.png&width=24&type=webp)
Princeton University Athletics
Tiger Basketball 2001-02
October 30, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Oct. 30, 2001
Tiger basketball 2001-02 ... Q&A
Was last year some sort of nightmare/dream?
No. It's all true. Princeton finished the 1999-2000 season thinking that it had a championship team waiting for 2000-01. The Tigers were right, and in the end that's all that really mattered. Of course, it wasn't quite the smooth ride that anyone figured it might be. Princeton lost a head coach, an assistant coach and no fewer than six potential starters before last season started. In a matter of weeks, Princeton went from being the preseason favorite in the league to a team picked to finish as low as sixth by one national magazine. Into this mix stepped John Thompson, who took the remaining pieces of the program and put together a dream season. Coaching a team that lacked a true star, Thompson used a rotation of eight players, all of whom made huge contributions along the way. When it was over, Princeton had won its eighth Ivy League championship in 13 years and advanced to the postseason for the sixth straight year. How many teams in Division I have made six straight postseason appearances?
Princeton is one of 22 such teams. Of the other 21, all but one are from either the Big 10, Pac-10, ACC, SEC, Big East or Big 12.
How many teams have been to the NCAA tournament more than Princeton?
Thirteen. Princeton is tied with Connecticut, Kansas State, Utah and Georgetown for 14th all-time in NCAA tournament appearances with 22, behind only Kentucky (43), UCLA (37), North Carolina (35), Kansas (30), Indiana (30), Louisville (29), Syracuse (27), Arkansas (26), St. John's (26), Duke (25), Temple (25), Villanova (25) and Notre Dame (25). Seven other teams (Michigan, DePaul, Cincinnati, Iowa, Arizona, Oklahoma and Illinois) have either 20 or 21.
How many returning starters does this team have?
Depends on what you consider a returning starter. Princeton used the same starting lineup for most of the second half of the season, and four of those five return: G Ahmed El-Nokali, G Ed Persia, F Andre Logan and F Kyle Wente. In addition to those four, Princeton also returns Ray Robins, who started two years ago as a sophomore before taking last year off, and Chris Krug, who started in the 1998-99 season as a freshman before taking the last two years off.
Who's missing from last year?
Unlike last off-season, the only players not returning are those who graduated. The key loss is center Nate Walton, a unanimous first-team All-Ivy League selection and one of the best passers in Princeton history. Walton led Princeton in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals a year ago, becoming the first player in the history of the program to do so. C.J. Chapman, who finished his career sixth all-time at Princeton in three-pointers, has also graduated, he was a huge spark off the bench the last two years. Reserve center Terence Rozier-Byrd also graduated.
How does this year's team size up?
Princeton's starting five a year ago averaged 6' 4.6", and the 12 players on the roster averaged 6' 5. The five incoming Princeton freshmen average 6' 7.2", and the average height for the entire roster is 6' 6.7".
So where do you start with this team?
Probably with senior point guard Ahmed El-Nokali, who has been a starter since midway through his freshman season. El-Nokali is a master of Princeton's offense, and he played 92% of the team's minutes in the Ivy League last year. El-Nokali went all 40 minutes nine times and committed 39 turnovers in 720 minutes. El-Nokali missed the first two months of last season after undergoing groin surgery in mid-October, and it took him until midseason until he was 100%. He became a much more consistent offensive threat as the year went on, averaging 8.3 points per game, and he finished the season as the No. 2 foul shooter in the Ivy League at 87%. He was a second-team All-Ivy selection.
If El-Nokali played 92% of the minutes in league games, how much did Mike Bechtold play?
Mike Bechtold joins Ahmed El-Nokali as the two captains of this team. While El-Nokali has routinely played huge minutes, Bechtold has struggled with leg problems his first three seasons, all of which have been hampered in a big way due to injuries. A year ago, Bechtold averaged 15 points per game for the first month of the season, but his minutes fell dramatically as his legs started to ache. Bechtold was able to play 118 of 480 minutes (24.6%). Still, when healthy, Bechtold is a great outside shooter, as well as a strong defender and rebounder.
Aside from El-Nokali, who else figures to start?
Good question. Princeton can go in any number of directions, and no fewer than 11 players entered preseason with a legitimate chance to start. John Thompson used six different starting lineups involving nine different players in the first 11 games of last season, and he showed all season a willingness to go with whatever group of five was the hottest.
If you have 11 players competing for five spots, how many possible combinations is that?
55,440.
What's up in the middle?
