Ricky Byrdsong

several Medill students put together a thorough piece on the life of Ricky Byrdsong, who was murdered ten years ago today. they make no mention of him sitting in the stands during his first year, that wild season that ended in the NIT.

Rowley donating 3.6 ppg and 1.8 rpg to his homeland

Kyle Rowley will be representing Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean Basketball Confederation tournament this week. the CBC includes such basketball powers as Barbados, Antigua and Jamaica. sadly i was unable to find online betting odds to find out who the favorite is. it appears that T&T has a much stronger tradition in netball than basketball.

Chicago Invitational Challenge format = confusion

the official teams and dates were released today for the November tournament, but i'm pretty confused on exactly how it works.  NU will play Notre Dame on 11/27 with the winner meeting either Iowa State or Saint Louis the following night.  so the inclusion of Liberty, Mississippi Valley State, Tennessee State and Kennesaw State appears to serve no purpose other than to give the four "host" teams some guarantee wins at home.  the four smaller schools don't get to actually play in Chicago, so it's a bit ironic that they weren't invited to participate in the actual "Invitational."

on the plus side, ND will provide the Wildcats with an RPI booster.  Craig Brackins will be an absolute matchup nightmare if NU gets Iowa State in the second game in Hoffman Estates.

Delayed reaction on K.O. to USC

i apologize for not getting to this for a few days. i've been messing around with FBC on Twitter and sort of forgot that i hadn't posted anything here on this topic.

generally speaking, my thoughts are this: uhh, no. there is nothing in KO's past history or behavior that would indicate he is a good fit for this job, at this time. first of all, getting a program out of an NCAA mess takes patience. Roy Williams did it at KU, Rick Pitino did it at Kentucky, but all too often (e.g. the six guys who have been at UNLV since Tark the Shark left) it becomes too much for one man to handle. KO's 16 jobs in 31 years aren't a very good indication that he'll stick around to straighten things out.

USC's other problem is that they don't have many players left. currently their best player is UNC transfer Alex Stepheson, and beyond senior guard Dwight Lewis they don't have anyone who's averaged more than 18 mpg.

this article tells some pretty amazing stories about KO from his earlier college jobs, and while Northwestern is mentioned only in passing, the article really brought back memories of watching KO coach at NU. My favorite incident was during a home game. Sean Wink had messed up and it must have been something they'd been working on, because, boy, did it set off KO...

KO: Hey Sean!
[Wink runs down the court, tries to ignore the coach]
KO: Hey Sean!
[still ignoring]
KO: Hey Sean!
[Wink reluctantly looks towards the bench]
KO: Fuck you!

keep in mind this was at home while play was going on, in full view of fans and adminstrators. so no, i do not think KO will have the patience or the mental makeup to walk into a bad situation and make it better. during his tenure at NU, the Northwestern SID told me that KO's career goal was to be an assistant coach in the NBA. I expect he'll be back there before too long.

to Twitter or not to Twitter

Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com takes a look at coaches using Twitter. as far as i can tell, the Big Ten coaches currently using the site include Bruce Weber, Tubby Smith, Tom Crean and Thad Matta.

there can be plenty of debate as to the impact of a coach's tweets. what cannot be argued is that the list above represents 80% of the conference's active coaches who have been to the Final Four. (i fully expect Izzo to jump on board soon.)

i realize tweeting does not seem to fit Bill Carmody's personality, but his lack of visibility has already been highlighted, this would seem to be an opportunity with no downside. obviously our football coach dove into Twitter headfirst, so i'll follow his lead and use the medium as well, at least until i lose interest.

Let's hope that 'Gody stays in the draft

1. Example #347 of Northwestern's uphill battle in the P.R. department: I found out about this news from the Notre Dame blog in the Chicago Tribune. It was not listed on the Trib's Northwestern page, and of course there is no Northwestern blog.

2. Chicago Invitational Challenge seems a bit redundant.

3. Why is there an 11,000 seat arena in Hoffman Estates?

Shurna gets a call from USA basketball

yes, you read that right. seventeen players were invited to try out for the USA Men's Under-19 World Championship roster, and John freaking Shurna is one of them. based on the other sixteen names, i can't imagine that he will actually make the team, but this is pretty heady stuff for Northwestern basketball and for Shurna, who will get some first-class coaching for once courtesy of Jamie Dixon. best-case scenario for NU is that Ralph Sampson III comes out of the tryouts with at least one torn ACL.

Drew Crawford: "on the up-rise"

a lot has been made about the signing of Drew Crawford and how he represents a new level of talent that NU has rarely seen. he finished third in the Illinois Mr. Basketball voting, behind Illini recruits Brandon Paul and Jereme Richmond. Crawford hopes to make an immediate impact, and he has his sights on finally getting the Wildcats into the NCAA tournament.

meanwhile, assuming these numbers are correct, Matt Painter and Bruce Weber need to fire their agents ASAP.

