Sports

Former Princeton coach Carril keepin’ the Ivy faith

Pete Carril knows something about competing against college basketball’s brand names with an Ivy League team.

In 1989, his Princeton Tigers nearly authored the biggest upset in the tournament’s history, when they lost 50-49 as a No. 16 seed to Alonzo Mourning’s Georgetown Hoyas, and in 1996, they defeated defending champion UCLA as a No. 13 seed.

After watching Cornell defeat Wisconsin and Temple last weekend, the Hall of Fame coach said he thinks the Big Red can pull off some similar magic tonight when they face top-seeded Kentucky at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.

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“They had a tough preseason schedule, played Kansas and some other tough teams, and what that did was give them the confidence that they could play against the big-time teams,” Carril said from Sacramento, where he works as an assistant coach for the Kings. “[Cornell coach Steve Donahue] has a veteran team. . . . He’s got some great ball handlers, he’s got some 3-point shooters.

“He’s gonna have a shot at winning.”

It has been 12 years since an Ivy League team (No. 5 seed Princeton in 1998 against UNLV) won even one game in the NCAA Tournament. The last team that reached the Sweet 16 out of the Ivy was Penn in 1979 — and the Quakers went all the way to the Final Four.

Carril said he hadn’t been sure he would see an Ivy team reach this level of success in the tournament again, but that the chances of it happening had been enhanced by all of the early defections to the NBA over the last decade or so.

Most people feel that the Big Red’s run will end tonight. But Carril wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Cornell not only getting past the Wildcats, but making it all the way to Indianapolis and playing for the national championship.

“I know their coach is confident,” Carril said. “He has confidence in those kids, and they have confidence in him, and that goes a long way,” he said.

tbontemps@nypost.com