As it relates to a hot topic in Wildcat fan circles, I present this week's Friday Flashback a few hours early...
After suffering through the loss at the Alamo Bowl on Monday night, many NU fans tuned into ESPN2 on Wednesday hoping to ease the pain with a long sought after basketball win over Penn State. For the first 35 minutes of that contest it looked like Coach Bill Carmody’s Wildcats would come through and ease Wildcat Nation’s pain. Unfortunately, Talor Battle intervened and NU fandom suffered another devastating loss. I saw one post on Wildcatreport.com which mentioned that some of the frustration over the basketball loss might be residual anger over watching the end of the Alamo Bowl. Although I think people try to separate the two teams, I believe there might be some truth to this theory. At the very least, I believe the basketball loss was amplified because like the Alamo Bowl game, Northwestern’s team had the chance to win, but failed to accomplish the feat. I certainly felt a similar sense of disappointment after both losses. Feeling this disappointment led me to wonder whether this was the worst week in NU fan history. Now, NU fans have suffered a lot of losses over the years, but when both football and basketball were sitting at the bottom of the Big Ten fans were, sadly, somewhat desensitized to losses. I believe what makes this week so painful is the magnitude of the losses, however, I have two other candidates for worse weeks.
Candidate 1: January 1, 1996 – January 6, 1996
I don’t need to remind a lot of Wildcat fans about the significance of January 1, 1996, but in case you’re a newcomer to Wildcat Nation that happens to be the date of Northwestern’s last Rose Bowl appearance. In that game the Wildcats took a 32-31 lead in the 4th quarter, however, a blown coverage on Keyshawn Johnson put the USC Trojans ahead to stay. The Trojans ended up winning 41-32 ending NU’s dream season on a sour note. Much like this year, following that loss many Wildcat fans trekked back to Evanston to watch basketball and ease some pain. The Wildcats faced Ivy League opponent Brown on January 2, 1996 and after suffering through the devastation of the Rose Bowl hustling back to Welsh-Ryan from the airport to see the ‘Cats destroy a lesser opponent seemed like a great cure for Wildcat Nation. Unfortunately, Brown beat the ‘Cats 60-56 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. On the heal of the Rose Bowl loss, you can imagine how bad NU fans felt about losing to Brown. Then, to make matters worse, the ‘Cat hoopsters got destroyed by Michigan 83-51 in their Big Ten opener a few days later. The only saving grave of this awful week is thanks to NCAA violations, Michigan had to forfeit their win. Still, losing the Rose Bowl then getting beat by Brown makes for a rough stretch of Wildcat fandom.
Candidate 2: November 17, 2007
This date from just last year might qualify as the single worst day of Wildcat fandom if not the worst week. In the period of less than an hour, Northwestern’s football team got blown off the field by Illinois, thus eliminating any serious bowl talk, and the basketball team lost by one to DePaul. I remember well the excitement before the day started—the hope of a Bowl and a great hoops season. I also remember the total devastation when it was over—no bowl and a loss to an intracity rival. As my family and I drove back from the awful 48-28 loss to Illinois, I called a friend asked him to place his phone up against his computer speaker so I could hear the internet-only broadcast of the basketball game and report the result to everyone else. Reporting the final missed shot by Sterling Williams was one of the more depressing things I’ve done. It brought out a host of negative reactions from my family, but at least we kept the car on the road. However, I do think the waiter at the restaurant we stopped at on the road was very confused as to why these three people seemed so angry.
Is either of these two weeks worse than this week? Honestly, I don’t know. I think the single day blow of last season was pretty bad, but losing the hope we held this year for a great bowl win and a fine start to the Big Ten hoops season certainly didn’t make for a happy start to the year for NU fans. I’ll leave it to you all to decide for yourselves. Also, feel free to share your opinions and other memories.
Showing posts with label Brown Game. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brown Game. Show all posts
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Brown Stat Pack Breakdown
So since I wasn't at the Brown game and wasn't able to listen or see the contest, my impressions on the game come from reading through the box score. I'll try me best to pull out the key data and offer some insights.
