Fire Bill Carmody

BREAKING: Northwestern basketball still sucks

2012-01-30T20:58:00.011-05:00

i guess it's time to dust off the old blogging machine. it's been much too long since i wrote anything, but Saturday's home loss to Purdue certainly warrants some ranting here.

Purdue guards driving right past Sobo (and others). missed free throws plus at least one lane violation. offense that managed to be completely ineffective as well as downright ugly to watch. an extended scoreless stretch that is now seemingly featured in every NU game. an inability to stop the other team's best player in crunch time. even less ability to score in even crunchier time.

we've seen this all before. for TWELVE YEARS. i have to think BC has, finally, utterly, run his course. Juice Thompson can't save him this time.

both the Carmody bashers and Carmody defenders are at full throat this week. i am fully aware that BC is the most successful coach in school history. i cannot argue that there are obstacles to success with this program that go beyond the head coach. but it also can't be debated that he has fallen short. he's lasted through three athletic directors, somehow skating through as incrementally successful only when contrasted with the previous 100 dreadful years of Northwestern basketball.

but surely Jim Phillips has to see it. he has to recognize that it all comes down to talent. perhaps moreso in basketball than in college football, because one or two guys can make so much of a difference. to me, this is where BC has failed more than anywhere else. when i see so many minutes going to guys like Curletti, Marcotulio, and Hearn (his two big buckets on Saturday notwithstanding), i can't Expect Victory. it's not like we're competing against the Summit League.

it doesn't help that the two most talented players in the Carmody era were/are unequivocally soft. we all know that Kevin Coble quit the team on the eve of its potentially greatest season. and John Shurna hasn't shown me an overwhelming amount of heart this year. from where i sit, he appears to lack the desire to demand the ball and take over a game, the ability to convince his teammates to let him do so, or both.

the bottom line is that Northwestern's players haven't been good enough to win on talent. and the coaching hasn't been good enough to make up for that talent deficiency. i think twelve years is enough time to figure that out.

Happy new year from AC

2011-12-29T09:03:00.008-05:00

in honor of Northwestern basketball looking fairly incompetent against any worthwhile competition, i've decided to post some good old fashioned rage. and since i've clearly lost nearly all interest in updating this site, i'll do what any experienced blogger does. when you can't write something funny yourself, just post (or link to) good writing from someone else!

presented below in their unedited entirety are four emails FBC received from AC Titticock. these were sent to me during and after the loss to Iowa in October, and i wasn't sure what to do with them until now. enjoy.

*****

Sat, Oct 15, 2011 at 8:00 PM
Subject: Fitz=Carmody?

Dear Bill Carmody, AC Means Pat Fitzgerald,

WE HAVE THE BEST QB IN NU HISTORY WHY THE FUCK ARE WE ROTATING HIM WITH KAIN FUCKING COLTER???????????????????????? and yes, the caps were intentional.

I might have to fucking slum it and post something on laketheposts. FUCKING Moronic.

Fuck Carmody,
AC

*****

Sat, Oct 15, 2011 at 8:47 PM
No subject

Dan persa is fucking good at football. Carshitty should recruit him to play the bottom of the 1-3-1 defense.

fuck carmody,
AC

*****

Sat, Oct 15, 2011 at 9:26 PM
Subject: 3rd and 5

AND WE BRING IN COLTER?????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??????????//

Persa is like 30 of 36 throwing the ball, no fucking joke, and we bring in cain kolter on 3rd and 5 to run the option which ISN'T FOOLING ANYONE.

ugh.

Fuck carmody,
AC

*****

Sun, Oct 16, 2011 at 11:19 AM
No subject

The 3rd and 5 play in the 4th quarter when we were driving and only down 7 is pretty much a microcosm of this season. I’ll try to type this without dropping too many f-bombs, but we have the BEST QB IN NU HISTORY (or at least since Otto Graham was going deep on flappers by the Rock, and apologies to the great Lenny Williams and Brett Basanez, but Persa is better) who at that point in the game had completed like 54 consecutive passes and was something like 98 for 102 and had converted 37 straight third downs (2 thumbs up for Ebert by the way) all while solving the elusive P vs. NP problem (and I may have rounded some of those numbers up a bit) and yet WE FUCKING TAKE HIM OUT ON THE MOST IMPORTANT PLAY OF THE GAME FOR KAIN FUCKING KOLTER TO RUN THE OPTION which everyone in the entire mutliverse knew was going to happen? Really????? That was an even worse call than running Jacob Schmidt on third down at the end of the Army game or wearing flip flops to the White House.

Look, I have sworn to never say a bad thing about Pat Fitzgerald for all the joy he and NU brought me during the Gary Barnett era, and I have nothing against Kain Colter (in fact I think he will give Andrew Brewer a great run for the title as NU’s best former quarterback who is a threat on offense (and look how good it has worked out for Andrew)), but you don’t fucking rotate Dan Persa off the fucking field EVER unless his arm is hanging off or he’s late for his own personal dance marathon with NU grad Jaime Ray Newman. It boggles the fucking mind.

Kain Colter certainly brings something to the table (and should he ever learn to throw without wearing his purse, he could be a terrific QB), and he is an amazing athlete, but you just don’t take Persa off the field. Shit, it’s like the movie Who’s Nailin Paylin. Did anyone want to have fewer scenes with Lisa Ann just break things up? I mean there’s a time and a place for Nina Hartley (like the 1980s), but when Lisa Ann is in her fucking prime, you don’t leave her out of any scene. It’s a crime against humanity (and even Professor Arthur Butz would agree with that) and so was taking Persa off the field on that 3rd and 5 which just makes less sense than the entire Bill Carmody era (or error as it is better known), rugby punting, or Kate Shindle winning Miss America.

I am flummoxed, flabbergasted, and every other f word out there about that move and the coaching this season. It’s such a shame, NU may never have another Dan Persa and we’re treating him like he’s Tim Hughes. So Coach Fitzgerald, I implore you to do the right thing and Free Persa.

Go Cats!

PS. This Siemian guy looks like a fucking monster. That TD throw was incredible. I really hope we convert Colter to a wr/rb (where he will be unbelievably effective) and let Siemian shoot it around next year, that guy is impressive.

*****

if that doesn't get you fired up for Texas A&M, i don't know what will.

Pat Forde remains unimpressed

2011-05-27T12:45:00.008-04:00

Alex Marcotulio and Luka's facemask appeared briefly on ESPN's college basketball page today. unfortunately the picture was paired with "the Northwesterns of the world are downright sad."

Pat Forde submitted his list of college hoops' underachievers, and Northwestern has moved to the #1 spot. (As Loretta already pointed out, three of the top four are Big Ten teams.) here is what he had to say about NU:

1. Northwestern: Being an egghead school is a proven impediment to winning national titles for everyone but Duke -- but plenty of egghead schools have at least experienced some success. Stanford has gone to a Final Four and been a No. 1 seed several times, and Vanderbilt has become an annual contender in the Southeastern Conference.

Then there is Northwestern.

Despite proximity to a slew of talent, the Wildcats are famously still waiting for their first NCAA tournament invitation. Not first victory; first berth. That's pathetic.

I'm not posting this because it's terribly interesting or tells us anything we don't already know. i just want to point out that when Forde wrote this column four years ago, Northwestern was #5 on the list. so while NU has made three straight NIT tournaments amongst its most successful seasons ever, it has somehow fallen even further behind expectations, at least according to Forde.

On the plus side, one member of the media thinks Jimmer Shurna will lead us to the promised land next season.

I found him, redux

2011-03-28T13:30:00.008-04:00

in honor of VCU's run to the Final Four (and all the KU fans' souls which were crushed along the way), here is a FBC first: i'm re-publishing one of my own blog posts. please note that by doing so, i'm in no way suggesting that Shaka Smart will definitely leave for another job, or, if he did, that NU would be able to afford him. clearly this dude will be able to choose from any BCS opening he wants, and it would never EVER be a good career move to leave VCU for Northwestern.

i'm simply using yesterday's win as an opportunity to pat myself on the back for spotting greatness so early. also, it's much more fun to re-read the comments from Smart and Norwood Teague considering recent events. (the original post is here, for anyone in the mood for classic AC vs. Anonymous arguments)

3/29 edit: Shaka's wife has a Master's from Medill. i can't believe they let this guy get away.

3/31 edit: "Chicago is my favorite city in the whole country."

**************

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 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.

First-hand account of Saturday's win

2011-03-22T13:54:00.001-04:00

from a friend of FBC:

"Our NU contingent at the game was decent (120 tickets sold through the alumni website). Because Boston College did not have a lot of fans there and because Boston College was generally sucking, we were pretty loud. When we yelled for the NU player introductions, the coaches turned around (we were in the upper level behind the bench) in surprise. When Carmody did the shift change with around a minute left to get the scrubs in, one of the assistants grabbed him and gestured towards us. Then he walked along the bench and talked to the players and gestured towards us again. After the post-game handshakes they came over and waved and celebrated with us. I thought it was pretty cool that the assistant recognized that they needed to appreciate the vocal fans who had shown up to support them 1,000 miles from Evanston. Then, in honor of FBC, I decided that it was a sure good thing the assistant thought of it, because Carmody is far too douchey to ever come up with such an idea."

Juice's career not finished yet

2011-03-13T21:33:00.000-04:00

Northwestern will host UW Milwaukee on Wednesday night. i'm not entirely sure how that happened, but i'll take it. let's hope Wildcat fans are not outnumbered in our own building. and thank God NU was invited to the NIT, because earlier the school had announced that it was not interested in the CBI.

i generally agree with Loretta8's comments on twitter and SoP that NU is in no position to turn down any chance at postseason basketball. Jim Phillips' competitiveness is well-documented, so i guess i understand how he would look at the CBI as a slap in the face. i also understand there are financial obligations of playing in the CBI, at least at home. but i would look at it as an opportunity to grow the program and take advantage of extra practice time for the returning roster. the cynical side of me thinks that perhaps Jim didn't want to give BC credit for a "third consecutive postseason appearance." but all of that is irrelevant now - call the banner company to get a third NIT in the rafters!

in other news, sadly i'll miss the first weekend of the tournament this year due to some (wife's) family obligations in the Dominican Republic. on the plus side, this is the second consecutive year a NU blogger planned a trip to the Caribbean in March with absolutely no chance of missing the Wildcats' first tourney appearance.

and finally, how about some dap for Ed DeChellis. for the last few years he has been on more "hot seat" lists than Carmody. the support that PSU hoops team doesn't get from the university is ridiculous. and although the Bryce Jordan Center is newer than Welsh-Ryan, that doesn't mean it's much better. and yet, two years ago DeChellis got an NIT title, and obviously this weekend he did what BC has never been able to do: string together enough wins at the end of the season to get the committee's attention. that plus Ed's absolute ownership of NU makes Bill Carmody look even worse.

So much for that

2011-03-11T14:10:00.003-05:00

A second inspiring effort against the Fuckeyes came up short today. My biggest sports fan pet peeve is complaining about the refs, so you won't hear me bitching about any foul calls. As a shout-out to FBC's early days, I did think about titling this post, "I hate you Luka Mirkovic." What a miserable two days for him. I hate to admit it, but late in the second half I was thinking it would have been nice to have Kyle Rowley today- five fouls to give, if nothing else.

Even if NU had held on, it would have been nearly impossible for them to win two more in two days. With such a short bench the 'Cats looked gassed, and some of those late jumpers were well short. Hate to see Juice go out like this - wondering what could have been - but hopefully he's not finished quite yet. Who knows, maybe NU will even get a home game out of this. See you Sunday on ESPNU.

100% Pure

2011-03-10T16:26:00.003-05:00

Juice is the man. we already knew this, but he has really played out of his mind down the stretch of this season. all week he's been saying: "we still plan on making the NCAA tournament. we're going to Indy to win four games." today there was no way he was letting NU lose. it's great for him that some national media guys - who may be watching their first NU hoops of the season - get a chance to recognize what a tough player he is.

who the hell knows what's going to happen on Friday, but it was an inspiring effort all around. with such a short bench, guys stepped up and - for the most part - didn't make mistakes. i do not like NU's chances without Capocci and Cobb playing defense, but maybe we'll get some sweater vest karma working in our favor.

Your Summit League update

2011-03-08T07:45:00.000-05:00

sadly the 2011 IUPUI season ended with a loss to Oral Roberts in the Summit League tournament. when i saw the final score, i was reminded of the afternoon of February 17, when a spontaneous twitter attack erupted from Michael Hadley: College Basketball fanatic, Summit League aficionado, and IUPUI Jaguar super-fan!

Mikey took issue with my discussion about NU's options if the Wildcats are not invited to the NIT. he started off by claiming he doesn't "really care one way or another about @firebillcarmody's opinions on his (or her) own school/coach/etc" and then proceeded to assail those opinions.

it made for high comedy at the time, and of course the most preposterous of his statements is that "Post season basketball is post season basketball." if that were true, sports fans everywhere would be tuning into ESPNU on March 13 for the NIT selection show, a nation of white-collar workers would be scrambling next Monday to fill out CIT brackets for the office pool, and IUPUI's own gym would feature a picture of its 2010 CBI squad alongside the 2003 team that made the NCAA tournament.

so don't be sad about the loss, Mike. IUPUI finishes the year with a 19-14 record, so they'll likely end up in the CBI or CIT, which according to you, is just as good as playing in the big dance. enjoy the ride.

for those who weren't following along last month, here you go:

Hooray! Championship Week is here!

