March Madness: Mitch Henderson's mentors proud as Princeton dances on; Missouri next
Princeton is the toast of college basketball after Thursday’s NCAA Tournament takedown of Arizona.
It’s doubtful anyone is drawing more satisfaction from the Tigers’ star turn than Gary Walters and Bill Carmody.
Walters hired Tigers head coach Mitch Henderson in 2011. Carmody has been Henderson’s principal mentor, coaching him for two years at Princeton and then hiring him as an assistant at Northwestern.
As 15th-seeded Princeton takes another step into March Madness lore in Saturday’s Round of 32 against seventh-seeded Missouri (6:10 p.m., TNT), both lions of Old Nassau are proud of how Henderson has carried the storied program’s torch.
“Mitch has been very, very steady,” Walters said. “The way he carries himself, the way he conducts practice, the way he coaches in games: He’s in control and he’s under control. He has been a terrific ambassador for Princeton men’s basketball.”
Carmody marvels at how Henderson, whom he described as “a bit of a free spirit” as an undergrad, expanded the rigid tenets of the Princeton-style offense.
“It’s still five out, but there’s so much more freedom, and that’s where his free spirit comes in,” the longtime Spring Lake resident said. “His guys just go, but you can tell there’s a maturity there, they don’t go crazy. It was wonderful to watch.”
'He's unorthodox, but he's nifty'
Carmody only attended one game at Jadwin Gym this year – the reunion of Princeton's 1996, 1997 and 1998 Ivy League champions last month – but he keeps an eye on the Tigers of course. Like everyone else, he’s impressed with 6-foot-8 point forward Tosan Evbuomwan, an England export who cut Arizona to shreds.
“He’s unorthodox, but he’s nifty as hell,” Carmody said. “That’s probably from not growing up here. You learn it differently. This kid is so unselfish and has such a sharing attitude, it’s wonderful.”
Evbuomwan’s role initiating the offense is in keeping with Princeton's tradition of putting the ball in the hands of the best player, regardless of position.
“Mitch and the coaching staff have done a wonderful job of taking advantage of his strengths and trusting him with the ball,” said Walters, himself a former Tigers point guard. “He’s fun to watch.”
Carmody gets a kick out of how much faster Princeton plays now, compared to the old days of grinding the shot clock down – a style that apparently chafed a younger Henderson.
“He would have loved to play for himself right now,” Carmody said with a chuckle.
While much of the nation was surprised how well Princeton outmaneuvered Arizona on both ends – the Tigers would have won in a rout had their 3-point shooting not gone uncharacteristically cold – Walters makes an interesting point. Arizona has been reliant on transfers, and Missouri is, too, whereas Princeton’s core arrived out of high school and rose through the program’s ranks together.
“Given the transfer portal, it seems to me that it’s more difficult to sustain the quality of teams because of the movement in the marketplace,” Walters said. “It can work both ways. You can get a player to come in and give your program a jolt. On the other hand, with all of that movement, it makes it more difficult to sustain team identity.”
Henderson a Princeton lifer?
Stability still matters, perhaps now more than ever. Henderson is 12 years into his tenure. Will he make Princeton his life’s work, the way his first coach, the iconic Pete Carril, did?
“My sense is that he’ll be there for a while,” Carmody said. “Can you be there 30 years? That’s a little rough in this day and age.”
Though Henderson hails from Indiana, he is an honorary New Jerseyan at this point, complete with a summer home in Spring Lake.
“Mitch and (wife) Ashley and their kids have a wonderful family; they certainly love it here and they are highly respected, not only within the Princeton University community but the Princeton (municipal) community,” Walters said. “I think it would take something very special, probably, to get Mitch to leave Princeton.”
He added, “In the world of coaching, one never knows, but I think that he has established a strong foundation here, and he has tremendous basketball alumni support, and is so genuinely well-liked by people in the (athletic) department, people around campus, the alumni and the community. He’s established roots here, for sure.”
Carmody said Henderson has gone beyond what can be a silo of a job to forge relationships across the campus.
“He gets it,” Carmody said. “That’s the best way to put it.”
Rutgers series renewal?
Princeton’s reemergence as a national story has stirred some fan sentiment for the resumption of the century-old series with Rutgers that was severed by former coach Eddie Jordan in 2014, after the Tigers had prevailed in three of the previous four meetings.
Henderson has tried to restart the rivalry ever since, to no avail. Although he hasn’t said so out loud, Princeton almost certainly would accept something less than the traditional home-and-home arrangement.
“It’s very, very disappointing that Rutgers won’t play Princeton in men’s basketball,” said Walters, who retired as AD in 2014. “We play Rutgers in everything else other than football. They’re nearby, and we’ve had a great relationship with Rutgers over the years, but I guess they feel that if they lose to Princeton it will impact their brand. It almost makes me wonder whether we should play Rutgers in any sport.”
The matchup
Like Arizona, Missouri is an offensive powerhouse, ranked ninth in the nation in offensive efficiency by the analytics website Kenpom.com. These Tigers average 79.5 points per game, including a whopping 20.8 points per game off turnovers. The go-to-guy is 6-8 senior wing Kobe Brown (15.9 ppg, 6.3 rpg), a first-team All-SEC selection. If Evbuomwan draws the assignment of defending Brown, it will be one of the showcase matchups of the entire weekend.
Defensively, Missouri averages 10.3 steals per game, the second-most in the country. Ball security will top Princeton’s scouting report. Get past the pressure, though, and the opportunity to ring up buckets is there. Missouri’s defensive efficiency is the worst of any high-major left standing.
Prediction
The chances of Princeton throwing up bricks two straight games seems low. If Henderson’s crew brings the same court awareness and sharp elbows we saw against Arizona, you can throw the seeds out the window. Princeton 70, Missouri 68.
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Mitch Henderson, Princeton basketball vs Missouri preview: March Madness