Stat 1: Northwestern’s record 3-0
This is Northwestern’s first 3-0 start since the 1993-94 team started 9-0. Some people are already chalking up Wednesday’s contest at Butler as a loss, but I see no reason to assume the ‘Cats can’t win at Hinkle. More on that later this week.
Stat 2: Minutes Played
Michael “Juice” Thompson 39 minutes
Craig Moore 39 minutes
Kevin Coble 39 minutes
Kyle Rowley 13 minutes
Luka Mirkovic 21 minutes
Ivan Peljusic 6 minutes
Jeff Ryan 0 minutes
Davide Curletti 0 minutes
One of the advantages this NU team has is depth, however, last night Bill Carmody stuck with his top three guys for the pretty much the entire game. Obviously, I wouldn’t have taken out Craig Moore either, I mean 9 threes and 31 points is a day everybody whoever played hoops has to envy. What I did find interesting is that Juice played 39 minutes and Sterling Williams played only 3. I actually really liked the guard rotation Coach Carmody used which had Sterling giving breaks to both Juice and Moore regularly.
Also of note was the fact that Luka Mirkovic got the majority of time at center. I think Luka has loads of potential, but clearly he needs to get tougher. He did get three offensive boards, but had zero defensive rebounds. Kyle Rowley seemed to be productive in terms of points in his limited time, but failed to get a rebound. Ivan Peljusic played 6 minutes and I still think he should get more time. He’s shown the ability to both rebound and score against good teams, I’m not sure any of the freshmen are yet at the point where they can do both consistently. I’ll admit, though, it is early in the year.
Davide Curletti didn’t play at all nor did Jeff Ryan who was injured during the shoot-around and took the night off.
Stat 3: 31 points for Craig Moore
I just can’t talk about Moore’s effort enough. After two rough games Moore clearly got in a rhythm during the first half hitting 8 threes before the break. If he’s half as effective as he was on Saturday on a regular basis he’ll be All-Big Ten first team.
Stat 4: Northwestern Assist to Turnover ratio 15-to-4
Northwestern had 15 assists (Juice had 5) and only four turnovers (Brown had 17).
Stat 5: +/- results: Jeremy Nash +19
Wildcatreport.com poster CappyNU has done a great service to all NU basketball fanatics by creating a Google Docs account where he is tracking the +/- data for the NU roster. Visit this link if you want to learn more: http://northwestern.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=58&tid=121008215&mid=121008215&sid=901&style=2
Basically, this stat tracks how well the team does when each player is on the court. Nash’s number was by far the best. This doesn’t surprise me. I’ve joked with people in the past year that other than shooting Nash is the best player NU has. Now, I’ll admit that might be something of an overstatement, but the defense, rebounding, and intensity Nash brings to the floor are spectacular. He is I believe unquestionably NU’s best athlete and the team always seems to get a spark when he comes off the bench. Also, the clip in the Big Ten Network add where he blocks Kosta Koufos is really awesome.
Around the Web:
For more on the Brown game visit Wildcatreport.com's basketball message board for several in person accounts. Here's a link: http://northwestern.rivals.com/forum.asp?sid=901&fid=58
Stat 1: Northwestern’s record 3-0
This is Northwestern’s first 3-0 start since the 1993-94 team started 9-0. Some people are already chalking up Wednesday’s contest at Butler as a loss, but I see no reason to assume the ‘Cats can’t win at Hinkle. More on that later this week.
Stat 2: Minutes Played
Michael “Juice” Thompson 39 minutes
Craig Moore 39 minutes
Kevin Coble 39 minutes
Kyle Rowley 13 minutes
Luka Mirkovic 21 minutes
Ivan Peljusic 6 minutes
Jeff Ryan 0 minutes
Davide Curletti 0 minutes
One of the advantages this NU team has is depth, however, last night Bill Carmody stuck with his top three guys for the pretty much the entire game. Obviously, I wouldn’t have taken out Craig Moore either, I mean 9 threes and 31 points is a day everybody whoever played hoops has to envy. What I did find interesting is that Juice played 39 minutes and Sterling Williams played only 3. I actually really liked the guard rotation Coach Carmody used which had Sterling giving breaks to both Juice and Moore regularly.