2011-03-07T16:12:00.002-05:00

Here are some goddamn facts

2011-02-17T09:10:00.007-05:00

the Bill Carmody chatter cranked up this week to levels I've never seen before, not even after 3-34 in conference. the buzz of "HE SHOULD BE FIRED!" was exceeded only by those chastising others for suggesting that he should be fired. some people think FBC is nothing more than a rabble-rouser, but let's be honest: FireBillCarmody has always been more of a brand/nickname than anything else. I like to think that I've offered perspective more balanced than the name of this site would suggest. and now, thanks to today's Wall Street Journal, here are some facts with a side of context:

Since the 1996-1997 season, here are the major conference college basketball teams with the worst 50-game spans of conference play.

TEAM/CONFERENCE/YEARS	RECORD
DePaul Big East, 2008-present	2-48
Washington St. Pac-10, 2001-2003	6-44
Penn State Big Ten , 2002-06	6-44
Oregon State Pac-10, 2006-2009	6-44
Rutgers Big East, 2007-10	6-44
South Florida Big East, 2006-09	7-43
Northwestern Big Ten, 2006-09	7-43

and guess how many coaches have survived those stretches: exactly 1. check it out:

DePaul - hired Oliver Purnell on April 6, 2010
Washington State - hired Dick Bennett on March 29, 2003
Penn State - hired Ed DeChellis in April 2003
Oregon State - hired Craig Robinson on April 7, 2008
Rutgers - hired Mike Rice on May 6, 2010
South Florida - hired Stan Heath on April 2, 2007

from that list only Heath and DeChellis were around for significant stretches, and the other four schools made changes at or near the end of the down years. and yet our boy BC keeps chugging along. unbelievable.

If not the NIT, then what?

2011-02-17T07:53:00.014-05:00

with all that tedious NCAA talk out of the way, NU fans are faced with the stark reality that NU might not be good enough to make the NIT. Rodger over at SoP has been reminding us for weeks that NU was the last at-large team to make the NIT bracket. this year's NU team is not as good as that one, although the postseason field is probably weaker in general.

i generally agree with this argument, that Northwestern basketball is in no position to decline any invitation to play into March, regardless of how crappy the tournament may be. it would be nice to give Juice another home game or two, and it would give the younger guys additional practice/game time. let's look at the two options:

College Basketball Invitational
This will be the fourth CBI, and BCS teams were part of its three previous brackets: 2008 Virginia, Cincinnati, Washington; 2009 St. John's, Stanford, Oregon State (champion); 2010 Oregon State.

That's not exactly a who's who of big six basketball programs, but at least it wouldn't be unprecedented if NU ended up there. It's worth noting that not all those major conference teams got home games. This tournament starts on the same nights as the First Four, and it's unique in that the championship is decided by a best-of-three series to be played in the week of the Final Four. TV coverage doesn't include every early round game and is on HDNet, aka Mark Cuban's channel.

~~CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament~~*
Certainly THIS would be an insult. The two previous tournaments haven't featured anything other than mid- and low-majors. The oddest thing about this tournament is that along with several distinguished former coaches - Lefty Driesell, Lou Henson, Riley Wallace - the selection committee includes Antonio Gates and Vincent Jackson!?! This is about what you'd expect from a site that features both head coach and assistant coach brackets for the Fashionable Four. It looks like some of these games would be on Fox College Sports.

*edit: the CIT doesn't take BCS teams, so never mind. but still, that Vincent Jackson shit is weird.

The big X factor here is money. When these tournaments were created, I read that teams had to pay. I don't remember the details, and of course now I can't find those details. As I recall, there was a fee to host a game in one or both of these tournaments, but the payout was structured so that if you won at least one game you broke even; two or more wins meant a profit. Assuming the financial contribution is not too hefty, I bet Jim Phillips would be in. To my knowledge NU's only other home postseason game was 1994, so I'm sure the NU marketing department would go all out.

We're fucked

2011-02-13T21:56:00.001-05:00

that's as succinctly as i can sum it up. all the positive (or at not disastrous) vibes from two previous Saturdays are long forgotten. i was certainly frustrated by the collapse at the end of the Michigan game, but today's effort was so much more pathetic. it was something we've seen before from BC's crew, and i'm not even sure if it's a word: noncompetitiveness. can you believe that the Penn State seniors have never lost to Northwestern? the Wildcats are single-handedly letting Ed DeChellis keep his job. (of course, DeChellis has those five NIT wins in 2009. something BC can't sniff.)

nothing good can happen from the rest of this season. the trip to Madison will obviously be a massacre, and the rest of the games were considered virtual locks in January, but now i'll be shocked if NU wins more than they lose.

this is the weakest Big Ten we've seen in quite some time. do you realize that the twin dumpster fires of Illinois and Sparty are tied for fourth place?!? at this point no one would be surprised if only three teams made the tourney. the sorry state of the league only reinforces NU's lost opportunities this season. there were a lot of wins for the taking in this league, even more than we expected in December. but instead, Bill Carmody sits in 9th place with his supposed Best Team Ever, and finishing in last is a very real possibility. that certainly discredits Lindsey Willhite's defense of BC.

and PLEASE don't give me any BS about Kevin Coble. doesn't the head coach deserve some blame for losing his second-best player on the eve of the school's most important season?

when i started FBC over five years ago, my first post included this:

That's all I'm asking. Just the NIT. Beat up on some cupcakes then finish 6-10 in the conference. Play on ESPN once or twice a year. I don't have high expectations. Just stop sucking so much.

based on that, i suppose the program has met my then-so-very-low expectations. remarkably NU finished that season with a 6-10 conference record (although they lost 31 of the next 34 Big Ten games) and they made the NIT in 2010 and 2009. but fuck that, Northwestern can do better. Fitz has shown us that. but it remains clear to me that Northwestern can't do better with Bill Carmody in charge.

What a clown

2011-02-07T13:13:00.002-05:00

yes, it was nice for NU to finally get a good win. but it strikes me as incredibly odd and awkward that BC gave a "shout-out" during his postgame interview with Raff. video here.

Where do we go from here?

2011-02-02T13:26:00.019-05:00

there has been a lot of introspection lately from Northwestern fans, so i might as well pile on. (although i really was tempted to simply ride out the rest of the season by writing nothing but updates to my previous post.)

last week Sippin' on Purple discussed whether NU is underachieving this year. i have to agree with Loretta8 and say absolutely not. this is part of an email i sent to a friend on November 4, 2010:

i could definitely see NU beating everyone they should but also not beating anyone they shouldn't. ...end up with a decent W/L record but terrible computer numbers.

that's exactly where we are with one month left in the regular season. the woefully weak nonconference schedule did nothing but kill off NU's at-large chances and artificially inflate the Wildcats' box scores and fans' expectations.

SoP pretty much nailed it regarding the national media stories and defensive problems, but one thing that wasn't touched on was the offense struggling against good teams. i will not pretend to understand or appreciate all the helpful stats out there as well as others do, so i'll just take the lazy way out and look at points scored.

i fully recognize that total points don't tell the whole story, but it's hard to ignore the obvious, and the numbers are easy to analyze because bad opponent = win and good opponent = loss. the W/L difference in NU's offense is actually bigger (83ppg vs. 63ppg) than the W/L difference in NU's defense (63ppga vs. 76 ppga).

all of this speaks to NU simply not having the horses to run with the big boys. whether trying to get a score or a stop, the Wildcats are outmanned in all the contests that matter. that's why i was so confused at the consensus reaction to the departure of Kevin Coble: "NU will be fine ... last year Coble didn't play and NU won more games without him ... Shurna is a better player ... Freundt can replace his points and rebounds." alright, maybe i made up that last one. but the point is this: Northwestern basketball is FAR from having talent to spare.

to me, that's the only thing that will get this thing turned around - better players. sure, it was fun watching NU take the Buckeyes down to the wire. and i've seen at least a few people call for Carmody to return full-time to the style everyone thinks of when they hear Princeton Offense. but we all know that's not sustainable. the coaches in this conference are paid too much money to be beaten consistently by a gimmick. i'm not saying that the rest of the Big Ten can't be beaten with offensive wrinkles, and i'm not saying the other guys can't be outcoached, but it's hard to do either when NU's players just aren't good enough.

'Cats drop another one to a good team

2011-01-15T15:47:00.005-05:00

NU is now 0-5 against teams that are anything better than terrible. on a key possession late in OT, BC called the good ole throw-up-a-three-at-the-shot-clock-buzzer play. and the AC rant begins in three, two, one...

1/24 update: NU is now 0-6 against teams that are anything better than terrible.

1/26 update: NU is now 0-7 against teams that are anything better than terrible.

1/29 update: NU is now 0-8 against teams that are anything better than terrible.

The extension

2011-01-11T12:59:00.002-05:00

i'm not going to get all hot and bothered that Bill Carmody got a new contract. the fact that it was only two years seems that NU found a satisfactory balance between "we can't allow recruiting to come to a complete standstill" and "the program is better than it used to be but we want to see continued progress before we name the court after you."

as usual Teddy Greenstein has the best insight. however, i don't subscribe to the cop-out theory of "there isn't anyone better." that's what athletic directors (and even the dark and scary coaching search firms) are paid to do- find someone good. if Jim Phillips needs some help, here's a good place to start: HAVOC!

Embarrassed.

2011-01-07T07:47:00.003-05:00

as much as Stephen Bardo annoys me sometimes - and I'm getting tired of him doing EVERY 'Cats appearance on espn - he accurately described Northwestern's performance last night when he said, "They just lack." last night NU looked like boys among men and got run out of the gym by the hot-shooting Illini.

as some have already pointed out, starting the conference 0-3 is not the end of the world, and if NU finished fifth behind Purdue, MSU, Illinois (plus OSU) I think we'd all be thrilled. but there wasn't anything encouraging to take from last night's loss. either Bardo, Wischusen, or Dan Dakich must have used the phrase "lack of effort" fifty times, and certainly a lot of fans are jumping on that theme today. it doesn't help that this performance came on the heels of LTP's thorough post yesterday that included this from a list of BC complaints:

Carmody’s antics on the sideline. Last game he threw his hands at Shurna in disgust after he missed a FT. His pouting and borderline unprofessional demeanor on the sidelines isn’t exactly the type of stuff “leaders” (or is it “legends”?) are made of.

at least one semi-casual fan asked me last night about BC and his apparent inability to inspire his team. to me, the larger question/problem is: is this team any good?

effort or not, Northwestern did not come close to matching the orange's talent level last night. the same was evident in West Lafayette last week. if i didn't know better, i'd have thought i was watching a Wildcat roster from about five years ago; that's how crappy our players looked.

Shurna's injury is obviously killing them, and i'm not sure the other players are good enough to make up for his absence. early in the game it was clear that Juice was forcing shots, and i'm sure he feels pressure to make up for the loss of Shurna's offense. the impact of his injury was even more profound on defense. about seven minutes in, McCamey hit an easy three when Shurna was slow to close out on him. on the next possession, Shurna seemed to make an extra effort to get out on McCamey on the same spot on the floor, but a simple pass led to another easy three by Brandon Paul with Shurna well out of the play.

i assume Jim Phillips attended the game, which for Carmody is a good thing, since the early part of the second half amounted to a twenty minute bash-fest of NU players and coaches. NU looked like the Washington Generals as Illinois passed circles around them to get seemingly dozens of lobs and dunks. that this was going on while the announcers called out the team for lack of desire and not being ready to play - while on a major network broadcast - is probably an athletic director's worst nightmare.

again, i'm not going to lose my mind because NU has lost three games (two on the road) to very good teams. let's remember that what killed NU's bubble chances last year was not losing to Michigan State at home or to Illinois on the road, both of which happened. it was going 2-4 in February against Penn State, Indiana and Iowa. those teams were not any good last year, and they're not any good this year. if NU loses a game next week, then i guess the Wildcats are not any good either.

NU loses first of three tough ones

2010-12-31T14:31:00.001-05:00

that was a rough one. look, i would like to see JuJuan Johnson in foul trouble as much as anyone, but having Luka Mirkovic as the offensive focus to open the game is not a winning strategy. yes, he was aggressive, but it would be much more helpful if he could hit a 15 foot jumper. i don't understand how he can hit from beyond the arc but yet not even look at the basket when he's left open at the foul line. Shurna clearly wasn't 100%, and it looked to me like the other guys weren't sure who should take the lead instead. Cobb had some nice takes to the basket, but Crawford was far too reticent. it was disappointing to watch him not go hard after that loose ball in the first half.

Purdue plays too strong of defense and passes the ball too well for NU to have a shot at winning this game. Shurna & Luka helped the 'cats hang around in the second half, but short of Curletti bangin' in about six more threes from the top of the key, you just had the underlying sense that today was not NU's day. for me, the biggest positive that came out of today was the bench play. Capocci and Marcotullio made some tangible contributions, so hopefully those guys can help keep these team from wearing down in February.

there's certainly no shame in losing on the road against a top 15 team featuring two possible lottery picks. but the overriding theme for NU this season will be whether they beat anyone they shouldn't. so far, it hasn't happened. they'll have another shot to do it at home on Monday and in Champaign on Thursday.

Wildcats wreck the jackets

2010-11-30T21:32:00.001-05:00

anyone reading this likely watched the game, so i'll spare you any detailed recap. here is a collection of my thoughts, in no particular order:

i would like an NU booster to donate a fancy new camera to W-R Arena. every time NU plays on HD, i'm frustrated by my TV's crappy picture compared to other broadcasts.
maybe they were embarrassed by the Rice Jr. dunk, but it was encouraging to see Cobb and Crawford be assertive early with their athleticism.
certainly didn't look like a full house, for students or the paying public.
what do you think keeps Shurna from getting more tail on campus: his acne or his jump short form?
that first half was as close to perfect as you can ask for.
does NU have a binding agreement with announcers that forces each of them to tell the story of how Juice Thompson got his nickname?
tonight was the first time i've ever noticed actual muscles on John Shurna
i'm not terribly concerned with NU's struggles in the middle of the second half against the full-court press. not many teams in the Big Ten are as quick and athletic as GT.
really the only negative tonight: free throw shooting. just over 50%

it was obvious early that Crawford and Cobb were focused for this one, and Mirkovic always plays better when he can feed off the crowd. Shurna and Thompson were outstanding as usual. NU was clearly ready to go for this nationally televised game at home. it will be interesting to see how they fare in the dog days of the conference schedule, especially on the road. but we'll worry about that in another month. for now it's hard not to be awfully happy with that performance.

