Princeton's Pete Carril lost here Saturday night, then apologized to UCLA.
For Jim Harrick, Carril was a little late in both regards."It's discomforting because I don't think we honored our victory over UCLA," Carril said softly, and a little sadly, after Mississippi State flattened the Tigers, 63-41, in the second round of the NCAA Southeast Regional.
"In Los Angeles they probably think what happened Thursday night (Princeton 43, UCLA 41) was a fluke," Carril said. "They probably feel they could have beaten our team."
That's exactly what they think in L.A. But it wouldn't have changed if Princeton had spun Mississippi State dizzy on the same merry-go-round.
What UCLA fans should feel is relief. Erick Dampier, Darryl Wilson and the rest of MSU's wrecking crew would have rendered the Bruins unrecognizable.
However, it was hard not to notice the difference between the Bulldogs' patience and preparation and the Bruins' impatience and unpreparation.
In one practice day, Richard Williams and his assistants determined that the 6-foot-11 Dampier was MSU's bullet train to victory. Dampier hit 10 of 12 gimmes, as the Bulldogs' three-point shooting loosened up the Princeton zone.
UCLA might have done the same thing, except it lacked a skilled offensive center and reliable 3-point shooters. However, it rarely invaded the Princeton zone with the dribble, the way Marcus Bullard (nine assists, no turnovers) did Saturday.
"We were outmatched at center," Princeton's Chris Doyal said. "He (Dampier) was too big for us to handle. And we had trouble with their zone defense. Monmouth plays the same type of zone, and we lost to them. We had men open tonight, but we couldn't find them. We wound up with shot-clock violations instead."
The Bruins didn't play much zone and paid for it by surrendering back-door layups - and still didn't hassle Princeton's bombers, the way Mississippi State did.
But then the Tigers were high and hungry Thursday, as well as last Saturday, when they won the Ivy League playoff in overtime over Penn and went to the locker room to learn Carril was retiring.
Without the adrenalin rush, they were dehydrated Saturday. They went from tonic to catatonic, missing 21 of 27 three-pointers and tying an NCAA Tournament record with zero offensive rebounds.
"I don't know if that's what it was," said All-Ivy guard Sydney Johnson, who was 2 for 6 with one assist. "I played very poorly. I missed a couple of shots and I didn't want to shoot us out of the game, so then I made some passes I shouldn't have. I hurt our team by not shooting."
When it was over, Williams shook Carril's hands and said, "It was an honor to coach against you today." Carril nodded, but basically he wanted to leave.
Now the Bulldogs play top-seeded Connecticut, which had to sweat unexpected bullets before pulling away from Eastern Michigan, 95-81.
Not bad, considering EMU had 32 points in the first 7:56 and led by 13. Brian Tolbert, a fearless degree-of-difficulty scorer, put up 36, a high for a UConn opponent this season.
"Every man on their team had some shake in his game," said UConn's Ray Allen, who rattled and rolled for 25 points himself. He also had to back up point guard Doron Sheffer, since Ricky Moore had separated his shoulder Thursday.
"To beat them, we had to give everything we had," winning coach Jim Calhoun said. "They're a team that would do well in the Big East. We were 13 down and sliding. But, possession by possession, our defense pulled us through."
Sheffer, the 6-foot-5 Israeli, got 27 points on 10-for-14 shooting and put the brakes on EMU's Earl Boykins, who missed 10 of 15 shots and had only two assists. Boykins had terrorized Duke in the Eagles' first-round victory. Boykins had also dared Connecticut to use its press against Eastern Michigan, and, indeed, the Mid-American Conference champs turned it over only 10 times. Don't take the final score too seriously. UConn only led, 78-72, with 3:55 remaining.
"Take a deep breath," Calhoun told the Huskies in the locker room afterward. "You avoided the worst."