Also of note was the fact that Luka Mirkovic got the majority of time at center. I think Luka has loads of potential, but clearly he needs to get tougher. He did get three offensive boards, but had zero defensive rebounds. Kyle Rowley seemed to be productive in terms of points in his limited time, but failed to get a rebound. Ivan Peljusic played 6 minutes and I still think he should get more time. He’s shown the ability to both rebound and score against good teams, I’m not sure any of the freshmen are yet at the point where they can do both consistently. I’ll admit, though, it is early in the year.
Davide Curletti didn’t play at all nor did Jeff Ryan who was injured during the shoot-around and took the night off.
Stat 3: 31 points for Craig Moore
I just can’t talk about Moore’s effort enough. After two rough games Moore clearly got in a rhythm during the first half hitting 8 threes before the break. If he’s half as effective as he was on Saturday on a regular basis he’ll be All-Big Ten first team.
Stat 4: Northwestern Assist to Turnover ratio 15-to-4
Northwestern had 15 assists (Juice had 5) and only four turnovers (Brown had 17).
Stat 5: +/- results: Jeremy Nash +19
Wildcatreport.com poster CappyNU has done a great service to all NU basketball fanatics by creating a Google Docs account where he is tracking the +/- data for the NU roster. Visit this link if you want to learn more: http://northwestern.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=58&tid=121008215&mid=121008215&sid=901&style=2
Basically, this stat tracks how well the team does when each player is on the court. Nash’s number was by far the best. This doesn’t surprise me. I’ve joked with people in the past year that other than shooting Nash is the best player NU has. Now, I’ll admit that might be something of an overstatement, but the defense, rebounding, and intensity Nash brings to the floor are spectacular. He is I believe unquestionably NU’s best athlete and the team always seems to get a spark when he comes off the bench. Also, the clip in the Big Ten Network add where he blocks Kosta Koufos is really awesome.
Around the Web:
For more on the Brown game visit Wildcatreport.com's basketball message board for several in person accounts. Here's a link: http://northwestern.rivals.com/forum.asp?sid=901&fid=58
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Wildcats, Craig Moore, Beat Brown 73-64
Craig Moore's career highs of 31 points and 9 made threes led the Wildcats past Brown on Saturday night in Rhode Island. I'd like to say I kept great track of this game after seeing the football 'Cats defeat the Illini 27-10 at Ryan Field, but circumstances seemed to intervene to prevent my efforts. As a result, this post will recap my experiences on Saturday. Tomorrow, I’ll have post in which I break apart the box score and try and offer a few thoughts on what’s in there. One interesting note is that Ivan Peljusic seemed to get Curletti’s minutes, but more on that tomorrow. Tonight, let me tell you about my efforts to track the ‘Cats.
After the best post-game celebration I’ve seen at Ryan Field (that includes 2004 Ohio State, amongst others) I wandered down to field level and out of the stadium. Before I left I looked back at Ryan Field and thought about how great the post-game celebration on the field was and how much I can’t wait to see a similar event in Welsh-Ryan Arena. I really believe, and I think today shows, that NU students want to cheer their sports teams. They just need a reason to do so. In the past few years, the men’s basketball team has not provided that opportunity. This year, they might. I hoped as I headed back to our tailgate that getting a road win at Brown might be a small step towards basketball success. After all, any road win is big.
With those thoughts in mind I immediately went to the radio and tried to tune into WNUR. Well, the radio I had apparently worked to good. In addition to WNUR I also was hearing the Beach Boys. Apparently, an Oldies station in Kenosha has a frequency similar to that of WNUR so my efforts to hear Craig Moore and the Wildcats were interrupted by Brian Wilson and his pals. I tried for about fifteen minutes to get only WNUR before I gave up. If I’d been by myself I might have just gone home, unfortunately, my friends and family who transported me to the game weren’t ready to leave. As a result, I only got periodic checks on the game from the car radio. I didn’t want to run it too much as I didn’t want to run down the car’s battery. Of course, I wasn’t the only one using the car for something during the three hour plus tailgate. On the positive side, thanks to our fire pit I felt pretty warm despite my disappointment. Finally, though, we decided to leave around 7:30. As we prepared to get into the car, I figured I’d at least hear the end of the game and be able to offer some logical analysis of the end of the contest. Unfortunately, the car didn’t start. I wasn’t happy. As a result of the car’s battery issue, I didn’t hear the end of the game. For a while, I worried I wouldn’t get home at all. Thankfully, the car got jumped and I got home, but by that point the game was already finished. I was glad, though, when I finally got home to see the ‘Cats had won. Still, I wish I would have seen, or at least heard the game. Those of you who listened or actually went to the game feel free to post some thoughts. I’m guessing the play of Craig Moore was spectacular to watch. I hope his play on Wednesday night is similar.