Coble talking, Carmody not

2010-11-22T09:06:00.006-05:00

it looks like the Coble drama, which bubbled up again last week, may have finally run its course. last week Coble told Luke Winn that his departure from the team centered around disagreement on whether he should go to Italy with the team. Teddy Greenstein did some digging of his own. i still don't completely understand why Coble would come out with unsolicited comments, but it sounds like BC is done talking about it.

the hoops team is off this week but that doesn't mean i can't get pissed off about their weak nonconference schedule. Minnesota basically put themselves in the NCAA tournament this weekend with wins over UNC and WVU. i understand that after the Italy trip NU may not have had the money to go to Maui or Puerto Rico, but those two wins will be at the top of the screen when/if Minnesota's bubble status is discussed 3.5 months from now. NU obviously won't be able to offer anything close to that.

on an unrelated note, i drunkenly scribbled some notes during College Gameday on Saturday, so below is a summary of the signs worth mentioning. lots of people got their panties in a bunch over the FIRE DEMOS sign, but at least that was a better topic than the discussion in the SoP comments about exactly where Chicago's "Boystown" is located. personally, the Demos sign made me laugh, and that's really all i'm looking for in a CGD sign. i saw at least two Washington State flags; here are the rest...

I got 99 problems but Ron Zook ain't one
Even Snoop Prefers Northwestern (with pic of Snoop in Rowley jersey)
Is this the line for Harry Potter?
Danny Heisman
NU = QB U (with names of recent NU quarterbacks)
Rod Blogojevich: NU '79
I luv fotbal. High Ma. Go U of I
Passion Bucket (with pic of Rich Eisen. i didn't get this but apparently Neuheisel started it)
Ron Zook: coming soon to an unemployment line near you
According to the Princeton Review the University of Illinois is the least selective school in the Big Ten
Fitz 4 Prez (with his pic wearing a Lincoln beard and the Lincoln hat trophy)
Trumpy 4 Heisman
The real NU welcomes UNL to the Big Ten
NU grads earn more $$$ than SEC recruits
NU: 95% graduation rate, 100% ownership of Iowa. (also briefly saw his NERDS sign)

but perhaps the best one appeared only briefly at the beginning of the show before it was likely confiscated:

Yes, I know the season has started

2010-11-16T07:53:00.004-05:00

The Wildcats are 1-0 and John Shurna looked good in the first game. Well, not exactly "looked" good, considering the game wasn't televised. Next up is another road game, tomorrow night at UT Pan Am. Obviously a loss there would be unexpected and very disappointing, but considering how close to the border Edinburg is, I think another goal of this trip should be to avoid getting kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel. Jershon didn't play last Friday, and I won't get a really good look at this squad until the Georgia Tech game after Thanksgiving, so I'll withhold my thoughts on the team until then.

As part of ESPN's 24-hour college hoops marathon, St. Mary's played at 2am ET this morning. I recorded the game and watched it this morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of our old friend Kyle Rowley. Although SMC had at least a half dozen guys in street clothes at the end of the bench, there was no sign of Snoop's buddy. I did some digging, and it turns out that Rowley will not be attending SMC until the second semester. This fall he is enrolled, although not playing, at the College of Southern Idaho. This article discusses in WAY too much length how he ended up there, but the startling revelation is this:

[Rowley] needed a semester of junior college to get things lined up academically for his transfer to St. Mary’s

I'm certainly not an expert on NCAA eligibility issues, but I find this remarkable. After two years at a top-tier institution, he apparently didn't have enough transferable credits. While I certainly was not sad to see Kyle leave the team, he is depriving himself of a very special Northwestern opportunity. No, not making the NCAA tournament for the first time. If he'd stuck it out for two more years, then perhaps a "Kyle Rowley Experience" could have been auctioned off at the 2012 Fast Break Club Tip-Off Dinner.

Back in October I'd planned to do a whole post about this event but just didn't get to it. There were some cool ideas available (attend a practice, ball boy for a game, sit in press row) but they seemed hell-bent on including NU basketball personalities with many of the items...

Cubs game with Jim Phillips - it would be interesting to talk to the AD about the challenges facing NU athletics/marketing/etc.
Bulls game with Tavaras Hardy - an opportunity to get an inside look at the world of recruiting; also, I would ask him about that time he fouled out with zero points and zero rebounds
Golf with Mitch Henderson - not terribly exciting, but hopefully you could get some good stories about Pete Carril

OK, those are fine. But some of the others are a stretch...

"wings & brews" with Tim Doyle and Joe Kennedy- I love how they say "brews" to make it sound hip and fun. This would be worth it ONLY if Kennedy was allowed to tell any and every story from his time in the White House.
Away game experience with Jason Okrzesik - I love the road trip idea. Travel with the team, sit behind the bench, it's great. Plus it's a road game that NU should win and you're not dealing with a loud or hostile crowd. But why drag Jason Okrzesik into this? If I was the winning bidder, I think I'd have to pull someone aside and ask that Jason be left at home. If I get to travel with the team, the last thing I want to do is hang out with this guy, especially since he'll probably spend the entire flight trying to sell me Milwaukee Bucks season tickets.
Home game experience with Jason Burke - what??? Jason Burke is among the most forgettable Wildcats of the Carmody era. I have no idea why he's even involved or what the EXPERIENCE could possibly entail.

And of course, the grand prize is cocktails and refreshments with head coach Bill Carmody in Evanston. Obviously there is no question about BC's cocktail of choice, but I do have to admit this would be a unique opportunity. I can't imagine there are many BCS coaches out there who would volunteer their time to be auctioned off to any random fan. Maybe next year I should attend this dinner hosted by the Fast Break Club (= FBC = Fire Bill Carmody) just to find out the winning bidders. Some of these items/trips raise so many questions that I really need to find out what they're like.

Relax, I'm not retiring

2010-09-10T18:03:00.002-04:00

please note that i included phrases like "this is a long-winded way of me not saying goodbye" and "i'm not going away" so yes this site will stay alive, and i never had any other intentions. i appreciate the love from AC and SoP, but all i was trying to say was that i will likely post a little less during the season. this will still be your home for unabashed (and sometimes unfounded) criticism.

i seemingly can't escape quotes from BC about the goddamn red wine in Italy, so there's no reason to think my anger will diminish.

It's not you, it's me

2010-09-01T07:30:00.001-04:00

it's hard to believe i've been at this for so long; my dumb little blog was born in January 2006. i didn't start FBC because i thought i had all the answers or because i claimed to be an expert on Northwestern basketball. the whole idea behind FBC was that Bill Carmody was just dicking around and no one was paying attention. Northwestern basketball was showing no signs of progress and, from where i sat, not one person gave a damn. so i figured i'd try to stir up some enthusiasm or anger or at least some acknowledgment that NU had a hoops team.

i'm certainly not taking the credit, but i'm happy to say that there now exists a tangible population that has strong feelings about Northwestern basketball. the rumble through the twitter/blog world when Coble quit is evidence of that. there are more NU sports blogs/sites out there than you probably know about, and according to this list, FBC pre-dates just about all of them. several of those do a much better job covering the season than i do...

my personal favorite is Sippin' on Purple, where Rodger pulls off an effective combination of humor and analysis, and he pumps out a TON of content. whether it's Rodger or Loretta8 covering the upcoming season, i look forward to reading what SoP has to say.

i'm also a big fan of Chicago College Basketball. John's work is not limited to Northwestern, but let's be honest: there's only so much you can write about UIC, Loyola and Chicago State. he's a big fan of working in plenty of numbers and statistics, so you NU nerds should love that.

Welsh-Ryan Ramblings might be the most complete NU hoops blog. it has been noted that WRR and FBC have "just about polar opposite viewpoints on NU basketball" and i don't disagree with that. we never got a chance to do a second roundtable, but i'd welcome the opportunity. if you like FBC, you may not like the mostly positive vibe over at WRR, but the site is nothing if not thorough.

i also need to mention Spread Far the Fame, which introduced something called The Many Moods of Bill Carmody. let's hope this feature has legs.

(everyone knows about Lake the Posts. LTP has increased his coverage of the basketball program in the past year or two. which, i suppose, is a good thing. but then i read things like the million dollar idea and think it's best if he sticks to football.)

anyway, this is a long-winded way of me not saying goodbye. i stand by my long-ago promise that i will not shutter this site until NU makes the tournament (or BC gets canned, whichever comes first) but you can expect less updates during the season. i will absolutely still vent my frustration here from time to time, but i have no interest in writing pre- and post-game entries when there are others who do it better. i'm not going away; just dialing it back a bit. oh, and i'll still be active on twitter, for those of you who like your NU hoops commentary limited to 140 characters.

Coble pusses out

2010-07-28T07:47:00.003-04:00

in a move that apparently didn't surprise Bill Carmody, Kevin Coble has quit the team. the most insightful articles i've seen are this and this. [although i think this tweet sums it up best.] for some reason Andy Katz is still drinking the purple Kool Aid, insisting that a summer trip to Italy is the key to success. but for me, this line near the end of Willhite's article sums up just how dire the situation is:

"forwards Mike Capocci and Ivan Peljusic have renewed incentive to bust their butts throughout their senior year"

if that's what the season comes down to, i don't like our chances.

i'm sure more details will surface in the coming days/weeks/months about exactly why he isn't coming back. he will stay on campus to graduate in the fall, so that figures to make for several awkward situations when he comes across other players on campus. i have to assume his decision came about in one of two ways...

1. Kevin and/or Kevin's mom are not pleased with the surgery and rehab. He's not as ready by now as he should be and probably is looking at another wasted season. He probably won't be at full strength for Game 1 and really will never get back to where he was. Another redshirt season is not an option, so he says, "Screw it. I wasn't going to play pro ball anyway, so I'll just graduate and go start making money in finance (or whatever)." If that's what happened, then blame goes to either the NU medical staff for a poor effort or just bad luck for a worse-than-normal broken foot.

2. Kevin may be frustrated with his extended rehab, but he's still in a position to contribute to the team this season. However, the team kinda sucks and the rest of the Big Ten is pretty good. He's not inspired by his coach and doesn't care all that much for his teammates. So he's out. If this is what happened, then Northwestern basketball is so much worse off than we ever imagined. Sure, we all like to talk about that first bid and how the players on the team that breaks through will be NU heroes forever. But I think we're forgetting one thing - THE PLAYERS DON'T GIVE A SHIT.

all that rah rah "let's make history together" is nonsense. players don't want to come to a school where the weather is cold, the classes are hard, the girls are ugly and the arena is empty. think about it: Kevin Coble dealt with his mom's cancer and an injury and helped lead this team through two of it's most successful seasons in a long time. and after all that, he doesn't even wait to quit until AFTER A FREE TRIP TO ITALY!! if Kevin Coble really thought this team was about to earn it's first-ever trip to the dance, after all the crap he's gone through, don't you think he would stick around for the reward? if a guy like that can leave the team now, then i have absolutely no hope for the future of this program.

either he doesn't think the team will make the tournament or he doesn't care if they do. no matter which it is, it ain't good.

The Rowley question has been answered

2010-07-14T07:58:00.007-04:00

according to this, Kyle "I'm seven feet tall and it took me two full seasons to get my first dunk" Rowley is transferring to St. Mary's College. i can't find a mention of his transfer anywhere else, but then again there ain't a whole lot of media coverage of the Gaels in July, so i have to assume this is accurate.

as St. Mary's knocked off Villanova and won two games in the 2010 tournament, i had the pleasure of watching it live. i can say for certain that St. Mary's is neither a high major nor a HIGH high major, as at least one person has repeatedly suggested. i can also say that if there's one player who can replace SMC all-timer Omar Samhan, that player is absolutely not Kyle Rowley. hell, he couldn't even replace Vince Scott.

UPDATE: looks like someone can't take a little good-natured ribbing. i am eternally grateful for your apparent help in taking Kyle Rowley far away from Evanston.

Your mid-summer update

2010-06-30T13:24:00.007-04:00

i haven't posted anything in a while, but there ain't been a whole lot to talk about. but here are a few nuggets from Lindsey Wilhite:

"highly touted 2010-11 team"

didn't last season teach us anything about unreasonably early and/or high expectations?

"Kevin Coble and Jeff Ryan are still recovering from their injuries"

not entirely surprising but also a reminder to those who think this will be a complete team and finished product for the entire season.

"Red wine"

fucking red wine. as i'm sure you remember, nothing pairs better with tournament failure.

i forgot to add one thing not related to the Wilhite article. still no word on which HIGH high major is going to lock down Kyle Rowley.

J Lloyd update

2010-04-29T14:48:00.004-04:00

as others had already pointed out, it appears that my hand-wringing may have been misdirected. according to this, Northwestern is still very much alive for Johnathan Loyd.

although my confidence sags when i realize it may come down to a "Bill Carmody in-home visit."

5/3 update: it's official. he signed with Oregon.

