Princeton Offense Keeps Hoyas on the Move

"Well, I see the crowd react when they score backdoor. They're having fun, so my son is destroying that idea."

Thompson added: "John probably doesn't want the stereotype used as a negative aspect in recruiting. He's not the only one the shot clock runs out on, you know."

If Big John's Hoyas hammered their foes, his son's teams use a surgical scalpel.

"You get to the same point that the old Georgetown teams had on defense," Thompson III said. "Where you know, 'We have answers.' "

Carril's signature moment came in his last win at Princeton with Thompson III on his bench as an assistant. Charles O'Bannon and his 1996 defending national champion UCLA team were the victims of a backdoor layup straight from the eccentric mind of college basketball's Yoda. The Bruins were done in by a squad that had no business being in the same gym, talent-wise.

It is no accident that Carril's tenure as an assistant coach and consultant for the Sacramento Kings coincided with the most exciting brand of NBA basketball the past decade. The angles and economy of movement that Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, Mike Bibby and others employed brought the sublime choreography of the game back.

The Wizards, Nets and Kings became some of the offense's most accomplished practitioners during the past decade. Thompson figures that out of 30 NBA teams, "probably 10 are running at least bits and pieces of that offense." There are many variations, depending on personnel.

Yet for better or worse during early-signing periods, the Princeton label sticks.

"This is the story I tell a lot of recruits," he said. "It might have been Pops's last year here. He was watching tape of a Syracuse game. The announcers, who will remain nameless, were saying, 'Suffocating Georgetown defense.' Pops pushed pause, looked at me and said, 'We haven't been a really good defensive team for a couple of years now. But as long as people see Georgetown across the chest, that's what people will say.'

"Now, at Princeton, there was a stretch there where you did hold the ball. You did shoot at the end of the shot clock. We did get a layup or a three. And so, because we had success, and because Coach Carril's teams won during that stretch, people forget about his high-scoring teams. That stereotype set in. 'That's what they do.'

"Are we doing what people are saying we're doing? No, because that image stuck, that's what Princeton basketball is to them."

Said Hoyas senior Darrel Owens, before he left for Minneapolis on Wednesday for Georgetown's game against Florida on Friday: "We were kind of skeptical at first about it because I didn't know a lot about the offense. I knew that it slowed you down and made you pass the ball around and get everybody involved.

"But the moment that I was taught the Princeton offense, I knew it helped me and it tremendously helped our team. I mean, why would I disagree? Look where we're going: the Sweet 16."