ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 14, 1997 TAG: 9703140040
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
Ben Braun must have felt like a weary parent Thursday afternoon.
He kept asking his basketball-playing kids to please close the back door.
In the opening game of the NCAA East subregional, California did what its more prominent conference brethren, UCLA, couldn't do last year.
Braun's Bears stopped Princeton's favorite play, and 19-game winning streak at Joel Coliseum.
``They run that back-door play so much, you never really can stop it,'' said Cal swingman Alfred Grigsby. ``They're hard to guard. They have good 3-point shooters, too.''
The Tigers made 62 percent of their layups and 38 percent from behind the arc. Their path to an upset victory finally cut off at the entry pass, Princeton was eliminated 55-52.
It was an entertaining opener, the kind of chess match expected between two institutions with eggheaded reputations. Do not think, however, they do their recruiting by standing outside the door of the chemistry lab.
The Bears and Tigers tried to outthink each other, and it was fun to watch. Some schools send players to the NBA. These two send them for MBAs.
Braun is a sharp guy, too, the Pacific 10 coach of the year. A year ago, he was guiding Eastern Michigan past Duke in a first-round NCAA game. This season, the Cal coach has shown he certainly can adapt. He did again to help the fifth-seeded Bears (22-9) into the second round.
Cal lost last year's Pac-10 freshman of the year, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, to early NBA entry and forwards Tremaine Fowlkes (Fresno State) and Jelani Gardner (Pepperdine) transferred.
Former coach Todd Bozeman was canned in August. Braun was hired Sept.15 to straighten out the bad news Bears.
Cal's early schedule wasn't easy, starting in Maui with Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Iowa - all NCAA-bound, it turns out - and LSU and Chaminade.
Then, on Feb.22, guard Ed Gray, the Pac-10 player of the year, broke a bone in his right foot. His season is over.
The program is under NCAA investigation, thanks to Bozeman's mess. Then, Braun's team drew Princeton, a 12th-seeded NCAA pest of high regard.
After watching tape of the patient Ivy League champions who hadn't lost since a pre-Christmas date with North Carolina, Braun made a decision many coaches wouldn't.
``It's hard to ask a team to change its defense at a late stage in the season,'' he said. ``We had to make adjustments in the last two days.''
The Bears decided to switch instead of fight through screens. Cal also changed defenses out of every timeout.
``We had to give them something different to look at,'' Braun said of the Tigers (24-4). ``You can end up outsmarting yourself.''
Princeton had built a 24-15 lead 12 minutes into the game, using primarily the service entrance to the hoop. After halftime, it was different. Cal, already more athletic, was more aggressive.
Braun's team needed to win with defense, too, because down the stretch, as the Bears tried to hold the lead, their offense looked like it had been designed by someone on the Berkley campus who had taken some bad acid.
``You end up playing like they [the Tigers] make you play,'' said Cal forward Tony Gonzalez, whose baseline jumper with 42.8 seconds left and three free throws in the final seconds quieted the Tigers. ``They walk it up, and pretty soon you're not only playing like them, you're watching them.''
The Tigers are easy to admire, even with rookie coach Bill Carmody having replaced the ever-cringing Hall of Famer Pete Carril.
``After a good year, it feels pretty empty and hollow,'' Carmody said.
So, Cal will go on to a date Saturday with Villanova. The Tigers will go on to become doctors, lawyers and investment bankers.
LENGTH: Medium: 72 linesby CNB