11/23/2002  

Monday, November 11, 2002
Hoyas, Princeton happy to help each other out

By Andy Katz

ESPN

 PRINCETON, N.J. -- Georgetown's staff had already tutored Wesley Wilson on his drop-step hook shot for weeks. But the Hoyas didn't see a problem with him fine tuning the move -- via tips from current and former Princeton coaches.

Sunday's unique double-session scrimmage between Princeton and Georgetown allowed for such an odd scene. And while the overall purpose was to get each team ready for the season, the rare agreement for a "friendly" among friends extended all the way down to individual instruction.

So, following the first scrimmage between the two schools Sunday morning, former Princeton coach Pete Carril and present Princeton assistant Howard Levy (the school's top field-goal shooter) gave Wilson a few helpful hints.

"Thanks for doing that,'' Georgetown coach Craig Esherick said to Carril after the evening scrimmage.

"I don't understand why other guys don't do it (the hook shot with the right footwork). It worked for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar," said Carril, as Esherick, Princeton coach John Thompson III, his brother, Georgetown assistant Ronnie Thompson, and former Georgetown coach John Thompson (their father of course) gathered at midcourt at Jadwin Gym (essentially Carril's court) to breakdown the day's scrimmages.

"When you've got resources in the business like them (Carril and Thompson) why not use them," Thompson III said. "Getting their feedback doesn't hurt for either team."

"This was invaluable," Esherick said of the scrimmage. "I would do this every year, maybe not always with them ... John owes me a game next year at my place. But after that, I'll do it with someone again. They're a great team to face because you have to keep your concentration on defense. I've got a lot of things to talk about when I watch the tape with the team."

The sharing of ideas, and the willingness to work with each other to help each other's staff and program get better, was a breath of fresh air in what can be a nasty and competitive business.

"This was great because it was playing a team that was vested and interested in winning and getting better," Thompson III said. "Obviously, we're friends and we want to improve each other and put ourselves in teaching situations against a team, as opposed to a collection of guys playing together for a week. Hopefully we helped them out a bit."

The Genesis of Sunday's scrimmage came about when the NCAA decided to allow Division I teams to scrimmage against each other in place of one of two preseason exhibition games. But there are rules (there always are when the NCAA is involved). While officials work the game, and the game clock can be manipulated, the score can't be kept. Oh, and the game can't be advertised and tickets can't be sold. Since the rule was adopted two years ago, teams in the East, Midwest and South have started to scrimmage amongst themselves, rather than go through the hassle of scheduling exhibitions against a foreign team, or summer-league and AAU sponsored teams. Those games essentially end up being little more than a payoff for sneaker-sponsored teams that usually also sponsor that coach, or for teams made up of players who either played for the AAU team prior to college, or now play for after college (anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000).

Schools can also play a non-Division I team in a regular exhibition game, like Kansas playing Washburn or Creighton playing Nebraska-Omaha. These games allow the smaller in-state school to get a paycheck, while the D-I school gets at least gets a chance to measure its progress in early November. In some cases, schools are under financial pressure to put the two exhibition games on their season-ticket package.

But from a pure basketball standpoint, coaches like Thompson III, Esherick, Drexel's Bruiser Flint (who scrimmaged Wagner) and Saint Joseph's Phil Martelli (who'll have his Hawks scrimmage Lafayette and Niagara this week) say the scrimmage doesn't even compare to a regular exhibition. In fact, if the NCAA said teams could only play scrimmages, none of the coaches would complain. They would say they're already a step ahead.

"You can talk to the other coach and find out what he's going to do, or ask him to do something for you that you'll face during the season. An AAU or international team isn't going to do that," said Esherick, who played a Latvian touring team prior to the scrimmage. The Ivy League allows its schools only one exhibition or scrimmage, so Sunday was Princeton's only chance to measure itself against another team. "We covered far more today than we would in an exhibition."

Even going on the road was part of the learning process. Esherick took his team to Princeton on Saturday night, giving it the feel of traveling, especially with the Hoyas' first road game not until Dec. 28 at Virginia. (Georgetown won't fly to a game until going to Duke on Jan. 8.)

"I told John ahead of time that I wanted Mike (Sweetney) to be double-teamed because that's what happens in (the Big East), and to sag back as much as possible in the zone. That's what he did," Esherick said. "Those AAU or international teams aren't going to listen to me. One time John designed a fullcourt-trapping defense. I wanted it for one possession but he did it for two. He just put it in for this."

Princeton outscored Georgetown during the morning session, at least in the private, confidential stats taken by both teams. Georgetown took the Tigers to task at night, but not without earning every point. Scrimmaging against the Tigers meant working for nearly 33 of the 35 seconds of the shot clock.