And now, some good news

2010-04-22T12:30:00.004-04:00

it appears the tournament expansion we've all been dreading has been postponed, at least for one season. CBS/Turner has a new deal with the NCAA, but next season's tournament will only have 68 teams. no word on whether those will be actual "play-in" games, i.e. have eight teams compete for the last four at-large spots. that would be awesome, but i expect it will instead be teams from the MEAC, SWAC, etc. playing for the right to lose to Duke, Michigan State, etc. as a 16 seed.

i strongly believe that the absence of immediate expansion to 96 teams is based solely on logistics. there simply isn't time to adjust schedules and secure arena space to pull this off in 2011, so expect the full 96 in 2012.

one interesting note is that for the first time ever, the tournament will broadcast simultaneous games at once, on four different channels (most likely CBS, TNT, TBS and Tru TV- formerly Court TV). that means we are no longer subject to the sometimes maddeningly slow trigger finger on the remote control at CBS HQ.

So long, Johnathan Loyd

2010-04-21T16:36:00.002-04:00

step aside Tavaras, the big boys have arrived. while it's at least encouraging that NU was able to identify this kind of talent early enough that we actually got a campus visit, i certainly would think this is where the courtship ends.

[Loyd] liked his visit to Northwestern and smiled at the thought of helping the once perennial doormat Wildcats make their first NCAA Tournament appearance.

when asked about playing for Billy Donovan or Tom Izzo, Loyd presumably did a lot more than smile at the thought of making multiple tournament, Final Four, and/or NBA draft appearances.

See you in San Antonio*

2010-04-14T15:29:00.003-04:00

Lunardi put together a 2011 bracket with 96 teams, and NU squeaked into the field as a 20 seed. Joe has the Wildcats playing VCU for the right to play Villanova, and according to his projections we were among the last four teams included. it would be interesting if Northwestern really did play VCU, considering my brief little obsession with their coach last April. if nothing else, click on that link to relive the good ole days of AC vs. anonymous.

enough has been written about what a terrible idea the 96 team tourney is, and this mess confirms it. the bracket has 8/11 Big Ten teams, 13/16 Big East teams, and all 12 from the ACC.

*yes, i realize the first round or opening round or whatever they're going to call it would not be played in San Antonio. but there is no way to know yet where that game would be played.

And so, another mediocre big man moves on

2010-04-06T13:34:00.029-04:00

following in the shoes of the original Michael Thompson, Kyle Rowley decided he's had enough of Northwestern basketball, apparently to find more playing time elsewhere. i've not always been kind to Kyle Rowley. a quick search reveals some of these Rowley-related comments from the past season:

"while Kyle Rowley continues to be utterly useless"
"i did not like anything Kyle Rowley attempted (and failed) to do"
"thank god Rowley wasn't in the game at that point"
"contributed 3 fouls and a turnover in 11 minutes"
"When Rowley comes in, we play 4-on-5 on offense"
"not awful"
"at least he's becoming a somewhat competent defensive rebounder"
"awkward as usual but not completely terrible"

at least those comments trended positive as we neared the end of the season. but i'm not mad at Kyle Rowley. the truth is that he came late to the game of basketball and came early to the Big Ten. that was not a winning combination. (don't forget that he was originally a 2009 recruit but enrolled at NU a year early.) he was never the right fit for Northwestern's style of play, but Carmody had no choice. NU was getting killed on the boards every night and the guys on the roster weren't getting any taller. here was a local seven footer who could theoretically help right away, so NU rolled the dice. the early buzz was good - let's take a look back to when Rowley picked the Wildcats:

Rowley came to

America

two summers ago, in 2006, and was very raw and unskilled. Now weighing in at 280 lbs, Rowley is a very mobile, skilled post presence. He is a good rebounder and adequate shot blocker, is a very good passer for a big man and has great moves around the basket. Rowley is also a good free-throw shooter and has a good mid-range jumper. The skilled big man is also a gym rat, and it is easy to see that his long hours on the court have paid off, as he has improved a vast amount over each of the past two years.

are you sure we're talking about the same Kyle Rowley? offensively he was a nonfactor; he finished his career around 45% FG and 53% FT. his career high was 10 points, and he hasn't done that since 12/1/08. he didn't rebound well enough to earn playing time; only twice in his career did he have more than four rebounds. sure, injury and illness were a factor this season, but he didn't get more than eight minutes for a two month stretch until the NIT game (in which Mirkovic couldn't play).

i also found it interesting that the original article mentioned the possibility of Rowley red-shirting his freshman year. i've since heard Carmody say that he should have done that. we'll never know if that would have made a difference.

personally, i was never able to watch Kyle Rowley play basketball without thinking of the George Carlin bit about bad names for boys. soft names make soft people.

Kyle Rowley is out

2010-04-06T12:29:00.002-04:00

news here.

Heckle

2010-04-01T15:34:00.005-04:00

after witnessing Northwestern's loss in the NIT, we were just sitting around as fans filed out. after a few minutes i remembered that Bill Carmody, after going into the locker room, does a postgame interview with WGN Radio. sure enough, i leaned forward in my seat and saw him standing by press row with headphones on.

i joked to friends that i should yell something at him after the interview. obviously, as soon as i said that, the expectation was that i would yell something at him after the interview. i really wish i'd put more forethought into this, but he was wrapping up with Dave Eanet so i had to come up with something quickly. he took off the headphones and started walking towards the tunnel opposite our seats. i knew it was now or never.

"CARMODY, YOU SUCK!"

in the next half second i realized just how much of the crowd had cleared out. i know i'm a good yeller, but i'm not kidding when i say it fucking ECHOED. it sort of startled me, but at the same time i recognized that he had no doubt heard me, and i pretty much had the attention of anyone left in the arena, so i needed to capitalize.

"GO BACK TO THE IVY LEAGUE!"

i fully admit that i should have yelled something more insightful/insulting/funny. my brother in law is pissed at me for not yelling out the name of this blog. that's a great idea that i hadn't thought of, but i'm also not sure that something ending in "...blogspot.com" has great POP. over the course of the next few days i thought of dozens of better things to yell, but at that moment back on March 17, it felt good just to yell anything. it's difficult being a Northwestern basketball fan living outside Big Ten country. i've been able to see a game every year or two, but that's not nearly enough outlets for my anger. for me to release a season's worth of frustration and have BC actually hear me, that was extremely cathartic.

To extend or not extend

2010-03-25T09:28:00.023-04:00

regarding the status of coach Carmody, for a long time i've thought NU has no choice but to give him a contract extension. not because he'd earned it, but because having a coach in a contract year cripples any recruiting efforts. [obviously i wouldn't suggest that Jim Phillips hand out a Paul Hewitt contract; see section C on page 3 - every March 15 his contract renews automatically and is essentially a never-ending six-year deal.] but having a lame duck coach makes those conversations with high school sophomores and juniors very awkward.

however, by my count NU only has one spot left for 2010/2011. (let's all pray Tavaras can find a serviceable back-up point guard.) it sounds like Jeff Ryan will be back with Coble, so that would mean Jershon is their 14th scholarship. i think everyone understands that it's all-or-nothing for the Wildcats next season, since NU is set to lose Capocci, Coble, Peljusic, Ryan and Thompson. even if BC got an extension and was able to bring in a decent class for 2011/2012, it's unlikely that a bunch of freshmen will be able to immediately step in for those guys.

of course, the ideal situation would be for NU to pick up more than one additional recruit for the upcoming season in an effort to upgrade the talent. basically do what John Calipari did last year in Lexington: bring in a bunch of better players so the guys already on the roster are SOL. (how awesome would it be if BC just stopped returning Nick Fruendt's calls?) but i don't see that happening between now and mid-October.

in the end, i think Phillips will give him an extension, but let's hope that the structure of the new contract doesn't financially prohibit NU making a change if/when they need to. given that the team in two years will basically look like last season's roster minus Juice (shudder), i wouldn't be upset if JP rolls the dice and puts both the staff and players on notice that it's 2011 or bust.

OK, my anger is back

2010-03-24T12:21:00.003-04:00

yesterday i made a concerted effort to avoid wild angry rants. but then today i read a column about the "tremendous legacy" left behind by Jeremy Nash. now i'm all fucking pissed off and have no choice but to direct a season's worth of frustration at Aaron Morse. it's one thing to slurp up Jeremy Nash when you thought Northwestern would make the tournament. yes, Aaron Morse did this also, back in January. but to post this nonsense after the team finished the season by losing six out of nine just leaves me confused. confused and enraged. let's see what lil' Aaron has to say.

Welsh Ryan Arena nearly exploded from the decibel levels reached at that moment.

no, no it didn't. W-R Arena has never reached explosive decibel levels. unless you count the times it was filled with fans from Iowa. or Indiana. or Wisconsin. or...

There's nothing sweeter than finally beating your rival, in front of your fans, in the middle of the race to the NCAA tournament.

can you call it a race if neither team crosses the finish line?

After only making seven three-pointers his freshman year, Nash knocked down 39 of them as a senior. He filled in at the shooting guard spot

maybe it's just me, but i like my shooting guards to make more than 1.15 3PT FGs per game.

But how many games would they have won the past two years without him?

according to this, Nash contributed 1.1 wins last season. so the number of wins would have been about the same. i also know that if he could properly execute a chest pass, Northwestern might have won this game. and if he'd been able to make a layup with 20 seconds left, Northwestern would probably have won this game. so let's call it even.

[Juice] told me that playing with Nash in the backcourt had really opened his eyes to the impact good defense can have on the game.

he sure as hell wasn't going to learn that from the current coaching staff.

It will be hard to replace Nash's D next season. But even though the rest of NU struggled this year on that end of the floor, I think you will see a renewed focus next year.

Northwestern's defense struggled. Northwestern loses its best defender. but the defense will be much better next year. makes sense to me.

Maybe we'll see you coaching the 1-3-1 here in the near future.

just a perfect way to end this. NU hoops fans all over the country have been criticizing Bill Carmody's defensive gameplans, so let's bring back a guy who played on a terrible defensive team to coach defense. awesome.

I'm conflicted

2010-03-23T15:53:00.018-04:00

i really don't try to be negative all the time. i realize that, as disappointing i found last season to be, it was the second of the two most successful Northwestern basketball seasons in recent memory. and i do believe that second- or third-tier postseason play is a good thing for those teams involved.

but since i had an opportunity last week to attend both NIT and NCAA games, the difference between the two was really hammered home. Rhode Island plays in a pretty nice arena that's less than eight years old. but the atmosphere last Wednesday was dead. i was under the mistaken impression that the students were on spring break; instead they must have skipped the game for St. Patrick's Day drinking. NU's effort was pretty poor, and they seemed to play with very little emotion. bad defense, bad shooting... considering the last five weeks, it was appropriate to end this season with a whimper.

now, contrast that with downtown Providence on Thursday afternoon. the crowd was electric during the should-have-been upset by Robert Morris. same thing during Omar Samhan's performance on Saturday. while some fans see wins by Northern Iowa or Cornell and think, "why not NU?" i'll tell you why not NU: because those other teams are really good. UNI won 25 games in the regular season. Cornell is making its third straight tournament appearance. those teams would crush Northwestern.

oh right, i'm trying not to be negative. i have to remember that teams need to crawl before they can eventually run. two straight NIT berths is something, even if it's not what we all want.

here is what i said back in November 2009: "This season is a failure if they take a step backwards. ... It would be great to avoid any bad losses and/or late collapses and hopefully knock off a couple of the big boys. Winning two or three games in the NIT would be a great step forward."

given that i made those comments before we knew that Coble was done for the year, i think i can say that the team did not take a step back. NU avoided the late collapses that plagued them in the previous season, and Purdue counts as a win over a big boy. obviously the bad losses in February were plentiful, and winning any - let alone two or three - games in the NIT didn't happen.

i have a pretty good idea of what my season prediction will say in November 2010: simply avoiding a step backwards is not good enough. the time for real, tangible, significant progress with this team has arrived.

Maybe even tournament expansion won't help

2010-03-17T09:55:00.006-04:00

according to this article, NU would be the first team out of a 96 team bracket. however, a closer look reveals that this clown just followed the NIT seeding to determine who should be included, and he did not actually compare schedules, RPI, etc. i'm not saying NU is a lock for the larger tournament, but it makes no sense to decide the field based on how things are currently seeded in the NIT.

meanwhile, it sounds like at least a few Wildcat fans will be on hand tonight to see if NU can finally pick up a road win. i actually like their chances, given how poorly Rhode Island shoots from the outside. although i'll be there, i expect this game will simply blur into the beer-filled weekend of more important basketball games. i suppose i'll try to recap it in some fashion before too long.

as an aside, i thought about wearing my 1994 NIT tee shirt, but any good luck from that probably wore off while hanging on the sale rack in Norris, since i didn't purchase the shirt until a good 30 months after NU played in that tournament. then i thought i should wear my 1999 NIT tee shirt, but that probably won't help either, considering at that game i drank enough to lose most of my ability to read the scoreboard in the final minutes. let's hope things go better today.

If this doesn't fire you up for the game, nothing will

2010-03-16T08:21:00.005-04:00

i will freely admit that my enthusiasm directed towards this year's NIT berth is completely corrupted by the fact that, through pure coincidence, i'll be able to attend the game. at the same time, i do think that the NIT is, on the whole, a good thing. and certainly a team like Northwestern - which enters next season with tangible expectations - can benefit by playing as many games as possible this season.

however, just in case any of you NU fans out there were getting complacent with two consecutive NIT appearances, i implore you to read this rant from SFTF. it will quickly and emphatically bring you back down to earth and remind you just how much our basketball program sucks, relative to the rest of our BCS brethren. pure, angry, delightful stuff.

