Prior to his own team’s first-round game in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, Syracuse men’s basketball head coach Jim Boeheim sat on the sideline, scribbling furiously.

He watched as Princeton, with its full array of backdoor cuts and slashes, eventually dismantled Bucknell in a 61-48 victory. He jotted down key plays and players, taking advantage of the little time he had left to prepare for the Tigers.

Though Boeheim and his staff have less than 24 hours between games, the preparation for the Tigers dates back weeks. The Orange better hope the hours of practice time pays off, as it faces Princeton tonight in the Syracuse Regional championship game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.

Tip-off follows the conclusion of the 5:30 p.m. consolation game between Bucknell and Northern Colorado.

‘They’re the toughest team to guard in the country because of the style they play,’ Boeheim said.

The style Boeheim refers to involves a slowed down offensive approach. Princeton uses a wide range of cuts and backdoor screens to eventually break down a defense. The strategy worked to perfection in Princeton’s victory over the Bison last night.

Bucknell hung in the game late, but eventually Princeton’s easy layups were too much for Bucknell to handle.

To prepare for this, Boeheim has had his walk-ons learn Princeton’s offense the past couple of weeks. They’ve worked on plays with Syracuse assistant coach Mike Hopkins, and then practiced running them against SU’s starters.

‘It’s pretty simple,’ walk-on guard Xzavier Gaines said, ‘but you’ve got to be very disciplined against it.’

Boeheim said that when Syracuse plays in a tournament, it prepares beforehand for each team it may play. In this case, the Orange prepared for both Bucknell and Princeton. But walk-on forward Josh Brooks said SU spent more time on Princeton because of the problems its offense can cause.

During most practice sessions, Hopkins would take the group of five walk-ons aside and teach them a few Princeton plays. Then, later in practice, the walk-ons would run the Tigers’ offense in 20-minute scrimmages against the regular players.

Both Brooks and Gaines said the walk-ons struggled against the starters, but were able to score a little. The Orange will find out just how well the preparation worked tonight.

‘There’s only so much we can do against (the starters),’ Brooks said. ‘We get them, though. We don’t go scoreless.’

Though both Syracuse and Princeton have the same disadvantage of having 24 hours between games, SU may have a slight advantage because of the walk-ons’ work. Princeton head coach Joe Scott said his team had yet to start its preparation for Syracuse.

While the Orange was relatively certain it could get past Northern Colorado – a team that isn’t even fully incorporated into Division I – Princeton had to go through normal preparation just to get past Bucknell. Both the Bison and Tigers were picked in the preseason to win their respective conference titles.

‘I never look ahead,’ Scott said. ‘We get one night. They get one night.’

In reality, though, SU has had quite a few nights. Brooks and Gaines both said while watching the Princeton-Bucknell game they could pick up and call out a few of the Tigers’ plays. They hope that their teammates will be able to do the same tonight.

‘You can’t truly prepare for Princeton because no one executes like they do,’ Boeheim said. ‘It’s great that we’re facing the best early in the year.’

Published on November 11, 2004 at 12:00 pm