Princeton system has cadets’ foes baffled

Friday, Jan. 23, 2004 | 11:24 a.m.

The Scoop -- The top two scoring defenses in the country hook up in this classic at the Academy, in ESPN's second visit to Colorado Springs in as many seasons. The Falcons lead the country, at yielding a paltry 47.4 points a game. The Utes are second, at 53.9. What tilts this one toward Air Force is its .615 field-goal shooting, which leads the nation.

Prediction (2-3) -- Air Force 39, Utah 38.

Colorado State coach Dale Layer knew the Rams were cooked when Air Force took a double-digit lead last week in Fort Collins, Colo.

"We got down by 10, and that was the difference," Layer told the Rocky Mountain News. "You can't get down like that to Air Force. It's like being down 19 or 20 to anyone else."

In Sacramento, where he's in his sixth season as an assistant coach for the Kings, Pete Carril must be enjoying protege Joe Scott's success.

The old-school, water-torture system that Carril tutored at Princeton from 1967-96 has spread like wildfire across the country, to all levels of the game.

At the Air Force Academy, Scott (Princeton, Class of 1987) has proven that precision back cuts, patience, smart shots and tight defense can turn around a program that never had an ounce of expectations.

We know the cadets are there to fly those incredible jets. But when Scott can walk into a home and tell a recruit that he will be a part of something special in the air and on the ground, between the lines, that's achieving a lofty goal.

That's where Air Force (12-2, 2-0 in the Mountain West Conference) -- among the undefeated in its league, with San Diego State (11-6, 2-0) and Utah (15-3, 3-0) -- is in Scott's fourth season.

Until that victory at Colorado State, the Falcons had lost 27 league road games in a row. They haven't had a winning season since 1977-78.

With invaluable help from Chris Mooney (Princeton, '94), his associate head coach, Scott has turned a game with Air Force into every Mountain West coach's worst nightmare.

That was plainly evident to Robert Burke, who joined Scott's staff soon after Scott accepted the Air Force offer in 2000.

"Joe is one of the best teachers of the game I have ever been exposed to in my 25 years of playing and coaching basketball," Burke said. "Joe is a tough, hard-nosed, straight shooter who loves basketball."

Within days of Burke's arrival at the academy, he watched Scott put more than 40 basketball players, from incoming cadets to the junior varsity to the varsity, through the paces.

Scott ran four or five one-hour daily workout sessions for a stretch to determine who would be wearing the blue Falcons uniforms.

"Each kid had a fair chance to learn the offense and be evaluated," Burke said. "(Scott's) enthusiasm and attention to detail in each workout was captivating and unrelenting. You could see the players getting better with each workout.

"I certainly am a better coach because of the time I spent working for Joe and probably would not have been offered the Princeton job if it was not for my time at Air Force."

Burke had not gotten the Siena post after Paul Hewitt left to run the Georgia Tech, so Burke was grateful to join Scott. However, Burke never got to help Scott coach a game at Air Force.

Burke was in Colorado for a month when John Thompson III offered him a spot on his Princeton staff.

Thompson and Burke had been teammates at Gonzaga College High in Washington D.C., Burke and wife Michelle have strong ties in the East and, well, Burke had a shot at coaching where Carril became a legend.

"Leaving Air Force was a very tough decision for me," Burke said. "Joe and the Air Force administration were very good to me. In the end, I had to choose between two excellent opportunities, and it just made more sense for my family to be at Princeton.

"I am extremely happy at Princeton and extremely excited for Joe and his staff."

About 12 hours earlier, fifth-ranked Louisville spanked sixth-ranked Cincinnati, 93-66, at Freedom Hall in Kentucky, tying the biggest margin of defeat that Huggins has suffered in Cincy. In 1993-94, the Bearcats also lost by 27 points to North Carolina.

The Bearcats have lost a game by at least 20 points on only two other occasions during the Huggins era, which is in its 15th season.

Measuring his words, Rome reiterated what Huggins said immediately after Wednesday's defeat, how embarrassed he said he was, how he wasn't in a position to trade or waive any of his players, and how he hoped this would never happen again.

Twelve hours later, Rome said, do you feel any differently?

"No," Huggins said abruptly and without elaboration.

That's the beauty of Huggins, who is 362-113 at Cincinnati. Like or dislike him, he's to the point. What's on his mind will come out of his mouth.

Rome then asked how much the Bearcats might be looking forward to Thursday's practice.

"I would think the guys who would want to be players are," Huggins said. "The other guys, I'm not sure."

At 48, Huggins became the third-youngest coach to reach 500 career victories in 2001-02. That offseason, he suffered a heart attack at Pittsburgh International Airport. Doctors put a stent in a blocked artery, and he ran Cincinnati's first practice of the '02-03 season two weeks later.

Over the airwaves Thursday, he sounded as fiery as ever, which made Rome ask him how the heart attack had changed him.

"Can't you tell?" Huggins said. "I would think, as observant as you are, you could tell how changed I am."

Rome said, uh, well Bob, doesn't seem as if you've changed one iota.

"Well, you're a very observant young man," Huggins said. "I mean, things don't bother me as much as they used to. But, in all honesty, getting whipped like that bothers me and will continue to bother me ... it's kind of a new experience for me."

Limited by 13 scholarships and the 5/8 rule, which allows a program to give out no more than five scholarships in one year and two in eight, Huggins said that will be a very difficult, if not impossible, task.

"I mean, who would have ever thought that Arizona would (now) have seven scholarship guys?" Huggins said. "And I think they only have seven left at South Florida. That's not fair to the kids in the program. We've got people making rules who don't understand what we do.

" ... why do the women have 15 scholarships and men have 13? I have yet to have that explained to me ... and the 5/8 thing is preposterous."

No, Rome said. That is not accurate. A guy like Huggins would never take the easy way out because Huggins is a brawler.

Indeed, when he played for West Virginia, Huggins once decked an opponent during a game. Let that be a lesson to certain writers -- be ready to duck.

We highlighted Majerus in this space last Friday, the same day a feature on Allred ran in the Salt Lake Tribune. Among other things, Allred accused Majerus of making fun of his hearing disability.

Allred said Majerus even came to regularly call him an extreme, four-letter vulgarity that we won't come close to repeating here.

"He called me that ... for the rest of the year," Allred said. "It seemed like he used it more than my name."

Allred detailed another example, when the team played at St. Mary's. He even remembered the date; Jan. 6, 2002.

"During practice, he told me, 'Lance, you've weaseled yourself through life using your hearing as an excuse. You're a disgrace to cripples,' " Allred said. " 'If I was a cripple in a wheelchair and saw (the way) you play basketball, I'd shoot myself.'

"He said that in front of the whole team ... at that point, I said, 'I don't want to play for him.' "

Majerus disputed and refuted those accounts, citing an internal investigation that produced no evidence. Two former Utes, in that gym that day, independently verified all of the above, although two coaches said they did not hear Majerus berate Allred in that manner.

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