Even Wilbon wants no part of NU hoops

ffwd to the 3:54 mark:

http://vimeo.com/4465309

Recruiting update and a huge WTF

Tavaras continues to go hard after local talent, as NU has made an offer to Mundelein's Ben Brust. while the Wildcats are a little late to the party with Brust, it's at least encouraging to see them in the mix.

now, more importantly...

imagine my shock and confusion when i saw that former walk-on Joe Kennedy is writing for The White House Blog. that's right, this guy. and it's not just some political commentary site; i'm talking about the actual White House website. you can check out the words from NU's "former baller" right here.

Another winnable ACC/Big Ten challenge game?

NU goes to NC State on December 1. assuming the Wolfpack doesn't land John Wall, there isn't any reason to think the Wildcats can't compete in that one. given the other matchups that night, expect NU to get bumped to ESPNU.

Sure, I'll pile on

LTP rightfully calls out BC for dropping the ball last night. events like this have little/nothing to do with recruiting, but they go a long way in earning a program some respect and acknowledgement. they also might help NU hoops (gasp!) sell some tickets. if Tavaras is smart, he was primarily working the room in an effort to line up his next coaching gig.

Things will be rough for the Wildcats next season

of course, things could change with injuries or early-entries to the draft, but at least one expert thinks that the Big Ten could be the toughest conference in the country next year. with Indiana bringing in a top-10 recruiting class, it looks like only Iowa could give NU a challenge for the conference basement.

I found him

this is him. this is the guy. the man who will lead Northwestern basketball to the Promised Land. forget for a minute that he was just hired as head coach by another school. NU isn't throwing out Carmody just after they made the NIT. but when BC's contract is not renewed after the 2009/2010 season, this is the coach who should make the leap from a great mid-major job to the Big Ten Conference.

his name? Shaka Smart. "hmmm," you're wondering, "i like the sound of 'Smart' but 'Shaka' doesn't sound like the kind of name that would fit in with the Northwestern administration." but wait, i can explain. a brief bio:

• 32 years old
• native of Madison, WI
• coached/recruited for five years in the midwest (Akron, Dayton)
• served as an assistant under Billy Donovan

and there's more:

• played basketball at Kenyon College, but only after deciding not to go to Harvard, Yale or Cornell. graduated magna cum laude. as a senior was North Coast Athletic Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year. was one of 20 student-athletes selected for the 1999 USA Today All-USA Academic team and received a NCAA postgraduate scholarship.

i dare you to read this article and tell me Shaka Smart wouldn't immediately energize an NU program badly in need of it. "WREAK HAVOC ON OUR OPPONENTS' PSYCHE" are you fucking kidding me?!?! VCU even had Billy Donovan as part of yesterday's press conference! i'm calling on all NU boosters to put aside some money right now. we'll use it to take care of whatever trifling little buyout will be necessary to get this guy to Evanston in 12 months. mark it down - you heard it here first.

Northwestern's postseason continues

tonight Craig Moore will participate in the annual seniors-only College Three-Point Championship. i've listed the participants below along with how many 3PT field goals they made this season.

don't be scared off by John Grotberg; his numbers are inflated by the insane and quite awesome style of play that gets Grinnell over 100 ppg. McClinton and Woodfox strike me as players who shoot better within the flow of a game, and i'm thinking Ruoff will continue the struggles that plagued the end of his season.

Matt Lawrence was a late replacement for Kyle McAlarney, whose team will be playing in the NIT consolation game tonight. my pick is Jimmy Baron, but this should be an environment that Moore does well in. if Moore is the best of these eight shooters, let's hope he doesn't follow that up by losing to a girl.

154 - John Grotberg, Grinnell
135 - Erik Kangas, Oakland (because there always has to be a local player)
110 - Jimmy Baron, Rhode Island
105 - Craig Moore, Northwestern
101 - Jack McClinton, Miami

88 - Alex Ruoff, West Virginia
86 - Booker Woodfox, Creighton
82 - Matt Lawrence, Missouri


the dunk contest features a lot of no-name participants aside from Wesley Matthews and Jeremy Pargo, but my money is on UCF's Jermaine Taylor. and yes, i realize i'm one of only dozens who watches this event every year, but nothing will top the 2004 contest. Texas Tech's Andre Emmett was in it along with Bobby Carter from Western Illinois. after chatting for a while, the two (who had never previously met) realized they were cousins and cheered for each other the rest of the night with rambunctious yells of "Dat's my cuz!!" i can only imagine the course of conversation that led to that revelation.