Wildcats' season continues

2010-03-14T21:51:00.002-04:00

as first reported (tweeted) by Spread Far the Fame, Northwestern will play at URI on Wednesday night. since i have tickets to the NCAA tournament games in Providence on Thursday, i guess my weekend of hoops will just start a day early now. who would have figured that Rhode Island was the place to be for a Northwestern basketball blogger?

it must have been a fairly close call, as NU is only a 7 seed. but this is certainly a game the Wildcats can win. they shouldn't get as out-athleted as they did last year in Tulsa. the game is 7pm ET on espnU, and the winner will play Wichita State or Nevada.

Finally, win #20

2010-03-11T19:19:00.009-05:00

and with that, Northwestern has won 20 games in a season. that's never happened before. so that's one less thing in the category of "Northwestern basketball has never..."

otherwise, this was a pretty ugly affair. NU couldn't buy a bucket from the outside in the first half, and it was a two-point game with about six minutes left. Michael Thompson bailed out the Wildcats scoring 11 straight points from the field as Northwestern broke it open.

i haven't gone back to look at the numbers, but i would be shocked if NU had this many bench minutes in any conference game this season. it was due mainly to Crawford being less than 100% and Mirkovic fouling out with more than ten minutes left. but Curletti (6-6 from the FT line) and Marcotullio (5 assists) acquitted themselves pretty well.

i'm really not trying to be negative, but some perspective is needed with this win. i know a lot of us expected the worst, but let's remember that IU had lost 12 of 13 and finishes the season with 21 losses. i know NU lost to them just a few days ago, but the Wildcats were the higher seed and should have been expected to win this game.

next up is a Robbie Hummelless Purdue. silly Northwestern fans will say things like, "Hey, we beat them at full-strength, so we'll definitely win again." uh, no. this will be a virtual road game, and the Boilers have a lot more to prove than NU does. sadly my pre-existing plans mean i will miss this one - but who the hell factors in Northwestern basketball when making weekend plans in March?!?! i certainly don't expect Purdue to go 9+ minutes without a field goal like Indiana did today, and i don't expect the Wildcats to win Friday night. but if they pull off the miraculous upset, i'll check in again on Saturday for the semifinals.

three other notes from this game:
1) i know the announcers have time to kill and i generally find Steve Lavin very amusing. and i also know they were just talking about hair. but here is an on-screen comparison i'm sure you never thought you'd see

2) the announcers spent a fair amount of time slurping BC and the job he's done at Northwestern. but this particular graphic really annoyed me. let's sum up the accomplishments of these coaches at these schools (before this season):

Tom Izzo - 12 NCAA app, 5 Final Fours, 1 title, 71% winning percentage
Bo Ryan - 8 NCAA app, 1 Elite Eight, 3 conf titles, 73% winning percentage
Bruce Weber - 5 NCAA app, 1 title game app, 2 conf titles, 73% winning percentage
Bill Carmody - 1 NIT app, 45% winning percentage

now do you understand why i get so pissed off about diminished expectations?!!?

3) i did play close attention to the post-game handshake. it appears that Tom Crean, while i'm sure he was disappointed to lose to a shitty team, was not in as huge a hurry as usual.

Holy crap, this is ugly

2010-03-11T18:24:00.001-05:00

i hope AC is not watching. he's gonna go blind again.

Halftime

2010-03-11T17:55:00.002-05:00

down three at the half after playing pretty poorly. i have a strange good feeling about this game. i just don't get the sense that IU will suddenly get their act together. assuming NU either makes more from the outside or takes less of those shots, and they continue to hold their own on the boards, this game is there for the taking.

BC chat wrap

2010-03-10T12:32:00.004-05:00

i was able to get in three questions with BC today, two as myself and one as my apparent alter-ego, Frank from Maine. i did manage to use the word "supplant" in the chat, which is nice. and i received confirmation that Bill and i just see things differently; to one of my questions he replied, "I don't think like that."

i'm hoping for quick and painless

2010-03-10T07:50:00.001-05:00

thursday i'll be heading home early so i can watch this trainwreck in the comfort of my own home with the beverage(s) of my own choice. you can expect to hear from me on twitter and probably here as well. in the meantime, i encourage you to amuse yourself with this brilliant game. it's somewhat cathartic to think of every shitty basketball player that's come through Evanston in the last dozen years.

bring back KO!

2010-03-09T00:59:00.000-05:00

alright, maybe that's a bad idea. but as i watch the NU 1-3-1 zone get shredded repeatedly, i did think about what changes can be made to significantly improve the defense, assuming BC is back again next year. immediately my mind went to our old friend Kevin O'Neill.

KO's lack of patience and general dickishness made his tenure at Northwestern a mostly forgettable one. and perhaps only Bobby Gonzalez keeps KO from showing up on the most-disliked coaches list. however, there is no doubt that KO knows his defense. i checked the numbers, and sure enough- USC is second in the country in defensive efficiency and the only non-lock/bubble team in the top 30. (NU is #161)

Late season collapse nearly complete

2010-03-08T07:33:00.010-05:00

so i guess all those fans who said NU could finish 9-1 in February and March were just a bit off. what's remarkable is that NU finished 2-4 against the bottom of the league. that's right: IU, PSU and Iowa combined to win 25% of their conference games. but against Northwestern, those teams won 67% of the time.

as for the elusive 20-win season, it may have inexplicably slipped away. as of February 10, all Northwestern had to do was finish with 4 of 7 wins from a schedule that included Iowa twice, Penn State twice, Indiana, Minnesota (at home) and Chicago State. as i mentioned last week, Indiana had lost eleven in a row in mostly blowouts, and i can't imagine it was all Roshown McCleod's fault. but clearly NU's defense is the perfect elixir for struggling teams. some missed layups by the guys in purple didn't help either. (Marcotullio's effort in the last minute stirred memories of the good ol' point shaving days.)

some continue to fall back on their own diminished expectations of the program to justify talk of how this is still a great season for Northwestern. i don't see it. hell, even last year had more of an upbeat feel than the last six weeks of this season. just yesterday, Lake the Posts referred to this season as "our most successful season in program history." LTP, allow me to introduce you to 1931.

the end of season record is about where i thought it would be, but it's the way this team has faltered down the stretch that's left such a bad taste in my mouth. i thought NU might only finish with one win in January; they got four. but i also assumed NU would finish above .500 against the worst teams in the league. and that downward momentum will not help their chances for the NIT. one prediction site still has NU in (as a 7 seed) but another site has them out. a loss Thursday would ensure that.

Is NU the worst?

2010-03-04T11:59:00.004-05:00

earlier this week it dawned on me that this Wildcats team was actually ranked earlier in the season. i know it was a big deal when it happened, but it seems like so long ago that i'd forgotten. in the poll released in week 8 (December 28) the Associated Press voters collectively determined that Northwestern was the 25th best team in the country. remarkable.

as the season has fallen apart in February, i started to wonder whether NU is the worst team that was ranked at some point this year. using some RPI numbers along with overall/conference records, i've put together NU's competition:

Cincinnati
16-13 overall, 7-10 in second-best conference
RPI: 65
Best wins: Vanderbilt (13), Maryland(20), UConn twice(49)
Worst losses: @St John's (79), @South Florida (67)
Worst home loss: Marquette (47)

Texas Tech
16-13 overall, 4-11 in best conference
RPI: 66
Best wins: Oklahoma State (27), UTEP (44), Washington (55)
Worst losses: @Nebraska (158), @Wichita State (50)
Worst home loss: Missouri (31)

North Carolina
16-14 overall, 5-10 in third-best conference
RPI: 83
Best wins: Michigan State (24), Ohio State (28), @Wake Forest (34)
Worst losses: Virginia (122), @BC (99), @Charleston (89)

Miami
18-11, 4-11 in third-best conference
RPI: 110
Best wins: Wake Forest (34), Georgia Tech (37), Virginia Tech (53)
Worst losses: @Virginia (122), NC State (109)

compare all those to:

Northwestern
19-11, 7-10 in fifth-best conference
RPI: 106
Best wins: Purdue (11), Notre Dame (61), Illinois (72)
Worst losses: @Iowa (193), Penn State (190), @Penn State (190)

sure, Texas Tech's conference record is terrible, but all those losses are to top 50 teams. Cincinnati was on the bubble until recently. North Carolina's fall has been precipitous, but they still have three very nice wins.

Miami has not beaten a tournament lock; NU has the win over Purdue. none of the other schools have anything close to the terrible losses that NU has. it's also worth noting that Northwestern's fifth best win (NC State) is Miami's second-worst loss, so that doesn't help. but as awful as Northwestern has been on the road, Miami has actually been worse. NU only has the two road wins at Michigan and NC State, but Miami's road wins are limited to 5-22 Stetson and 6-22 Pepperdine. i think it's a tough call between Northwestern and Miami.

meanwhile, the Wildcats close the regular season @ Indiana this weekend. the Hoosiers have lost 11 in a row by an average margin of 17. let's hope IU doesn't suddenly get their shit together.

Northwestern single-handedly helping Ed DeChellis keep his job

2010-03-01T08:16:00.004-05:00

i have to be honest: i completely forgot about Sunday's game. between the upsets on Saturday, looking ahead to see how Purdue would play without Hummel, and at least cursory interest in the hockey game, i just plain forgot. i was on the treadmill on Sunday afternoon when i looked up at the tv to see that Northwestern had given up 49 points in the first half. only Juice was in double figures, and a lot of bench guys got minutes. i wonder if BC is trying to get a better sense of exactly what he has to work with for next season.

[editor's note] as i read through various recaps of yesterday's game, i came across several discouraging quotes from BC. he makes it sound as though the end of season slide is completely out of his control...

"We haven't been a good road team all year, and the last three weeks our defense has really been spotty at best-we just couldn't stop them. It didn't matter the personnel that was in there (or) whatever we were trying to do: man, matchup, 1-3-1."

"Our only real inside threat is Johnny right now, especially on the road. It just causes problems for you."

"We're not getting anything inside and I don't know what to do about it."

Almost perfect

2010-02-25T20:58:00.002-05:00

i say ALMOST because near the end of the game, i think i heard the student section chanting, "Kyle Rowley"

there's just no excuse for that. otherwise, nothing to complain about tonight.

First half thoughts

2010-02-25T19:18:00.004-05:00

it's been a while since i posted anything during a game...

Iowa started off with the Car-no-win-dy offense: shot clock buzzers on their first two possessions
John Shurna is 2nd in the conference in scoring. does he have a shot at first team all-Big Ten? not a chance, i would think.
i counted at least two three-second violations by Iowa
a lot of bench minutes so far tonight. obviously it looks like this one won't be close, so i wonder if BC is already preparing the starters for having to win four straight in Indy next month
John Shurna was a missed free throw away from equaling Iowa's first-half point total

And also

2010-02-18T09:56:00.002-05:00

as if my frustration level was not high enough, i just read that Ed DeChellis is on a 7-1 run against Bill Carmody. it's obviously depressing any time your team loses a game that actually makes Penn State basketball fans feel good about themselves. and here is more insight on NU's unwillingness/inability to change defenses.

It don't get no worse

2010-02-18T07:59:00.023-05:00

i'll make the argument that this was the worst loss during Bill Carmody's tenure at Northwestern. i'm only considering home losses, since winning on the road can be difficult, regardless of the opponent. there were some weak non-conference teams that won in Welsh-Ryan earlier this decade (IUPUI, UIC, Mississippi Valley State, Cornell, Brown) but if you check the numbers, each of those teams actually finished that season with a decent record.

certainly NU's offensive ineptitude against PSU in the conference tournament four years ago comes to mind. and technically the game wasn't meaningless, as a win would have earned them postseason eligibility. (my god, look at that box score. Bernard Cote started and Evan Seacat got 23 minutes!)

but i think last night takes the cake. i never thought that Penn State would go winless in the conference, but after looking at the numbers, they're worse than i realized. before last night PSU had more RPI 200+ losses (Indiana, UNCW, Tulane) than top 150 wins (@ Virgina in November). only twice this season (Gardner-Webb & Sacred Heart) had Penn State scored more than 80 points, and only against Michigan State had NU allowed 80 points in regulation.

as others have pointed ou t, Penn State was able to take advantage of the 1-3-1. Carmody recognized that, but since that's basically the only defense NU knows how to play, not much could be done about it. i really think the defensive problems stem from this being a very tired team. i talked about it last month, but the lack of depth was going to catch up with this team eventually.

this was a terrible loss not only because it was a terrible opponent; this game meant something. there is no question that Northwestern's at-large chances took a major, major hit with the L at Iowa. but according to at least some, NU wasn't entirely dead. they are now. not even a win at Wisconsin matters - this team will have to win the conference tournament to get in the dance. the Wildcats still have a shot to finish 6th in the conference, which would match them up with Penn State in the first round but then with the first-place finisher after that.

a video on NUsports.com this week encourages fans to watch Northwestern "make history" at W-R Arena. the only history to be witnessed on Wednesday night was another episode in the epic failure that is Northwestern University basketball.

ok, then

2010-02-17T22:28:00.002-05:00

at least now we don't have to listen to Lake the Posts and Teddy Greenstein continue with any of their baseless bubble talk. how fitting that this season is destroyed by losing at home to Penn State; that's the kind of nonsense that inspired me to start this stupid blog. what a fucking disaster.

That win helps

2010-02-15T07:43:00.003-05:00

yesterday's comeback victory over Minnesota is a great step towards an earning an NIT home game or two, which, in case you haven't been paying attention, is the best result NU can hope for this season. i was surprised to see Northwestern listed as an 8 seed here, but it's worth mentioning that down the stretch last year this site predicted NU as a 5 or 6 seed, so they're not completely clueless.

while i'm terrified of the Wildcats' trip to State College in two weeks, i think they should be able to handle things on Wednesday at home against Penn State. it would be nice if they could put together a complete game before they head into the Kohl Center next Sunday.

also - supposedly a student was ejected from the game for heckling Ed Hightower. my jealousy of that accomplishment is off the charts. if anyone knows what he/she said, please tell me.