"This was good because we had to concentrate on defense for the whole shot clock," Sweetney said. "They made you work at both ends of the court."

Neither scrimmage looked like a typical exhibition game. Coaches stopped play at the beginning a few times to change defenses, with Georgetown even going on defense on consecutive possessions to work on its zone. Both staffs corrected a mistake at dead balls, or whenever they saw one in the course of play, and would huddle their teams at midcourt occasionally, then pick up the scrimmage from that point. But they still played three 10-minute quarters, with little stoppage.

Roughly 150 fans wandered into the upper bleachers, but those were mostly family, friends, or Princeton and Georgetown administrative staffers. No one flinched when Princeton's 6-foot-7 junior guard Spencer Gloger picked off a steal and jammed a one-handed dunk. But when Ed Persia fed Ray Robbins for a backdoor basket, there was a smattering of applause. When the backdoor play happened two more times, the fans clapped and "ooohed and ahhhed" as if they were receiving an encore display of fireworks on the Fourth of July.

Princeton showed it has a star player in Gloger, who has almost been frozen in time the past two seasons. The last time anyone saw Gloger in a competitive game was in 1999-2000 when he made 65 3s, averaged 12 points and four boards as a Princeton freshman. Gloger, originally from California, transferred to UCLA, sat out the year and then transferred back to Princeton, where he had to sit out last season.

But his presence, ability to create his own shot, score inside and out, gives the Tigers a player who can at least keep them competitive with front-runner Penn and its star Ugonna Onyekwe. Gloger might be the difference between Princeton and Yale, which might have more quickness and as much depth but lacks a marquee player. But both are still a peg below Penn.

Getting 6-9 junior Andre Logan back from an ACL injury is a difference maker, too, as he was able to score in the post and hit a mid-range shot. Persia and sophomore guard Will Venable give the Tigers the playmakers to make the backdoor cuts work in the offense and some quickness to keep opposing defenses honest.

But Georgetown exposed the Tigers need to get to the basket, or at least Sweetney made it obvious that they won't be able to handle large men around the basket. Then again, there isn't a player with Sweetney's combination of size and skill in the Ivy.

"We've got to become a better rebounding team," Thompson III said. "We wore down tonight and Big Mike is pretty good."

Sweetney, in fact, could very well may be the one of the five best big men in the country.

The 6-8 and listed 260-pound Sweetney will do essentially two things in the post if he gets his rear in position: score or get fouled. Even if he misses, he gets the rebound and scores or gets fouled. But that's not it. Sweetney has added a 3-point shot to his repertoire, which he hit Sunday. But he's most imposing in the Hoyas' high-low offense, where he can be found either at the free-throw line or on the block.

The key will be Wilson, who like last season, looks great once he gets position and clears space. But he doesn't always finish. If Wilson can consistently put the ball in the basket, Georgetown suddenly becomes a difficult matchup for most teams.

"The high-low works, but we've got to get the passing down," Esherick said. "We're a good enough outside shooting team that they can't collapse back on us with Wes and Michael. What Michael has done each year is get into better condition and add a bit to his game. He'll obviously be in the post for us, but he is a good shooter. He needs to hit that outside shot and Wes has to be good inside for us. We can't have them both inside at the same time (and that's the reason for the high-low offense)."

Georgetown brought in a hidden gem at the point in former New Mexico signee Ashanti Cook. He was the Hoyas best point going from end-to-end and the one player who attacked the basket. Gerald Riley and even Victor Samnick did produce from the wing, but both are slashing guards, not north-south point guards. And even Tony Bethel and Drew Hall, returnees from last season, are more shooting guards than playmakers.

"(Cook) surprised me in both games we've played," Esherick said. "He's got a second gear. He's going to play."

The Hoyas have the typical Georgetown players -- athletic, rangy wings like Samnick and Courtland Freeman -- who can get after it defensively and allow Georgetown to pressure. But each are inconsistent offensively. Slight freshmen Brandon Bowman and Darrel Owens could get minutes behind Sweetney and Wilson if there are foul problems. Georgetown has depth. But more than anything the Hoyas have a potential Big East player of the year in Sweetney and that alone could make them a pest for Pitt, Syracuse and Notre Dame in the Big East West. Look for the Hoyas to be on the NCAA's bubble again.

"I'm getting more and more confident and I'm just anxious to get to the season," said Sweetney after last season's disappointing ending saw the 19-11 Hoyas ask out of the postseason NIT, a year after the Hoyas got to the Sweet 16 with a first-year Sweetney. "We're not missing anything. Defense and rebounding hurt us last year, but once we get that down we'll have a good year. This was much better than anything else we would have done to get us ready. We got work on both ends of the court."

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.