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Princeton University Athletics
Men's Basketball Year In Review
August 10, 1999 | Men's Basketball
This Year's Note of the Year
One for the ages - Princeton trailed Penn 29-3 after a 29-0 Penn run and 40-13 with 15 minutes to play before rallying for a 50-49 win at the Palestra on Feb. 9. The 27-point comeback was the fourth-largest in Division I history.
Five more notes no media person should be without
All-time greats - Brian Earl finished his career fifth in scoring, first in three-pointers, sixth in assists and seventh in steals all-time at Princeton, Gabe Lewullis finished his career ninth in scoring, third in three-pointers, ninth in assists and fourth in steals.
Money talks - Bill Carmody is 26-9 against teams that give scholarships in his first three seasons as Princeton head coach.
Windex - Princeton outrebounded its opponents 893-863, marking the first time since 1967-68 that the Tigers outrebounded their opponents for a full season.
The iron five - Princeton used five players in its NIT opening round game against Georgetown (Chris Young, Mason Rocca, Gabe Lewullis, Brian Earl, Ahmed El-Nokali). Georgetown outsubbed Princeton 55-0 in the game, which Princeton won 54-47.
Book 'em, Dan-o - When Princeton defeated Florida State, Texas and UNC Charlotte on consecutive nights to win the Rainbow Classic in December, it gave the Tigers tournament championships in five different time zones in the last four years. Princeton won the Holiday Festival and Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in the Eastern, the First Bank Classic at Marquette in the Central, the Sun Classic Basketball Tournament at UTEP in the Mountain, the Coors Light Classic in the Pacific and the Rainbow Classic in the Hawaiian-Aleutian.
Others receiving votes
Point, counterpoint - Brian Earl finished his career with 1,428 points, Gabe Lewullis finished his career with 1,277 points. Princeton's 12 returning players have a combined 1,191 career points.
We're honored - Princeton had both the Ivy League Player of the Year (Brian Earl) and Ivy League Rookie of the Year (Chris Young).
More honors - Gabe Lewullis was an All-Ivy League selection for the third straight year and a first-team All-Ivy selection for the second straight year.
Still more honors - Chris Young, the unanimous Ivy League Rookie of the Year, was a seven-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week.
And still more honors after that - Chris Young was named the Ivy League Player of the Year and to the third-team national All-Rookie team by Basketball Weekly.
Mad bomber - Brian Earl is the Ivy League's career leader in three-pointers made with 281.
Just win, baby - Brian Earl played in more winning basketball games than any other player in Princeton and Ivy League history (95).
Streaking - Princeton won 11 straight games in midseason.
Conference call - Bill Carmody is 3-1 against the Big East, 3-0 against Conference USA, 3-0 against the Big 12 and 4-3 against the ACC.
The glass menagerie - Mason Rocca had 18 rebounds against Georgetown for the most rebounds in a game by a Princeton player since Bill Bradley had 21 against Columbia in 1965.
Young gun - Chris Young set the school record for blocked shots in a season with 55.
More Young - Chris Young set the school record for points in a season by a freshman (387).
Still more Young - Chris Young had 387 points in 1998-99. Ivy League Player of the Year Steve Goodrich had 386 points in 1997-98.
Welcome back - C.J. Chapman was 3 of 3 from three-point range in the NIT at North Carolina State after making two of his previous 26 prior to that.
Ah, Ahmed - Ahmed El-Nokali was 15 for 22 on two-point shots and 10 for 37 on three-point shots.
Swish - Princeton's best shooting night of the season was 55.3%, against Maryland.
More swish - Chris Young shot 53.6% from the field. Princeton's starting center has shot at least 50% from the field every year but one since 1980-81 (Rick Hielscher, 1991-92).
Centers of attention - Princeton has used five starting centers (Kit Mueller, Rick Hielscher, Jesse Rosenfeld, Steve Goodrich, Chris Young) since the first game of the 1987-88 season.
Can you spare a dime? - Brian Earl became the seventh Princeton player ever with 100 assists in a season.
More dimes - Brian Earl is sixth all-time in assists at Princeton (261).
Minute man - Brian Earl played every minute of a game 34 times in his career.
Block party - Chris Young is in ninth all-time at Princeton in blocked shots with 55. He needs eight more to move into fourth place.
Road warriors - Princeton played 19 away games and 11 home games in 1998-99.
Showtime - Princeton had 35 dunks this past year after having 27 the three previous years combined.
20-something - Princeton has won at least 20 games in a season for four straight years (22, 24, 27,22) for the first time in the program's history.
SportsCenter is next - Princeton went 6-2 in games on ESPN.
Aloha - Gabe Lewullis was the MVP of the Rainbow Classic.
Not to brag or anything - Princeton had wins over four teams that were in the NCAA tournament field: UNC Charlotte, Texas, Alabama-Birmingham and Penn.
Scoreboarding - Either Brian Earl, Gabe Lewullis or Chris Young led the team in scoring in 28 of 30 games.
Tournament tested - Princeton is 5-4 in postseason games since the 1996 season.
More tested - Brian Earl was the MVP four times and on the all-tournament team nine times in 10 career in-season tournaments.
Sit down Pete - Brian Earl and Gabe Lewullis were the last two Princeton players to play for Hall of Fame coach Pete Carril.
!#$*&@ - Bill Carmody had his first career technical foul called in the regular-season finale against Penn. Carmody has had as many technicals in his first three years as the Princeton fans.
Injury update - Nate Walton played in five games before having surgery to repair his injured foot. He will be a junior next year.
Bear-ly believable - Princeton defeated Brown 67-45 in both games the teams played this past season.
Bombs away - C.J. Chapman made four three-pointers in the overtime against Western Illinois.
Good save the Queen - Eugene Baah, a native of England, had seven assists and no turnovers against Union.
Giveaway/takeaway - Gabe Lewullis had 60 steals and 45 turnovers, Chris Krug had the same number of steals as turnovers (22).
Feeling grand - Princeton had four players in the last three years pass the 1,000-point mark (Brian Earl, Gabe Lewullis, Steve Goodrich, Sydney Johnson) after having four in the 14 years prior to that (Kit Mueller, Bob Scrabis, Chris Mooney, Rick Hielscher).
Closing time - Princeton's win at North Carolina State came in what is scheduled to be the final game ever played at Reynolds Coliseum.
Mason-ry - Mason Rocca shot 50.6% this past year after shooting 41.5% his first two years combined.
NIT-picking - Princeton defeated Georgetown and North Carolina State before losing to Xavier in the National Invitation Tournament. It was Princeton's third NIT appearance and the Ivy League's fourth.