I remember that game well. Too bad Princeton couldn’t pull it off, though.
Princeton got screwed - if that wasn’t a foul in the last second, I don’t know what is ...
Princeton should have gone to the line with a chance to win ...
Carril had a saying like, “The strong take from the weak. The smart take from the strong.”
Thanks for posting... I haven’t yet read the article but will after posting this fond recollection. As a Princeton grad, I’ve always loved Princeton basketball, especially of the Pete Carill era. I lived around 120 miles west of Providence in 1989, so on a lark, I called the Princeton ticket office 2 days before the game to see if I could get tickets for me and my 11 year-old son. The person on the ticket call said that someone had failed to pick up their tickets, so she was giving me the last 2 tickets available to Princeton fans. I then asked her if she had tickets for the Saturday championship game (presuming Princeton would beat Georgetown) and she gasped, “you think we’re going to win?!!!” Well, she wouldn’t let me buy those tickets but my son and I headed off to see the game. I had 2 1/2 hours to tell son Dan what to look for and watch how Princeton’s going to frustrate Georgetown and maybe even beat’em. Little did I know how close to a perfect prediction that was going to be.
We joined the ~400 Princeton students and loyalists in the stands, making all sorts of noise in the first half — we really were stunning Georgetown with perfect execution, back-doors, great defense, etc. At halftime, you could sense that the refs weren’t pleased with the way the game was going because the first 2 minutes of the second half, fouls were called in Georgetown’s favor and the score closed quickly. Early in that second half, you could hear the entire stadium cheering for the underdogs from Princeton... right to the very end when Georgetown went ahead and then held on thanks to a terrible “no-call foul” on the last shot of the game.
The crowd booed like crazy in the post-game as the ESPN announcer interviewed Coach John Thompson, who had to talk over the roar of boos during his interview. It wasn’t until later when I saw a replay of the ESPN telecast that I saw that Thompson graciously admitted that Princeton had outplayed his team and deserved the win.
Fond memories for me and Dan.
Nice article, but the idea that one game of David vs. Goliath “saved” March Madness is preposterous. I can’t wait for the tournament to start, and I’d forgotten about the Princeton-GT game. Another example of someone believing everybody is absorbed with their personal likes and dislikes.