Princeton basketball is all about timing. Every cut, every pass and every shot is part of a symphony of hardwood perfection.

For former Princeton coach Bill Carmody, now the new coach at Northwestern, the sudden change from Tigers to Wildcats has made his life seem like anything but a soothing harmony.

“It’s been a whirlwind. The timing has been bad all around,” Carmody said at his introductory press conference on Sept. 6.

There hasn’t been much time for the man who arrived on campus not long before students did to organize his new world. Carmody still hasn’t announced his staff and won’t meet with his entire team until today.

To say the least, more things than not remain unresolved at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

“I think most of the team members are apprehensive about Princeton basketball,” Carmody said. “What does that mean? It scares a lot of guys.”

Carmody, once called by Sports Illustrated the best offensive coach in college basketball for his orchestration of the system that baffled many an opponent, spent 18 years at Princeton. He moved up from assistant coach to associate head coach in 1995 and took the head job after coaching legend Pete Carril left in 1996.

While players, fans and adversaries alike are often mystified by the methodical, deliberate style of Princeton basketball — many compare it to a 1950s team playing a half-century too late — the numbers seem to indicate that Carmody’s system works.

His Tigers marched through their first two seasons of conference play unblemished, compiling an overall record of 51-6 and making two NCAA Tournament appearances.

“When you take a look at a record of 92-25 (over the last four years), it doesn’t matter whether that is C.Y.O. and Y.M.C.A. or major college basketball, that stands out and gets your attention,” Athletic Director Rick Taylor said. “There have been some who have said, well, it’s the Ivy League. But it’s not all the Ivy League.

“Bill Carmody’s a great basketball coach. And great basketball coaches will succeed at whatever level they’re placed.”

Even if Carmody is indeed the offensive wizard that many say he is, he doesn’t act the part. The Wildcats’ new conductor insists things are kept as easy as possible.

“It’s very simple. Some guys get it after a week,” he said. “What we try to do is say: if you’re open shoot the ball, if you’re not open throw it to somebody, so he can shoot it, and while you’re moving away, see if you can help somebody get open.”

But before Carmody can even worry about getting the offense to work, he may need to make people at NU believe the offense — and everything else — can work. For a program that went 5-25 and 0-16 in the Big Ten the past two years, the mental barriers may be just as great as the physical ones.

Initially, Carmody’s job isn’t to immediately make the Cats winners. First, he must discover a formula that is capable of producing a winner in Evanston. He now inherits a program that has never played a game in the NCAA tournament.

“I guess a lot of people who are greater thinkers than I am have thought about that,” Carmody said. “Tremendous school, Big Ten scholarships, fabulous town. And why doesn’t it have it?”

Carmody at NU is the awkward combination of a school that can’t figure out how to win and a style of basketball that is successful for reasons no one can quite figure out.

Even so, Taylor and University President Henry Bienen, who also came to NU from Princeton, have turned their attention and trust to the mystical power that is Princeton basketball.

“Both of us were able to talk to many very important people in basketball, and coach Carmody got rave reviews,” Bienen said. “As we know, he’s a splendid coach.”

Carmody now has to bring the Cats slowly up to the court to the front of the toughest conference in college basketball. And while the timing of the move wasn’t the best, Taylor said the coach he found was.

“If it had happened in June, I go after Bill Carmody. If it happens in September, I go after Bill Carmody. If it happens in December, I go after Bill Carmody,” Taylor said. “I think we’re lucky as all get-out that we got Bill Carmody in September, period.”