Tonight Princeton will play its third top 10 team in eight games. Most people thought that in the first two of these games — against St. Joe's and Maryland — that the Tigers were headed for mind-boggling blowouts.
As expected, the Tigers lost. What was unexpected, however, was how close Princeton came to overthrowing these reigning basketball powerhouses and brutally shaking up the NCAA. Tonight Princeton has another chance to torment a top 10 team — and maybe this time the Tigers can succeed in throwing the school into the depths of despair.
What Division I titan has most recently consented to pack its bags, travel 1,199.12 miles across the cornfields and risk losing to an Ivy League team, just to search for weaknesses in its Princeton prey? The answer is Kansas.
The Jayhawks, who are currently ranked No. 4 in the nation and have the second-toughest schedule in the NCAA according to the RPI rankings, will face the Tigers at Jadwin. But maybe the question should have been simpler: Why? Why, when Gary Walters, Princeton's athletic director, sent a letter to Kansas seeking to schedule a game, did the Jayhawks say yes?
"It's a tough place to play, Jadwin Gym, with 5,000 seats or whatever," head coach Roy Williams said.
"Princeton has a way of embarrassing you and you don't want to do that," Williams said. "[But] you shouldn't be hesitant to play somewhere just because you think that if you lose, it's going to make you look bad.
"I think it's good for our basketball team to play against all kinds of different styles in your non-conference schedule. I think that does really help you when you get into conference play. But there's a unique style of play that [Princeton] has that's hard to get prepared for too."
As far as differences in play, the biggest would have to be pace. Kansas, an up-tempo team, is known for taking advantage of dawdling opponents by snapping up quick baskets in transition.
"We have to get back on transition," freshman Dominick Martin said. "If we don't get the rebound, we have to be ready to get back fast and stop the transition game."
Forward Drew Gooden is the Jayhawks' greatest offensive force. The six foot, 10 inch junior is averaging 19.9 points per game. At 6-9, junior forward Nick Collison is another power that cannot be ignored. Averaging 15.6 points per game, Collison is shooting 64.3 percent from the field.
"We definitely have to know where [Gooden] is when we're on defense and we might double team him when he gets the ball on the post," senior guard Ahmed El Nokali said.
Princeton's offensive effort will have to be equally intense to overcome Kansas' defense. While head coach John Thompson '88 expects to see some zone from Kansas, the Jayhawks' chief asset is their aggressive man-to-man defense.
"They like to pressure the ball a lot," El Nokali said. "Our guards have to be confident with the ball and the other guys on the team have to get open and improvise. It just boils down to playing hard."
"We're not doing anything differently than usual," Thompson said. "We prepare for each game differently depending on who the opponent is, but the fact that Kansas is a top 10 team — we don't go about our business any differently."
So what are the Tigers' advantages over the Jayhawks?
"I haven't found any yet," Thompson said. "We're just going to try to do what we do."
The problem that plagued the Tigers in the Maryland and St. Joe's games has been second-half flailing. While the Tigers dominated Maryland through the first half and hung with St. Joe's into the second, they dropped the ball both times toward the end of the game.
"We have to get rebounds, loose balls, try and straighten out the little things, that's what hurts us so at the end of the game," senior forward Mike Bechtold said. "We want to be in a position to win rather than have to fight back."
Tonight is an opportunity for greatness. If the Tigers can show the same first half brilliance they displayed against Maryland and St. Joe's, they'll be halfway there. The key will be in finishing what they start.
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