Princeton's center has been named first-team All-Ivy League 10 times in the last 12 years, including last year, when Nate Walton was a unanimous all-league pick. Much of the offense revolves around the center, who is asked to pass and shoot from the perimeter, as well as score and pass from the low post. It's a position steeped in tradition, and it's a position that often is thrust upon younger players. Since Kit Mueller started every game as a freshman in 1987-88, Princeton has had basically six starting centers (two others started one game each). Of those six, four (Mueller, Steve Goodrich, Rick Hielscher, Chris Young) started every game as a freshman. Mueller and Goodrich were first-team All-Ivy six times between them, and they combined to win three Ivy League Player of the Year awards. Hielscher and Young were both Ivy League Rookies of the Year, and they were joined in that honor last year by Konrad Wysocki, who came off the bench as the backup center to Walton. Wysocki, at 6-8, was Princeton's most physical player a year ago, as well as its leading shooter (60% in Ivy games, 55% overall). Wysocki, who would move Walton to forward when he was in the game, had huge games in key Ivy wins at Penn and Brown. His best value a year ago was his tenacity off the bench, Thompson may not want to mess with that. Still, he is a very skilled player. Should Wysocki not start, then there are three other candidates for the starting spot. One could be 6-9 Chris Krug, who could also play forward. Krug started 27 games at one forward spot as a freshman in 1998-99 before deciding not to play the last two years. The other two centers are freshmen Dominick Martin and Mike Stephens, a pair of sturdy 6-10 rookies who combine skill with much-needed size. Given Princeton's track record at the position, either of those two could be the starter.
Could the two freshmen play together?
When Chris Krug was a freshman, Princeton started him and 6-11 Chris Young together. It's unlikely that both Martin and Stephens would play together, since both are truer centers. Konrad Wysocki could also play a forward spot if Princeton wanted to have a bigger lineup.
What was the big deal about Ray Robins' first start?
Ray Robins, a 6-7 forward, moved into the starting lineup midway through his sophomore year of 1999-2000, and he scored 27 points in his first start, the most by a Princeton player since Bill Bradley in 1963. Robins went on to average 10.5 points per game as a starter, including 23 at Brown. He is back after taking last year off. Robins is a versatile player who could play any of four positions on the court. He is an outstanding three-point shooter and a 90%-plus foul shooter, and he can also handle the ball and get the basket. His return is a huge lift.
Who scored the first basket for Princeton in John Thompson's coaching tenure?
Kyle Wente came off the bench in the season-opener at Duke last year and scored Princeton's first basket. In the process he not only scored the first basket for John Thompson as Tiger coach but also equaled his field goal total from his entire freshman year the previous season. Wente, now a junior, played 18 minutes his entire freshman year, but he averaged 27 minutes per game a year ago. He shot 52% from the field and 40% from three-point range while averaging eight points per game overall and 11 per game in the league. He also made the biggest shot of the season. Wente took an inbounds pass with seven seconds remaining and Princeton down two at Harvard, dribbled up the court and let it go from 25 feet as time expired. Had that shot not gone in, Harvard would have moved into first place in the league. Instead, Wente's shot swished through the net, and Princeton had one of its biggest wins on the way to its league championship. Wente, an honorable mention All-Ivy League selection, played primarily at forward last year, but he can play forward or guard. He can dribble, shoot, play defense, rebound, run the offense and bring the ball up the court.
How was Logan's run last year?
Freshman Andre Logan was brilliant at times last year, most notably against Penn State in the ECAC Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden (19 points) and at home against Brown (15 points, game-saving blocked shot). He also made some big shots and played some huge minutes, starting the final 15 games of the season and playing in all but the Division III game. Logan proved to be the perfect match for John Thompson's system: He is a player whose strength is dribbling and passing and can also make shots, play defense and rebound. Thompson used Logan 22 minutes per night and rode him much longer on the night's he was hot. It's a combination that figures to continue.
Who was Princeton's leading scorer in the NCAA tournament game?
Ed Persia scored 16 points against North Carolina, making 4 of 8 three-pointers, including three straight to start the second half as Princeton made a run at the Tar Heels. Persia started 24 games last year as a freshman and was in double figures six times, including a season-high 17 at Cornell. Persia's strength is making shots, especially three-pointers, and in this offense, there is always room for someone like that.
Who are the other returnees?
Conor Neu, a 6-8 forward, is back for his senior year. Pete Hegseth, a 6-1 junior guard, also returns. Both are good outside shooters. Heath Jones, a 6-9 sophomore center, has made great strides since the start of his freshman year, but his chances have been hurt by preseason injuries that may sideline him for the year.
Besides the two big kids, who are the other freshmen?
John Thompson's first recruiting class is a good one. The two freshman centers are both big and skilled, commodities that were a must in the off-season. In addition to those two, Princeton also features three other freshmen, all of whom could contribute right away. Will Venable, the son of longtime Major League Baseball player Max Venable, is a 6-2 guard who averaged 19 points per game as a senior in high school outside of San Francisco. Judson Wallace, a 6-8 forward, averaged 23 points and 18 rebounds per game as a senior in Atlanta. In addition to good size, Wallace is also an outstanding three-point shooter. Tom McLaughlin is another good scorer who missed his entire senior year of high school with knee surgery.
How is the schedule?
As always, Princeton will challenge itself. The season opens at California in the BCA Classic, where St. Joe's and Eastern Washington are the other two teams. There is also the BB&T Classic in Washington, D.C., where the Tigers take on Maryland, a Final Four team a year ago, as well as either Connecticut or George Washington. The Tigers' home schedule includes Kansas, as well as NCAA teams Holy Cross and Monmouth. In all, Princeton could face seven NCAA tournament teams from a year ago in its 12 non-league games, and of the remaining five teams, three went to either the NIT or NCAA the year before. The highlight of the Ivy League season, as always, will be the games against Penn (Feb. 12 at home, March 5 at Penn).