore Chris Young, who after 38 career games was named second-team on all but one of 13 ballots as he established himself as the early leader for the top player of the next decade.
Here, then, is a look at the Princeton men's basketball All-Decade first team, selected by the media:
Kit Mueller '91 Player of the Decade
"God blessed me," Pete Carril said of Kit Mueller in 1991, "the day that kid walked into my life." The cornerstone of the Tiger dynasty from 1989-92 and the man who started the rise of the Tigers to the heights they would reach this decade, Mueller is the only player in Ivy League history to be a two-time outright Ivy League Player of the Year. Despite being listed as a generous 6' 7", Mueller made his living in the low post against centers to whom he gave away as much as a half-foot. His signature game was the 1989 NCAA tournament game loss to Georgetown as a sophomore, and he dominated the league as a junior and senior in 1990 and 1991. He stands second at Princeton in both scoring (1,546) and assists (381) and is third in field goal percentage and eighth in rebounds. He was a three-time first-team All-Ivy selection. "He was the best player on his teams," says Harvey Yavener of the Trenton Times. "And if he played with the next championship group, he would have been the best player on those teams. And if he played now, he'd still be the best player."
Brian Earl '99
Earl stands fifth all-time at Princeton with 1,428 points. He also is the Ivy League's all-time leader with 281 three-pointers made, which puts him in the top 50 in Division I history. Earl also started more games than any other player in school history (116) and played in more winning games than any player in Ivy League history. One of the toughest players ever at Princeton, Earl was the 1999 Ivy League Player of the Year.
Steve Goodrich '98
Goodrich, the central figure on the 1997-98 team that went 27-2 and rose to No. 7 in the national poll, was a three-time first-team All-Ivy League selection and 1998 league Player of the Year. He finished his career with 1,209 points and is fourth all-time in field goal percentage at Princeton (58.8%). He is also fourth all-time at Princeton in blocked shots and ninth all-time in assists. He started every game of his career.
Mitch Henderson '98
Princeton had 15 players earn first-team All-Ivy honors in the 1990s, and Mitch Henderson was not one of them. What he was, though, was as precise a passer as has ever played at Princeton, or maybe anywhere, for that matter. Just two years later, his ability to make backdoor passes with either hand off the dribble is now the stuff of legend. Henderson finished his career with 970 points, and he stands fourth all-time at Princeton in assists and sixth in steals. As a senior he had more than twice as many assists as turnovers (131-65).
Sydney Johnson '97
There are no numbers to adequately describe the impact that Johnson had on Princeton basketball. He is the only three-time captain in school's history, and he is almost universally acknowledged as the top defensive player at Princeton this decade and one of the great clutch players in school history. Johnson found time to score 1,044 points and holds the school record with 11 consecutive three-pointers made. He is the school's career leader in steals and ranks fifth in steals. It was Johnson's three-pointer from the corner and subsequent steal and two foul shots in the final minute of overtime of the 1996 Ivy playoff against Penn that sent Princeton to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1992, and it was his 3 for 3 three-point shooting in the second half against UCLA that set the stage for the final heroics. Johnson also guarded Brown's Eric Blackiston in a game in which Blackiston entered with 999 career points. He did not reach 1,000 until the next game.
First-team Kit Mueller (unanimous), Steve Goodrich (unanimous), Brian Earl, Sydney Johnson, Mitch Henderson
Second-team Sean Jackson, Gabe Lewullis, Rick Hielscher, Chris Mooney, Chris Young
Player of the Decade Kit Mueller