Bo Ryan and Tom Izzo are severely underpaid

2010-02-12T12:15:00.003-05:00

this is a long but fairly interesting article about how badly Penn State has fucked its basketball program. assuming the salary numbers are close to accurate, it's remarkable that Bill Carmody is making nearly the same as Bo Ryan. safe to say that their respective career accomplishments are not quite on the same level.

Absolutely NO shame in losing at Iowa

2010-02-11T07:58:00.016-05:00

i know what you're all thinking, Northwestern fans. this team still had an outside shot at the NCAA tournament, but you can't believe they blew it with a bad loss at Iowa. keep your head up. on Wednesday Northwestern was simply topped by a superior opponent.

i mean, before last night, Iowa's best win was over RPI #177 Drake. that means Iowa is the third best team in the state. THIRD! in the whole state! that's certainly nothing to sneeze at; third place gets you a bronze medal in Vancouver.

clearly this Iowa team was due for a win. sure they'd lost four in a row, but their fans didn't give up. a whole 8,697 people showed up for the game. some may point out that Carver-Hawkeye Arena has never seen a smaller crowd for a conference game, but it's just that the fans knew Iowa was going to win. and the fans knew the players would go shake hands with the crowd after the win, so the good folks of Iowa didn't want to tire out the players by forcing them to meet with too many visitors. can you imagine if each of the 15,500 seats had been filled? that's a lot of glad-handing!

now, regarding Northwestern's brilliant coach, William Carmody. i've read a few article this morning that accuse Mr. Carmody of odd substitution patterns and an ineffective defensive strategy. well, i checked the numbers and i don't know what those people are talking about. it is true that Drew Crawford played his fewest minutes since December 1 and Mike Capocci played his most minutes of any game this season. but in case you haven't been paying attention, Drew is awfully talented and athletic and has been drawing lots of acclaim from the media and fans. Mr. Carmody's foremost responsibility is to maintain a positive locker room and ensure all his players are happy. if he keeps giving all those minutes to Drew, then Mike or some of the other bench players might become jealous.

and regarding the defense, Mr. Carmody and Northwestern win games with a 1-3-1 zone defense. that's what helped NU beat Michigan State last year, and that's what has earned Mr. Carmody effusive praise. we can't be troubled when other teams take the time to "scout" or "prepare" or "make adjustments." and Mr. Carmody certainly can't be expected to know that Iowa has attempted the most three point shots of any team in the conference. no, Northwestern plays a 1-3-1 zone defense, and if a team happens to come up with an opposing strategy that defeats it, all we can do is tip our cap to them.

other NU fans out there are saying NU played badly and using all kinds of "insightful analysis" to point out the things that Northwestern did wrong. but obviously those people didn't see this headline. that makes much more sense. see? the Wildcats were a victim - they didn't do anything wrong.

Links

2010-02-10T00:50:00.007-05:00

1) here is a pretty thorough summary of just how bleak the NU bubble situation is. nothing surprising here, but it is helpful to see someone else echo the "22-9 is not enough" argument that i've made several times. further discussion here.

2) more gruesome details. while i think Joe Lunardi is exactly right, he still comes off as a prick.

3) a boring interview with Evan Eschmeyer about this year's team.

4) Wake Forest and Texas have nothing to do with Northwestern, but i had to pat myself on the back for making some insightful analysis to Gary Parrish of cbssports.com.

Enough with the hyperbole

2010-02-09T09:19:00.011-05:00

a big deal was made of the fact that on Sunday the Wildcats opened and closed the first half with dunks. various news outlets, blogs, etc. have described those dunks as:

"rousing"
"powerful"
"brought the house down"
"thunderous dunk"
"big-time slam"

uh, no. the crowd loves it when a Northwestern player dunks the ball, but it's not as if we're watching the second coming of Phi Slama Jama. we all know this is the most athletic team in recent memory, and the preseason buzz was that Northwestern was going to "average three dunks a game." while NU hasn't yet reached that level, it is indeed nice to have more than one or two guys capable of touching the rim. let's just tone down the adjectives a bit.

in case you were wondering, a quick youtube search of "Northwestern dunks" turned up this and this - in case you're interested in watching dunks that i would actually consider "thunderous"

Wildcats do what they need to do

2010-02-07T17:47:00.004-05:00

NU moved to 2-0 in its season within a season, this stretch run to determine where they play in the postseason. the 'cats jumped out to an early lead and never really let IU make things interesting the rest of the way. we all know that Tom Crean will get things turned around quickly, possibly as soon as next season, and the Hoosiers have played well at times this year, including a win over Pitt in December. but it was remarkable to see Indiana struggle to keep up with a Northwestern team that had more talent and - dare i say it? - more athleticism.

Rowley was awkward as usual but not completely terrible. (i did have to chuckle at the irony of BC replacing Mirkovic with Rowley because Luka missed a layup.) Capocci made some good contributions in his five minutes, and i wouldn't be surprised if his minutes go up a little bit over the next few weeks.

next up is a trip to Iowa City and another must-win. all those empty seats won't be overly threatening. Iowa started the season by losing at home to UT-San Antonio and Duquesne, but they played OSU and Purdue tough in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Michigan game goes from a "should win" to a "must win"

2010-02-01T17:07:00.016-05:00

regardless of how weak the bubble is this year, Tuesday night's home game is one the Wildcats simply have to win if they hope to stay in the conversation. pretty much the only thing Northwestern has going for it is a lack of bad losses. and i'm writing off any chance for a win in Madison, so the opportunity for big wins is basically non-existent. all we can hope for is a 9-1 finish to the regular season. i'm convinced that's the minimum for NU to have a shot at the big dance. let me remind you that as of today this team is in NINTH PLACE in a far-weaker than expected Big Ten.

but if our Wildcats fall short of the goal this season, it sounds like Northwestern is a lock to make an upcoming tourney, perhaps as soon as next season. the college hoops twitterati was all fired up when today's news hit the interwebs. and they should have been fired up; this is just a terrible, terrible idea. (even the NCAA's rebuttal lended a sense of inevitability to the rumor.)

Bill freaking Carmody has had quite a string of luck the last few months. facing the first REAL pressure in his Northwestern career, his best player and key reserve are lost for the season, giving him a handy excuse for when the team falters down the stretch. (yes, I expect them to falter.) add in the fact that Coble's redshirt year also saves him the trouble of having to recruit an additional player for next year.

and now the tournament might expand, rendering this list (left sidebar) essentially irrelevant going forward. the NCAA would have to add another category to its record book, the way they did when the tournament expanded in 1985. sure, Northwestern would make an NCAA tournament, but that accomplishment would be cheapened. NU will forever be one of the 16 teams who played during the entire 64/65 team era - and one of five original D-1 teams - but still needed an idiotic NCAA/ESPN money-grab to back their way into the bracket.

Another conference road game slips away

2010-01-27T08:21:00.013-05:00

this one didn't have the same feel as the Illinois game, but the end result is the same: a stinging loss in a game that was there for the taking. NU was up 18-12 early when Minnesota sent all five starters to the bench. the subs provided a spark and Minnesota finished the half on a 21-7 run. Northwestern didn't shoot terribly in the first half (40%) but they had no offensive rebounds in the first 20 minutes.

with three NU airballs to start the second half, the situation looked bleak as Minnesota stretched the lead to 13. but a string of Gopher turnovers practically mandated that the Wildcats make the game interesting. NU actually led by one briefly before Hoffarber's two daggers put the game away.

while Minnesota's bench only contributed 11 points, its 71 combined minutes was a noticable contribution to the win. meanwhile, Northwestern reserves were on the floor for 19 mostly useless minutes. if Nick Fruendt hadn't thought about transferring before today, i'm guessing the thought will now cross his mind.

this lack of depth really worries me. i feel like it's been looming as a potential problem for a few weeks, but i was hoping that if we didn't really talk about it, it might just somehow fix itself. but as we head into the last month of the regular season, i have serious concerns about the starters wearing down. Juice is perhaps the only player who has previously logged this many minutes, and you have to figure that Crawford will hit the freshman wall at some point.

in an interview with Andy Katz on December 22, Carmody talked about the difference between this year's team and the last few seasons. (i went back and listened to it again so i could get the quote exactly right) "...I think we're a little deeper, much deeper. So our eighth/ninth man is very capable, and there isn't that big a drop-off from the eighth or ninth man to our fourth and fifth guys."

really? you think that there isn't a measurable difference between Nick Fruendt/Mike Capocci and Crawford or Mirkovic or Nash? i mean, Marcotullio left his 3PT shot in December and often seems clueless, but i'd absolutely rather have him on the court instead of NF or MC. i realize Carmody made that statement coming off blowout wins over NCA&T and UNF, but even then he had to know that he wasn't going to get much out of those guys and Rowley.

next up is a trip to East Lansing, the site of arguably NU's most impressive win of the last 15 years. Sparty should have lost last night in Crisler Arena. John Beilein drew up a brilliant play for the last shot, but a missed layup kept MSU perfect in the conference. i don't know if they'll finish that way, but i don't expect the Spartans to lose on Saturday.

What will people talk about when (if) NU makes the tournament?

2010-01-26T14:34:00.002-05:00

first it was Gary Parrish comparing Northwestern and UConn. now it is Pat Forde leading off his weekly college hoops entry with some purple love:

First things first: There should be renewed hope in Evanston, Ill., today. If the Saints can make the Super Bowl, Northwestern can make the Big Dance. All things are now possible.

Who dat … who dat … who dat say dey gonna beat dem Wildcats?

Trip to The Barn becomes a "should win"

2010-01-25T12:47:00.005-05:00

after Saturday's come-from-behind victory over the Illini, Northwestern's RPI made a slight jump to 56. after Saturday's come-from-ahead loss to Sparty, Minnesota's RPI took a small slide to 66. i'll stop short of saying this road game in the Big Ten would be a bad loss, but as of today both NU and UMN are on the outside looking in. i'm sure the Wildcats would feel a lot better about their chances if they were able to pick up two wins in head-to-head competition with fellow bubble teams.

let's be clear: there is an opportunity here. look across the country, and you see some very VERY mediocre basketball teams. as SI's Andy Glockner tweeted in the wee hours of this morning, "This week's bubble is awful. Once done putting in every team that was mostly deserving for an at-large, there are still 10 spots left. blech." NU can earn some serious respect with a win in Minneapolis on Tuesday.

meanwhile, how many of you ever thought you'd read a national columnist make a logical and effective argument for why a Northwestern men's basketball team should be held in higher esteem than a University of Connecticut men's basketball team? here it is.

More RPI talk

2010-01-22T09:26:00.013-05:00

(if you don't care about RPI and just want to see Kevin Coble hit a backwards shot from 3/4 court on one leg, click here)

Sippin' on Purple took a detailed look at NU's bubble status, so i won't bother trying to give my own interpretation of the same numbers when you can just read it here.

but i do want to spend some more time on Northwestern's strength of remaining schedule and RPI. every March people get all pissed off when the RPI is mentioned, as if some mysterious formula is replacing the good ol' eyeball test. look, RPI is not the be-all, end-all for determining tourney bids and seeding. but the math behind it does make sense - who did you play? and who did you beat?

i don't think we can overstate how bleak the situation is for our Wildcats. it's not just that NU only has five top 100 opponents left. it's that the most of the rest are really REALLY bad. check out the current RPI numbers for the remaining opponents:

77 Illinois
55 @ Minnesota
21 @ Michigan St
117 Michigan
192 Indiana
178 @ Iowa
55 Minnesota
233 Penn State
11 @ Wisconsin
178 Iowa
233 @ Penn State
341 Chicago St
192 @ Indiana

assuming those numbers stay about the same, a win(s) over Penn State would come in behind North Florida and Northern Illinois. and Chicago State at 341 is only six spots ahead of the bottom of Division I and is four spots BEHIND the 0-19 Bryant Bulldogs. NU's RPI has been right around 60 for a few weeks and there simply won't be much opportunity to improve that.

using those RPI numbers as unofficial rankings, let's assume NU beats the worse teams and loses to the better teams. that leads them into the conference tournament at 22-9 / 10-8. as SoP explained, that's a good record on paper, but it falls apart once you look at who they would have beaten. and sure, Northwestern *could* win one of those games against MSU, Minnesota or Wisconsin; but they also sure as hell *could* lose one or more against Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan or Penn State. ok, maybe not Penn State.

finally, here is some RPI history about at-large bids (ALB) and why that 22-9 record and ~60 RPI probably wouldn't be good enough:

The highest rated team left out: #21 Missouri St, #30 Hofstra (2006), #30 Air Force (2007).
... among BCS conferences: #40 Cincinnati (2006).

The lowest rated teams to get at-large bids: #62 Arizona (2009), #62 Iowa St and #63 NC State (2005), #63 Stanford (2007).

Fewest wins to get an ALB: 17 (Alabama - 2006).

Most losses to get an ALB: 14 (Arizona - 2008).

