Princeton players want to prove themselves

Steve Carp

Thursday, March 12, 1998 | 12:22 p.m.

HARTFORD, Conn. -- They no longer play the role of the underdog. They're ranked in the top 10 and have a No. 5 seed, the highest their conference has ever received in the NCAA Tournament.

They seem confident, almost to the point of being cocky, though never arrogant.

But regardless of how the Princeton Tigers are being perceived as they go into their first-round East Regional game against 12th-seeded UNLV today at the Hartford Civic Center, the Tigers feel they have something to prove.

Like all this publicity they've received is deserved. Or already earned.

"Yeah, it means a lot," senior Steve Goodrich said. "We've had all this attention and we really lost a game last year we should have won."

The Tigers believe they should have defeated California in last year's opening round. Instead, the Bears bounced Princeton 54-52. That loss still smarts and has served as motivation for the players.

"We don't want people to be writing, 'It's a typical Princeton team. Yeah, they gave them a scare but didn't do much.' As seniors, this is our last shot to do something," Goodrich said.

The Tigers have already accomplished plenty. They're 26-1 coming into the game with the 20-12 Rebels and they went undefeated in winning the Ivy League title.

But to the players, they need to do something extra to make it a truly special season.

"We have a lot of veteran guys," senior Mitch Henderson said. "I don't see us being overconfident at all. If you're asking how the team's mood is right now, I'd say it's comfortable bordering on confident."

How about cocky?

"We're not thinking we're the five seed and they're the 12th seed and we should blow these guys out," Goodrich said. "No way. We realize UNLV is a hot team right now and we have to play well against them to beat them."

But junior Gabe Lewullis said: "I think it'll be hard for them to stop our offense. No one has done that yet. We have so many options, we're going to get what we want. I don't think they can stop us."

Now that's cocky.

The Tigers won't apologize for trouncing everyone in the Ivy League. They believe it was just a matter of doing what they had to do to get ready for this tournament.

"When we play the Ivy League, we play against ourselves," senior James Mastaglio said. "We're trying to play to the highest level we can. We weren't squeaking by Ivy League teams and playing down to their level. We were blowing them out by an average of 21 points a game."

Two years ago, you wouldn't have heard statements like that. But success has definitely made Princeton a more confident team. How far the Tigers carry that success will be one of the storylines of this tournament.

"We played really well at the beginning of the year against teams that were ranked at the time and went on to have their best years," Goodrich said. "So I'm not saying that we're overrated like teams are pumping us up too much. But are we the No. 8 team in the country? Who knows? That's something the sports writers vote on.

"I think we're a good basketball team. But you play a tournament to see who the best is."