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Young looking forward to post-season play
Princeton to meet Penn State in first round of NIT
Ray Robins and his teammates hope to put their season in overdrive starting with their NIT opener at Penn State on Wednesday night.
Staff photo by Frank Wojciechowski
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By Justin Feil
Princeton Packet Staff Writer
Monday, March 13, 2000
Chris Young is thinking about the future.
That's why he is thrilled that the Princeton University men's basketball team has had its season extended. The Tigers will face Penn State 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa.
Young had addressed a potential NIT bid the day before Princeton faced Pennsylvania in the regular season finale.
"This is what college basketball is all about," the Princeton co-captain said. "You want as many games as you can get. You don't want to look back and wonder why you didn't play when you could have."
After the 6-foot-11 center found out Sunday about the NIT date, his tune hadn't changed.
"This is what you're in it for, a chance to keep playing," he said. "They (Penn State) just knocked off Ohio State. They have shown that they can compete at a very high level."
The Nittany Lions seemed to use the Big Ten tournament to turn around a late-season slide. Penn State, 15-15 overall and 5-11 in the Big Ten, lost eight of its final nine regular season games before stopping Michigan and fourth-ranked and No. 1 seeded Ohio State in the Big Ten tournament. The Nittany Lions finally lost in the semifinal to Illinois, Pennsylvania's first round opponent in the NCAA tournament on Friday.
"The Big Ten is definitely the best conference in basketball this year," Young said. "Penn State's record is deceiving. They're playing against top 20 teams all year. It should be a lot of fun.
"We have a little experience from last year. It will help out," he added. "We're young, though, so I don't know how much it helps."
Penn State has the edge in experience. Led by All-Big Ten first team forward Jarrett Stephens, who averages a double-double, and second team All-Big Ten guard Joe Crispin, the Nittany Lions start three seniors, a junior and a freshman. Their top player off the bench, Gyasi Cline-Heard, is another junior.
"They looked good in their tournament," Princeton head coach Bill Carmody said. "They looked very good to me. I was fortunate to see a little of them. They're playing well and they're a veteran team. They have a terrific backcourt with Crispin and (Titus) Ivory. Stephens is good. It seems like they've been there so long. It's going to be a tough game for us."
The Nittany Lions played, and defeated, the only two common opponents they share with Princeton — Pennsylvania, 59-56, and Bucknell, 67-63. The Tigers closed their regular season last week with a 73-52 loss to the Quakers that dropped them to 19-10 overall, 11-3 in the Ivy League.
"After the Penn game, you're down," Carmody said. "You want to get out and get going. It's a real good opportunity for us. It's a chance for us to continue a year that's been disjointed somewhat by the injuries. It's been a good year though. Most of the teams we lost to are in that 64. We'll see if we can make a little run."
Of the Tigers 10 losses, seven came at the hands of NCAA tournament teams. Last season, Princeton defeated Georgetown and North Carolina State in the NIT before falling to Xavier.
"Obviously, this is a good draw for us, getting to play a Big Ten team," Young said. "I imagine it will be tough. With less time (to prepare), our style of play probably makes it tougher for them to prepare."
Princeton has not played Penn State since 1974 and has not won in three meetings at State College.
"The main thing is they're on their home court," Carmody said. "You only have two days to prepare. At this point, you have stuff on them and they'll have stuff on us. But we'll just concentrate on individuals and their tendencies.
"Crispin is a terrific shooter. Stephens is good inside. As has been the case, it will be how healthy is our team? Chris Young did not practice before the Penn game and he did not practice after. We'll see how he is."
"It's feeling better, Young said Monday about his ankle. "It shouldn't stop me. It's something that came up the Brown-Yale weekend. It wasn't any one thing. It was just aggravating. It's just tendinitis."
Tendinitis is expected to keep PU co-captain Mason Rocca on the sidelines against Penn State. Mike Bechtold, who has a stress fracture, also will not play. The Princeton-Penn State winner will face the Siena-Massachusetts winner some time early next week.
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