Worst record to get an ALB: 18-14 .563 (Arizona - 2008)

Number of times a team with at least 20 wins has been left out: 109
... among BCS conferences: 22

Most wins left out: 26 (Robert Morris - 2008, Niagara and Creighton - 2009)
... among BCS conferences: 23 (Florida - 2009)

Best record left out: 22-5 .818 (Stephen F. Austin - 2008)
... among BCS conferences: 21-9 .700 (West Virginia - 2007, South Carolina - 2009)

Fun with RPI

2010-01-20T17:27:00.000-05:00

check it out.

the bandwagon has some mechanical problems

2010-01-20T07:49:00.003-05:00

i won't spend any time analyzing NU's performance yesterday. there isn't any shame in giving up a near triple double to a lottery pick, and i certainly didn't expect the Wildcats to win a road game against a red-hot team contending for a conference title.

the truth is, the Illinois game always loomed as the more important matchup. Ohio State will be in the tourney for sure; Illinois may not. a Northwestern loss at Ohio State is not a bad one; a loss at home to a fellow bubble team might be. considering the OT loss in December in Champaign and the choking dog performance last year in Evanston, another Wildcat loss to the Illini would be extremely painful.

if nothing else, last night's loss probably ended (at two) Wilbon's streak of consecutive Lunardi-bashing on PTI. and Mark Titus earned his 12 zeros for just the third time this season.

well, THAT was a big time win

2010-01-16T20:01:00.006-05:00

i'll be the first to say that this year's team does have a different feel about it. they are able to compete with teams which are, at least on paper, better than them. you can tell that the NU players feel a difference too, as Jeremy Nash was jawing a bit with E'Twaun Moore with about five minutes left.

i'm absolutely stunned at the lack of impact from JaJuan Johnson today. the crowd gave a big cheer when he fouled out, but he really did nothing. after seeing NU struggle with Mike Tisdale, i expected the Boilers to go to Johnson again and again. NU got a little help today with both Hummell and Kramer getting a little banged up, but clearly they were not going to fade down the stretch like they did against Wisconsin. free throw shooting was HUGE, especially considering that NU was shooting 65% in conference games today.

NU is still essentially a five-man team (does Marcotullio realize the season continued into 2010?) and those fouls in the last minute were frustrating. but let's face it, there was a lot that went right. NU dominated the boards 42-23 and shot 47% to Purdue's 35%. you think back to all those threes that NU shot against NC A&T, but today they were only 4/10. considering that NU lost the turnover battle 16-6, it appears this team can win in different ways.

for me the key moments were those four made 3PT FGs, as they came in pairs at crucial moments of the game. the first two came less than a minute apart in the first half, when Juice woke up the crowd and gave the Wildcats their first lead. Crawford's two threes were actually further apart in the second half, but the first gave NU the lead (which they would never again relinquish) and the last one helped seal it. credit NU's defense with holding Purdue without a FG from 5:52 to 0:38.

finally, i have to acknowledge the play of Kyle Rowley. a friend described his play today as "not awful" and "at least he's becoming a somewhat competent defensive rebounder." so he's got that going for him.

Surprise guest post!

2010-01-14T08:03:00.005-05:00

since i missed last night's home defeat to Wisconsin, i figured i'd take the easy way out. here is an unedited email i received from a friend at 12:07am ET regarding the game.

I just got to say that I'm fucking sick and tired of this bullshit. This is complete and utter fucking bullshit. Seriously. If that motherfucker can't figure out that we lose leads late against good teams every damn year that we should win because he plays 6-7 players every game (tonight Rowley played while Marcotuillo only got some token action), then he should recruit me to play as a walk on. There is absolutely no fucking point in having Curletti, Freundt and Capocci rotting on the bench at a cost of $50,000 per year each. Hell, donate that money toward world fucking peace and just get walk-ons. Late in games we start losing the battles to loose balls, give up too many offense rebounds and have way too many reach-in fouls. My stupid rec league coach when I was 12 could even tell me that those are tell-tale due to fatigue.

If that motherfucker can't get his damn players to shoot free throws, hire Rick Barry to teach them how to shoot underhanded. How many damn times are we going to lose leads late because we can't hit the front ends of one-on-ones (or just miss them both when we shoot two)? Also, in ten damn years, how has he not found ONE center who can shoot from distance other than Vince Scott (and I'm being kind with that one) when your damn offense is predicated on having a center who can shoot? Maybe Davor if I'm being really kind. When Rowley comes in, we play 4-on-5 on offense. And when Luka is in there, you're scared every time he has the ball because he's going to try some spin move that'll end in disaster (that said, he did play pretty well tonight minus the airball from 3).

How does your opponent shoot miss TEN field goals in a row and still only trail by 3? And Trevon Hughes had ONE fucking point at that point. ONE!!!!!!!!! And no Leuer!

You can't even blame this on Wisconsin having better athletes. Those guys are whiter than our guys and just as non-athletic. Sure, Trevon Hughes is a good player, but it's not like I'd pick him over Shurna if we were playing at CCI. You can't blame this on Coble being out. Leuer is out too. You can't blame this on being tired from playing a great opponent in the last game. Wisconsin just beat Purdue with their best/second-best player getting hurt during the game.

I don't even know if I can take this any more...

Drew Crawford saves the day

2010-01-10T16:35:00.005-05:00

a loss today in Ann Arbor would have been devastating, and early on it didn't look good. Michigan's biggest lead was 17 with about four minutes remaining in the first half. but Crawford responded with a personal 11-0 run in about 100 seconds that cut the lead to 6 and forced a UM timeout. although NU trailed by nine at the half, that little run gave the team some confidence.

Crawford kept it going with another 9 points early in the second half, including a sweet dunk of a missed layup by Nash. threes by Juice and Shurna pushed NU out to a ten point lead with about seven minutes left, but that lead quickly evaporated and the 'cats trailed again with a minute and a half left. Michigan turnovers and Crawford free throws sealed the win for NU.

it is refreshing to see a player in a Northwestern uniform who can dominate stretches of a conference game. during an interview last month with Andy Katz, Tom Izzo (who inexplicably is a HUGE Bill Carmody fan) said BC has done a great job over the years with "different kinds of talent." that's a nice way of saying NU's players traditionally suck. but today we actually had a guy capable of stepping up and going toe-to-toe with a player like Manny Harris and get enough done for a big win.

NU shot the ball fairly well today, held their own on the boards and limited the Wolverines to 62 points. when you factor in the RPI ramifications of Stanford's wins over USC & UCLA along with Notre Dame (now 14-3) knocking off West Virginia, this turns out to be a pretty decent weekend for the Wildcats.

Shurna, & not much else, barely enough to get by UTPA

2010-01-08T08:33:00.005-05:00

yikes. that was brutal. while a win is a win, this one certainly did nothing to boost NU's sagging confidence. you can read the gory details here, here and here.

they better shake it off quickly though, as Sunday's trip to Ann Arbor is one of two winnable (according to me) games left this month- the other being home vs. Illinois on January 23. last season the Wildcats showed that they're capable of knocking off teams like Michigan State and Purdue, but i'm certainly not going to count on those types of wins, considering how the team has struggled in the past week.

Juice is a little banged up right now, and it appears Carmody has no confidence in his bench, as four starters played 31 minutes or more last night. of course, the bench isn't really giving him a reason to be confident. Marcotullio went 0-5 from the floor with four turnovers while Curletti and Rowley combined in 16 minutes for more fouls (5) than than rebounds (4) or points (3).

probably the biggest disappointment from last night is Lindsey Willhite's note that NU wasn't effective in the 2-3 zone. at least Carmody recognizes that a 1-3-1 backline of Michael Thompson will not be effective against JuJuan Johnson, DeShawn Sims or the Buzzcuts, but if NU can't stop anyone with the 2-3 either, then what's the difference?

Miscellaneous

2010-01-06T08:27:00.006-05:00

Chris Ballard's piece on Northwestern trying to break through to the tourney was well-written enough that i thought perhaps he was an alum. he is not, and according to his S.I. bio he has never worked in Chicago, but he was pretty effective at capturing the history that NU is up against.

i caught most of Purdue's win over Minnesota last night, and the Boilermakers looked awfully impressive. their guards are quick, and Johnson moves really well with and without the ball. the box score says they only had 12 assists but it seemed like more; the way they pass the ball does not bode well for NU's zone defense.

i also saw the finish of Texas-Arkansas. that game probably goes the other way if Courtney Fortson doesn't cramp up. but it could be better for Arkansas that they lost. maybe a loss to Texas will bring the opposite of what happened to their season last year after defeating UT.

Well how about that

2010-01-04T14:53:00.003-05:00

this post serves no purpose other than horn self-tooting, but i was amused that my dumb little FBC caught the eye (and ire) of Dickie V.

'Cats can't keep up with Spartans

2010-01-02T20:40:00.003-05:00

to me, it's this type of game that make the close losses to mediocre teams even harder to take. when you see NU clearly over-matched by an elite opponent, you realize they cannot afford to let any wins get away.

Kalin Lucas responded well to his benching and led a balanced scoring attack with 21. NU was out-rebounded by only 14 but had no chance to stop MSU inside. the Spartans were extremely efficient on offense, needing only 54 shots to get their 91 points. the center position continues to be the biggest hole on the NU roster. Mirkovic struggled and Rowley contributed 3 fouls and a turnover in 11 minutes. perhaps interior defense is something NU can work on during what should otherwise be an easy win Thursday night at home against UT Pan American.

NU lets another one get away

2009-12-30T22:38:00.010-05:00

this was last season ALL. OVER. AGAIN. NU three-points and backdoors their way to a lead but cannot close the deal.

NU jumped out to a nice start and then held the lead for a 12 minute stretch from late first half into the second half. Illinois regained the lead with about 11 minutes left on the second of back-to-back threes from Brandon Paul.

in a crucial possession down the stretch, NU had nothing. coming out of a 30 second timeout with about four minutes left, Juice threw up a jumper at the shot clock buzzer.

i'm on board with Shurna taking a 3 for the win at the end of regulation, especially since NU shot 32% from 2PT vs 34% from 3PT. thank god Rowley wasn't in the game at that point, so we could actually make a put-back layup after getting a rebound.

i thought Marcotullio (and Crawford, to a lesser extent) acquitted himself well in his first trip to a hostile environment. Nash stepped up on the offensive end and finished with 16 points, although almost all were in the first half. i have no idea why Mirkovic is taking 13 shots, 4 of them from behind the arc.

as some have already pointed out, if NU let's Mike Tisdale run all over them, what will happen when they face a legitimately good big man? that was a disappointing loss, especially with Sparty coming to the town on Saturday.

Joe Lunardi not feelin' the Wildcats

2009-12-30T14:22:00.000-05:00

NORTHWESTERN: We'll know sooner rather than later if the Wildcats can erase their dubious status as the only BCS-member school without an NCAA tournament appearance. A 10-1 start has gotten Northwestern ranked in the AP poll, but conference openers at Illinois (tonight) and Michigan State (Saturday at home) will surely tell a tale.

If the Wildcats gain a split, they move up from a No. 69 mid-December S-Curve slot and into the Jan. 4 bracket. Otherwise it's back to the bubble and a week-to-week waiting game all the way to March. My hunch is that the injuries and personnel losses catch up to Northwestern in Big Ten play, but, heck, that's why they play the games.

NCAA ODDS: 35 percent

JOE'S PREDICTION: N.I.T.

The REAL season begins Wednesday

2009-12-29T08:39:00.005-05:00

the slurping of Northwestern basketball is in full effect. andy katz is mentioning them every chance he gets, and now USA Today is jumping on board the bandwagon.

not surprisingly, i'm going to wait a little longer before declaring this season a success. specifically, i want to see NU's record on January 31. i will posit that between now and then, the Wildcats could very reasonably go from 10-1 to 11-10.

take a good look at the schedule. it's back-loaded with the weaker teams. i'm excited about six games against PSU, IU and Iowa, but we have to wait until February 7 for the first of those. although Michigan and Illinois are struggling a bit right now, the Wildcats still have to go on the road for both of those early matchups.

on the plus side, Illinois's second-best win (after the stirring comeback at Clemson) is only a home win against so-so Vanderbilt. and they have some bad losses, including Utah and Bradley back-to-back in Las Vegas last month. however, Northwestern has struggled mightily in Champaign for the last decade; they haven't won there since the 1999 NIT season. they've averaged less than 50 ppg since then, and they scored only 37 in each of the last two trips to U of I's building.

at Christmas last year Northwestern had two losses, one road win, and had defeated teams with an average RPI of 220. right now NU has one loss, one road win, and has defeated teams with an average RPI of 180. last year's team started off the Big Ten season 0-4. while it's just one of 18 conference games, tomorrow night's result will go a long way in determining the fate of this season.

Believe it: NU is ranked

2009-12-28T13:26:00.002-05:00

i actually thought it would take a win over Illinois (and a close loss to MSU) to get this done, but the Wildcats are ranked at 10-1.

'Cats survive against Stanford

2009-12-20T09:20:00.004-05:00

i won't bother with a detailed recap since travel prevented me from watching the game, but obviously it was a big W, especially after nearly choking away a 10-point lead in the final few minutes. that's a nice step forward from the late game collapses we watched against Illinois and Purdue last season. the CCSU Blue Devils come to down on Tuesday before the conference season begins.

i don't think anyone thought the 'cats would be 9-1 at this point in the season, perhaps even WITH Kevin Coble. we'll take a close look at the big ten schedule before the Illinois game next Wednesday.

Stanford tomorrow

2009-12-18T09:18:00.003-05:00

the Cardinal limps into Evanston with a 5-4 record. thus far Johnny Dawkins has done a commendable job of following his fellow Duke assistants-turned-HCs by leading what was a pretty decent program into a nosedive. Stanford's best game this year was an eight-point loss at Kentucky. they have a couple of solid 3PT shooters who have the potential to break up NU's zone, but overall this team does not have a lot of talent. it would be a disappointing loss if the Wildcats can't take care of business at home.

bonus points for whoever brings the most creative (read: offensive) Tiger Woods sign to the game.

Links

2009-12-18T09:12:00.000-05:00

here is a thorough article about NU's season with some interesting analysis, although it's a little too optimistic for FBC's liking.

i found stretches of this article to be exceedingly annoying, but i'm sharing it anyway. i'm not going to take the time to figure out if his list is correct, but no glaring omissions came to mind. the appalling lack of talent on the second team is laughable, and i can't even prove that those AREN'T the among the ten best players BC has ever had. Tavaras Hardy turned out to be the best player of the second five, and he shouldn't even count since Carmody didn't recruit him.

