It was a cliché repeated in several different forms throughout the men's basketball team's first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games, to the point where any competent reporter would become skeptical of its merits. Coach Brian Meehan said it, Brandeis players did, and even the Judges' opponents uttered the phrase."Brandeis has so many weapons that anyone can beat you on any night," they would say. "You can't just focus on one guy," they would continue.

But where other clichés ring hollow, this one is completely accurate when describing the Judges' furthest NCAA Tournament run in three decades.

In the Judges' 68-53 second-round win over Bowdoin College last Saturday, it was backup center Rich Magee '10, not all-University Athletic Association honorees Joe Coppens '08 or Terrell Hollins '10, who turned back a 16-2 Polar Bear surge with two steals and a block. One day earlier, in the Judges' 80-59 first-round win over Lasell College, it was backup guard Florian Rexhepi '08, resurgent after a forgettable senior season that saw him lose his starting spot, who carried the Judges' offense with 19 points.

And those are just two examples. What about backup rookie forward Christian Yemga's '11 defense on Lasell star forward Jose Guitian in the Judges' first-round win? Or how about the fact that when the Polar Bears cut the Judges' lead to five points midway through the second half last Saturday, it was four different players-Coppens, guard Kevin Olson '09, forward Stephen Hill '08 and Hollins-who contributed baskets that pushed the lead back to double digits. Finally, what about the devastating point guard tandem of Kwame Graves-Fulgham '08 and Andre Roberson '10, the former of which set the school's career assist record in last Friday's win?

"The guys [Brandeis] brings off the bench are really good, too," Lasell coach Aaron Galletta told reporters last Friday. "They'd be starting on some other teams."

A balanced attack was not the best way to describe the Judges of the past two seasons. Two years ago, all-University Athletic Association forward Steve DeLuca '08 averaged 18.6 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, but the Judges had just one other player average double-figure points and sputtered to a 14-11 record.

Last season, the Judges improved to 20-7, but DeLuca was still the focal point, and was forced to almost singlehandedly bring the Judges back in the second round of the NCAA Tournament after the rest of the team shrank from Rhode Island College's pressure defense.

But without DeLuca, sidelined by back and hamstring injuries for all but 27 minutes of this season, the rest of the players have discovered hidden talents, and Meehan has done a masterful job in maximizing them.

There is a method to Meehan's madness. After the Judges opened their UAA schedule with three straight losses to the University of Rochester, the University of Chicago and Washington University in St. Louis, many observers, including this reporter, criticized Meehan and his frequent substitutions, saying they disrupted the players' rhythm. In reality, however, Meehan was simply testing his players to see how they performed in pressure situations, and one glance at last weekend's games shows they all passed those tests.

Of course, the players' attitudes helped as well. This season was supposed to be a coronation for the team's six seniors, a list highlighted by DeLuca. They were supposed to finish Brandeis' journey back to national prominence together, and that goal was never disrupted, even as DeLuca's injury worsened.

"This is a team that lost their best player and never panicked," Meehan told reporters last Saturday. "These guys didn't care. . I haven't even heard one player even mention the fact that we played without an all-American."

So now, armed with a balanced attack, the Judges are playing their best basketball of the season as they head for their biggest test: a third-round date at the home of seventh-ranked State University of New York at Plattsburgh.

But no matter the result, it's impossible to predict which player will be the one to lead the way.