Tigers' Stephens just starting to meet hype

Jason Forte. Judson Wallace. Tim Begley. Edwin Draughan.

These Ivy League men's basketball players are now dominating as seniors -- but coming out of high school, none of them was nominated for a spot on the McDonald's All-American Team, one of the most impressive national honors a high school player can receive.

But Princeton senior Mike Stephens is an exception.

The center was nominated for his stellar play at Napa High School in Northern California, where he averaged 22 points and 12 rebounds as a senior and drew much attention from college programs.

He fell just short of becoming only the second future Ivy Leaguer to earn a spot on the team's final roster since the annual honor began in 1977 -- Dartmouth's Crawford Palmer did it in 1988.

Despite his appeal to scholarship programs, Stephens chose to apply to Princeton as an early decision candidate.

"It's very hard to turn down a Princeton education," Stephens said. "I also like their style of basketball, since the center comes to the high post a lot and gets to shoot."

However, since arriving on the East Coast, Stephens lost the battle for the starting center job twice and appeared bound for a quiet collegiate career.

That was until the Tigers' second Ivy League game of this season when Stephens came off the bench against Yale to play the best game of his college career, scoring 23 points in 25 minutes after replacing an injured Wallace.

"Judson was having some back problems all that weekend, so they told me to be ready," Stephens said. "My shots started to fall ... I think I was able to spread the defense out well."

Stephens was 7-for-11 from the field, 3-for-4 from three-point range and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. It was a shooting performance that fans do not typically expect from a man with a 6-foot-10, 250-pound frame.

Players and coaches around the league have always known that he was not a typical center.

"That's the problem that he poses -- he can go inside and make baskets and step away from the basket as well," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "He is a difficult guy to guard."

Despite his impressive basketball resume, Dunphy said that Penn did not pursue Stephens in a recruiting class that included Begley and forward Jan Fikiel.

"We had a couple kids already in our program that we recruited early, so we didn't go after Mike," he said. "But we certainly know how good a basketball player he is."

Stephens was rarely able to showcase his skills during his first two seasons. With classmate Dominick Martin in the starting lineup and Wallace as Martin's substitute, Stephens scored just 14 points in nine games over the two years.

Even when Martin transferred to Yale after one season with the Tigers, it was Wallace, not Stephens, who took over as the starting center.

Stephens did have some bright moments as a junior but he still fell short of Wallace, who led the Tigers in scoring and rebounding.

Despite not starting, Stephens said that having the likes of Martin and Wallace in his recruiting class has helped his game.

"It was good to be behind someone your age so you can play against him day in and day out," he said. "We have our battles in the block and try to make each other better."

Though he seems pleased with his spot on the team, Stephens also appears to have definitively fallen short of the lofty expectations that came with his prestigious McDonald's All-American nomination.

But this year's career performance against Yale gives him a second chance to prove he was not an overrated recruit.

And as a senior in his final season at Jadwin Gym, it will be Stephens' last chance.

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