Big Ten expansion

2009-12-17T14:25:00.000-05:00

there has been a lot of talk this week about the possible addition of a 12th team to the conference. there have been rumors out there for years about Missouri moving to the Big Ten, a move that would then trigger Texas and Colorado joining the Pac 10. the idea is that Missouri fits in culturally and geographically with the Big Ten while UT and CU are a better match academically with the likes of Berkeley, Stanford and Washington than they are with Nebraska, Kansas State and Texas Tech.

other possibilities for the Big Ten are Pitt, Cincinnati, and Notre Dame. to be honest, i don't think the specifics of any potential addition are all that relevant to NU basketball, since whatever school is added will have a superior hoops program and only serve to push us down another notch towards the conference basement.

what i haven't yet seen are any suggestions on how the Big Ten would create the divisions. i assume Michigan and Ohio State would have to be together to make sure they play annually in football. i also assume that the conference would go with some sort of geographic split. here are two possibilities (assuming Missouri is the new team):

East - IU, MSU, OSU, PSU, Purdue, UM
West - NU, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Mizzou, Wisconsin

North - MSU, NU, PSU, UM, Minnesota, Wisconsin
South - IU, OSU, Purdue, Illinois, Iowa, Mizzou

the other option would be to follow the ACC's model and arbitrarily separate the teams into divisions without factoring in geography.

if the Big Ten were to add another team, it probably makes sense to go back to a 16 game conference schedule. each team would play home-and-home with the other five schools in its division plus one game (three at home) with each of the six teams in the other division. that keeps the math nice and easy and allows for even rotation of the schedule between seasons.

NU dominates the Ospreys

2009-12-17T01:11:00.000-05:00

a 15-2 run late in the first half put the game away, and you knew it was NU's night when early in the second half Shurna threw in an under-handed flip while being fouled. i liked 14/28 from 3PT, i liked 12 offensive rebounds, i liked six guys in double figures. i did not like anything Kyle Rowley attempted (and failed) to do, and i did not like only 18 minutes from Capocci, Fruendt and Reggie Hearn. when you're up by 22 with 13 minutes left, the big dogs need to get more rest.

i was also confused by the NU slurpfest conducted by the announcers, including former Badger Mike Kelley (who apparently works for ESPN to supplement his residual checks from that time he played Rodney Dangerfield's son). the constant patting of Carmody's back even included this gem: "coming off a terrific year last season... tied for ninth in the Big Ten." never mind the fact that they actually finished alone in ninth place, this gets to the heart of my problem with Northwestern basketball. they've been so bad for so long that any season that's not god-awful is deemed "terrific."

enthusiasm among the fan base is pretty high, but to me this season has an awfully similar feel to last year: they've beat up on a bunch of bad teams and lost to Butler. the Stanford game is an opportunity to change the tone a little bit but in name only. the Cardinal have not been impressive this year and there's no question this would be a bad loss. speaking of the Pac-10, it has a chance to be historically bad this season. it breaks FBC's heart that AC's Craig Robinson argument is losing a little steam this year.

Northwestern in 2nd place

2009-12-17T00:07:00.002-05:00

conference standings as of today - i had to capture this. let's revisit this on the last day of January.

Outback Bowl preview - basketball edition

2009-12-15T08:22:00.005-05:00

this year's bowl-related post doesn't have as much detail as last year, primarily because NU changed the online format of its media guide which makes things a little more difficult to navigate. there also isn't a lot of history with Northwestern basketball and the SEC, but here we go:

Northwestern and Auburn have never faced each other in basketball.
Overall NU is 8-14 against the SEC, but the most recent meeting was way back in December 1992. NU lost by 20 at Vanderbilt.
NU has a victory over the University of Tampa; the Wildcats have never played the University of South Florida.
Under Bill Carmody the team has played only once in the state of Florida, a 71-53 loss at Florida State in December 2003.

obviously the big win on Sunday served as Drew Crawford's coming out party, while Kyle Rowley continues to be utterly useless (5 fouls in 8 minutes). tomorrow the last-place team from the Atlantic Sun comes to town. let's hope that this is an easier win than the last time North Florida was in Evanston. (ahh, i remember those days at FBC. back when i only had two regular readers instead of the eight or nine now.)

Third straight win over a previously undefeated BCS team

2009-12-01T20:56:00.002-05:00

i will be the first to say i thought there was no effing way this team would start 6-1 after losing Coble. i honestly don't think anyone thought that would happen, especially after watching NU struggle against Butler and TSU.

now we get to see if the Northwestern schedule delivers the wins it was designed to bring. following a break for final exams, NU finishes off 2009 with four non-conference home games against teams who are currently 9-15. it will be very important that this team "wins the games it is supposed to win." it's probably true that expectations are now higher than they were a few weeks ago, but not quite back to where they were before losing Coble and Ryan.

obviously we'll take a road win any time, but NC State was projected to be, is, and will be terrible this season. the Wildcats took care of business against a lesser team, and that's what they need to do in their next four games.

NU is "ranked" again

2009-11-30T15:22:00.003-05:00

NU received a few votes in this week's AP poll (none in the coaches' poll). not enough to move into to top 25, and not enough to be ahead of Notre Dame, but enough to unoffically come in at #41. our old pal Dave Jones from the Patriot-News has again recognized a couple of nice wins by NU early in the season.

in case you were wondering, Northwestern's RPI is 70; strength of schedule is 119.

Quite a weekend for the Wildcats

2009-11-30T08:58:00.003-05:00

well perhaps this season is not quite the lost cause we thought it would be. NU picked up its first in-season tournament title since 1993 by knocking off previously undefeated Notre Dame and Iowa State in back to back nights. although Northwestern did have an unfair advantage since they have so much experience with playing in front of only three thousand people.

seriously, those are two very nice wins. an offensively-assertive John Shurna let the way both nights, and just so i don't get annoying people bitching about this in the comments, i will point out that Carmody's defensive adjustment at halftime of the ISU game made a big difference.

next up is a trip to Raleigh for another undefeated opponent, although none of NC State's wins are particularly impressive. the Wolfpack are led by a pair of 6' 9" forwards, so NU will need a strong effort from Mirkovic, Curletti and Rowley (and probably most of their 15 fouls) to keep Tracy Smith and Dennis Horner in check. this is a huge opportunity to get a road win against another BCS opponent. see you Tuesday night on ESPNU.

Men's hoops relegated to undercard

2009-11-25T09:32:00.003-05:00

i don't know how this escaped my radar before last night's game, but i did not realize that the men's game against Liberty last night started at 5:30 while the women's game against DePaul followed at 8:00. now i understand that Liberty is terrible and DePaul is ranked. and i also understand that if they reverse the order of the games, no one will show up early to watch the women play. but (aside from Tennessee and possibly Connecticut) i would think it's pretty rare for a BCS school to have a men's game open for the women's team. some might say it's just creative marketing; it seems like a bit of an insult to me.

on the plus side, Bill Carmody can say he's at least the second-best basketball coach at Northwestern.

NU escapes Tennessee State

2009-11-22T17:26:00.002-05:00

this could have been the first of the "guarantee" home games that a shorthanded Wildcat team let slip away, but Michael Thompson bailed them out. TSU led by as many as 8 with about five minutes left with Juice scored 10 straight points and NU took the lead for good on a Marcotullio three with 2:22 on the clock. Thompson finished with 31 points in 39 minutes and was the only NU player in double figures.

next up are the Seth Curry-less Liberty Flames, who last week lost to Clemson and Old Dominion by a combined 72 points.

This really pisses me off

2009-11-18T10:23:00.008-05:00

i can't really express how angered i am by the first three paragraphs of this article.

He had to be content with himself and his surroundings, because you don't see too many men casually drinking a glass of red wine on a weekday afternoon at a sports bar in Skokie. The amateur oenophile was Bill Carmody, fresh off an 8-22 season...

i can just see smug Billy now, enjoying his Carménère without a care in the world. can you really imagine Roy Williams or Jamie Dixon dropping by the local BW3 for some march madness action after an unsuccessful season? or even lower profile guys like Mike Brey or Jim Larranaga? actually i could see Larranaga doing it, because he's cool like that. but he took George f-ing Mason to the final four, so Jim Larranaga can do whatever the hell he wants.

the point is, i'm confused and frustrated that BC was not embarrassed to be seen in such a setting. he had just concluded the worst season of his career, and now he wants to hang out and watch the ncaa tournament?! a tournament in which Northwestern is not even close to participating as a direct result of his inept recruiting and coaching?!?! i understand he needs/wants to relax after a miserable season, but i don't see how doing it this way is, in any way, a good idea. in his defense, perhaps he just assumed he was about to get fired, so maybe he was scouting other programs that would be in need of assistants. that's the only logical explanation.

oh, and NU plays #11 butler tonight. go 'cats.

Team redshirt, explained

2009-11-16T16:49:00.001-05:00

for those of you who have been living in a cave, here and here.

Team redshirt

2009-11-16T07:46:00.002-05:00

well, looks like i can just sign off for about twelve months or so. roster should look pretty decent for the 2010-2011 season, but i don't expect many good things to happen between now and then.

Those Medill alums in Bristol are at it again

2009-11-13T14:36:00.004-05:00

if only because i doubt it will ever happen again, i had to capture this shot of espn's college basketball headlines. lil ole Northwestern up there with blue bloods Duke and North Carolina. our baby's all grown up.

Mini-roundtable on NU hoops

2009-11-13T13:40:00.002-05:00

check out today's post from Sippin' on Purple (née The Purple Drank) for a few blurbs from FBC about the upcoming season. please note that i answered his questions mere hours before the news of Coble's injury... just in case you were surprised/confused by my optimism.

Here's hoping for the worst

2009-11-13T07:41:00.005-05:00

at this hour it is likely that the Northwestern coaching and medical staff are aware of the extent of Kevin Coble's injury. most published rumors have the senior forward missing 4-6 weeks with hopes that he misses no more than that. the official word is scheduled to be released today.

it may seem counter intuitive, but i'm hoping he's done for the season. obviously if that happens, this essentially becomes a wasted season and certainly gives the Carmody apologists yet another year-long leash and even more excuses. however, in looking at the big picture and what is best for the Northwestern basketball program, foot surgery may be the best option.

think about it... in that scenario Coble gets a medical redshirt, has the surgery now (so he is fully recovered by next October) and spends the next 12 months getting even stronger in his upper body. meanwhile, the team slogs through a brutal big ten season but the freshmen and sophomores get invaluable experience. next March we lose Nash and Ryan in the backcourt, but that would (theoretically) be offset by the development of Crawford, Freundt and Marcotullio.

then NEXT season, we have all but those two guys back, Coble returns, everyone else is a year older and (hopefully) stronger, and Jershon can step in to help an already-established team. and while i'm not going to look through all the big ten rosters to predict the 2011 standings, i'm guessing that if the conference is considered the best in the country this season, it probably won't be next season.

so while i certainly don't wish injuries on anyone, i simply offer that the alternative to a half-season from a potentially hobbled Coble may not be as bleak as you think.

Carmody sounds lost

2009-11-12T13:27:00.002-05:00

check out this rambling, at-times unintelligible interview with Bill Carmody after the Coble injury. the line that confused me most is this one:

The other thing that happens, which I think is the key, Johnny was going to be guarded by the fourth best guy. Now the best guy's going to guard Shurna.

Wherefore art thou Jershon?

2009-11-12T11:10:00.000-05:00

as other schools' websites were buzzing yesterday with news of the 2010 recruiting class, NUsports.com was conspicuously silent. well, silent aside from the potentially season-altering news of Kevin Coble's injury.

i realize the early signing period continues until next week, and i also understand that recruits don't need to (and maybe shouldn't) commit in the fall. but it still would have been nice pub to formally announce Jershon Cobb. a little press conference with some quotes from the coaches about why they wanted Cobb and some quotes from Cobb about why he liked Northwestern would go along way in helping to influence other recruits, both for 2010 and beyond.

meanwhile, NU appeared to be on Will Sheehey's list for a while, but it seems that he's headed to Indiana.

Coble hurt - now what?

2009-11-11T15:27:00.002-05:00

remember all those good vibes and positive stories about the upcoming Northwestern basketball season? well, so much for that. because what else is the internet for besides rampant, unsubstantiated speculation, it looks like Kevin Coble may be out for 4-6 weeks. if it's true, an injury that significant also raises some questions in my mind about his effectiveness even after he returns, but i guess we'll worry about all of that later. for now, it just sucks.

Season starts on Friday

2009-11-09T10:37:00.004-05:00

what has struck me most about the beginning of this season has been the confidence with which the players have been speaking. this can't be related just to one preseason victory, although it was nice to actually get a victory in the preseason. the upperclassmen are leading the way and the sophomores are infinitely more comfortable this season.

i'm sure Shurna's summer experience and last season's NIT bid have something to do with it, but i think the biggest factors were getting some road wins last year. HUGE monkeys are now off the back after winning in Bloomington and East Lansing. you'd like to think that despite those collapses at home against Illinois and Purdue, this squad comes into the season with at least a little bit of the almighty "knows how to win."

and while it is preposterous to think that anyone associated with Northwestern basketball would suffer from overconfidence, i do think it will be interesting to watch how the team and coaching staff will deal with the expectations of this season. the amount of coverage has been quite astounding - both in the print media and by those nefarious bloggers - especially when you consider that the season hasn't started yet and the team hasn't actually accomplished anything yet. i don't expect them to fall flat on their faces against NIU, but the Butler game serve as an early reality check.