Pete Carril

So the next thing Pete Carril knows, the time machine has deposited him generations into the future, to where he will live basketball-as-rock-concert, replete with flashing lights during introductions and MTV videos on scoreboards during timeouts. To where players suddenly aren't hanging on his every word.

"He's like a surgeon. He cuts you up nicely. You look around and see he has 27 points, seven assists, seven rebounds, three steals. Just keep him out of Hollywood." Pete Carril, Sacramento King assistant coach, on Cleveland's LeBron James

Pete Carril, who always looks as if he's falling apart while his team puts together masterpieces, was about to fly into pieces Saturday. His young Princeton team had just pulled out an emotional overtime victory over Pennsylvania for his 11th Ivy League title, his players were celebrating in the locker room, and it all happened at neutral-site Lehigh, the school at which Carril began his college coaching career. It was, Carril said at the time, "the happiest day of my life."

Pete Carril, who never won a national championship but made it difficult for some coaches to do it, and Don Haskins, who won one championship and changed the course of college basketball in doing so, were among seven people elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame on Monday. They join scoring ace Alex English, forward Bailey Howell, women's stars Denise Curry--a former UCLA player and longtime star in Europe--and Joan Crawford and longtime Spain coach Antonio Diaz-Miguel.

"He's like a surgeon. He cuts you up nicely. You look around and see he has 27 points, seven assists, seven rebounds, three steals. Just keep him out of Hollywood." Pete Carril, Sacramento King assistant coach, on Cleveland's LeBron James

Princeton 43, UCLA 41. "It was an excellent way for me to finish my career," Pete Carril said of his final victory in 29 seasons with the Tigers, before a loss to Mississippi State in the second round of last season's NCAA tournament sent him into temporary retirement. "But I had so many of them. Of course, that one got the most publicity." So many highlights.

Princeton Coach Pete Carril watched the Tigers beat Penn, 63-56, in overtime in a playoff for the Ivy League championship Saturday night, then said he will retire after the NCAA tournament. "At first I thought I would wait until after the NCAAs but this is as good a time as any," said Carril, whose team gained the Ivy's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament with the victory. "I just don't think I have it as a coach anymore.

A day before his showdown with UCLA, retiring Princeton Coach Pete Carril scoffed at suggestions that his team was the Bruins' worst first-round nightmare. "That's a bunch of baloney," Carril said before the Tigers' final workout at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. "They're strong, they're fast. [For the Bruins to lose,] they'd have to just totally disregard everything their coach has taught them."

Pete Carril, who never won a national championship but made it difficult for some coaches to do it, and Don Haskins, who won one championship and changed the course of college basketball in doing so, were among seven people elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame on Monday. They join scoring ace Alex English, forward Bailey Howell, women's stars Denise Curry--a former UCLA player and longtime star in Europe--and Joan Crawford and longtime Spain coach Antonio Diaz-Miguel.

His peers have suggested that Pete Carril might be the best coach in college basketball. But coaching at Princeton has kept him humble. Recalling a phone conversation with a parent of a potential recruit last season, Carril said he was told that he was a terrific coach and that the caller would really love for his son to play for the Tigers. "But you're not worth $20,000," the caller said.

Princeton 43, UCLA 41. "It was an excellent way for me to finish my career," Pete Carril said of his final victory in 29 seasons with the Tigers, before a loss to Mississippi State in the second round of last season's NCAA tournament sent him into temporary retirement. "But I had so many of them. Of course, that one got the most publicity." So many highlights.

So the next thing Pete Carril knows, the time machine has deposited him generations into the future, to where he will live basketball-as-rock-concert, replete with flashing lights during introductions and MTV videos on scoreboards during timeouts. To where players suddenly aren't hanging on his every word.

No one denies what Coach Pete Carril did for Princeton, to UCLA, for this tournament, for college basketball, for ratings, for mankind. But the notion that he was the only coach to teach fundamentals got somewhat out of hand. Let's take his signature back-door play. Is it not, along with the pick and roll, one of two plays being run every day in coachless playground games across America? Carril wrung the most out of non-scholarship players of limited ability.

Everything went wrong, and every Bruin went haywire. Every step of the UCLA Bruins' strange and perilous season seemed to take them here, to the last three minutes, to the wall against a classic Princeton team, to another test of their heart and talent, to the tightrope walk between failure and triumph, to the edge one last time. Every step took them here, and here the defending national champions toppled. Hard.

A day before his showdown with UCLA, retiring Princeton Coach Pete Carril scoffed at suggestions that his team was the Bruins' worst first-round nightmare. "That's a bunch of baloney," Carril said before the Tigers' final workout at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. "They're strong, they're fast. [For the Bruins to lose,] they'd have to just totally disregard everything their coach has taught them."

Pete Carril, who always looks as if he's falling apart while his team puts together masterpieces, was about to fly into pieces Saturday. His young Princeton team had just pulled out an emotional overtime victory over Pennsylvania for his 11th Ivy League title, his players were celebrating in the locker room, and it all happened at neutral-site Lehigh, the school at which Carril began his college coaching career. It was, Carril said at the time, "the happiest day of my life."

No one denies what Coach Pete Carril did for Princeton, to UCLA, for this tournament, for college basketball, for ratings, for mankind. But the notion that he was the only coach to teach fundamentals got somewhat out of hand. Let's take his signature back-door play. Is it not, along with the pick and roll, one of two plays being run every day in coachless playground games across America? Carril wrung the most out of non-scholarship players of limited ability.

Princeton Coach Pete Carril watched the Tigers beat Penn, 63-56, in overtime in a playoff for the Ivy League championship Saturday night, then said he will retire after the NCAA tournament. "At first I thought I would wait until after the NCAAs but this is as good a time as any," said Carril, whose team gained the Ivy's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament with the victory. "I just don't think I have it as a coach anymore.