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So what's all this fuss about the Princeton offense run by the Air Force Falcons?

Isn't it just a bunch of not-really Division-I basketball players throwing out a complicated puzzle of movement in an attempt to make up for their lack of size and athleticism?

Isn't it simply a devious scheme by the brainy academy airmen to fool the real Division I basketball players of the Mountain West Conference?

You know, bore the enemy long enough with picks, back screens, give-and-goes, pop-outs and pop-ins until the defense gets lazy and the Falcons actually find a shot they can make.

And didn't the Lobos already master the Princeton offense Nov. 9 with a 54-47 win at Colorado?

Well, no.

Probably the best time to face a Princeton offense is in a season-opener against a program with no history of the Princeton offense and not a lot of commitment to run it.

That's what UNM beat at Colorado.

That's probably not the Princeton offense the Lobos will see in The Pit today.

The Princeton offense is ingrained in the Falcons' psyche, kind of like morning calisthenics.

It's the backpack they carry into hardcourt war. It's what they do.

And they do it pretty darn well.

In fact, they have beaten the University of New Mexico with that offense seven of the past nine times - for at least two reasons:

It's a tough offense to defend.

The Falcons have been running it for many seasons with some bona fide D-I jocks.

And the Falcons will have a few of those types on the floor today, especially in senior Tim Anderson, a top candidate for an All-MWC selection.

The Princeton offense also might be coming at the Lobos at a bad time - a time when the Lobos seem to be playing defense for the first half and checkers for the second half.

"That's what our guys are learning," said Lobos coach Steve Alford, referring to his players understanding the importance of playing defense for an entire game.

"League play is a whole different animal. Any time you get into conference play, it's more possession-by-possession."

The Lobos carry a two-game MWC skid into today's game primarily because of a second-half defensive lapse and because of erratic free throw shooting.

UNM has been outscored by 28 points in the second half of its past two games. And here comes a Princeton offense geared to force defensive breakdowns.

"You can't fall asleep for a second or they'll make you pay for it," said Lobo junior Chad Toppert.

Said Alford: "You have to be a very disciplined, patient offense. Normally, that happens with teams that are very veteran defenses and we obviously are not a veteran defense.

"This is going to be a tremendous challenge for us."

Several things that will favor the Lobos that didn't favor them in their losses to San Diego State and TCU are athleticism, quickness and (kind of) size.

The Falcons have the edge in size out front in the 6-foot-3 Anderson and 6-4 Evan Washington.

But inside the Falcons go 6-8, 6-5, 6-6. UNM can match that size and beat it, depending on its lineup.

The Lobos also have an edge in depth.

Now, all the Lobos have to do is pay attention to the Princeton offense for the entire length of the shot clock - and two halves.

Alford wants review: Coach Alford said he wants MWC officials to review the final seconds of UNM's 74-72 loss at TCU when official David Hall made a controversy call.

The call came with 13.6 seconds to play after a scramble for a loose ball had TCU guard Brent Hackett on the floor under a pile of players and apparently in pain.

A close look at the replay shows the TCU coaches and players asking for a timeout and Hall apparently awarding a timeout to the TCU bench. But TCU had no timeouts left and if Hall had given TCU the time, he would have been forced to hit the Horned Frogs with a critical technical.

Instead, Hall managed to turn the timeout into a injury timeout. TCU got the ball and no technical. That led to TCU's Ryan Wall hitting a game-winning trey with 1.6 seconds to play.

Alford said there is no question Hall initially indicated the timeout was given to the TCU bench.

Alford also said he doesn't expect the outcome of the game to change, but he would like an explanation.