Go ‘Cats!
Let’s hope this is the year for a bowl game and post-season basketball.
After the best post-game celebration I’ve seen at Ryan Field (that includes 2004 Ohio State, amongst others) I wandered down to field level and out of the stadium. Before I left I looked back at Ryan Field and thought about how great the post-game celebration on the field was and how much I can’t wait to see a similar event in Welsh-Ryan Arena. I really believe, and I think today shows, that NU students want to cheer their sports teams. They just need a reason to do so. In the past few years, the men’s basketball team has not provided that opportunity. This year, they might. I hoped as I headed back to our tailgate that getting a road win at Brown might be a small step towards basketball success. After all, any road win is big.
With those thoughts in mind I immediately went to the radio and tried to tune into WNUR. Well, the radio I had apparently worked to good. In addition to WNUR I also was hearing the Beach Boys. Apparently, an Oldies station in Kenosha has a frequency similar to that of WNUR so my efforts to hear Craig Moore and the Wildcats were interrupted by Brian Wilson and his pals. I tried for about fifteen minutes to get only WNUR before I gave up. If I’d been by myself I might have just gone home, unfortunately, my friends and family who transported me to the game weren’t ready to leave. As a result, I only got periodic checks on the game from the car radio. I didn’t want to run it too much as I didn’t want to run down the car’s battery. Of course, I wasn’t the only one using the car for something during the three hour plus tailgate. On the positive side, thanks to our fire pit I felt pretty warm despite my disappointment. Finally, though, we decided to leave around 7:30. As we prepared to get into the car, I figured I’d at least hear the end of the game and be able to offer some logical analysis of the end of the contest. Unfortunately, the car didn’t start. I wasn’t happy. As a result of the car’s battery issue, I didn’t hear the end of the game. For a while, I worried I wouldn’t get home at all. Thankfully, the car got jumped and I got home, but by that point the game was already finished. I was glad, though, when I finally got home to see the ‘Cats had won. Still, I wish I would have seen, or at least heard the game. Those of you who listened or actually went to the game feel free to post some thoughts. I’m guessing the play of Craig Moore was spectacular to watch. I hope his play on Wednesday night is similar.
Go ‘Cats!
Let’s hope this is the year for a bowl game and post-season basketball.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Game 3: Northwestern Wildcats @ Brown Bears
The Matchup: Northwestern (2-0) @ Brown (1-2)
Location: Pizzitola Sports Center (Providence, R.I.)
TV: None
Radio: WNUR FM 89.3 (www.sports.wunr.org)
Fun Fact: Northwestern is the first Big Ten team ever to play at the Pizzitola Sports Center
About Brown
Brown is led by Head Coach Jesse Agel. Agel was an assistant for 19 years. He spent 17 years working at Vermont for Tom Brennan and the last two at Brown working for Craig Robinson. Coming from a family which includes several coaches I great respect for guys like Agel. He worked his way into a head coaching job through hard work and dedication, he was never a big name who got handed a job because he worked at Duke or North Carolina. I hope he has a great success, just not on Saturday.
As far as the players on the Brown roster the most effective scorer is 6-8 235 lbs. forward Matt Mullery, Mullery scored eighteen 62-57 win over Holy Cross, he scored 22 in a loss to Rhode Island. The other top scorer for Brown is Loyola Academy graduate Peter Sullivan. In Brown’s 73-67 win at Northwestern last season Sullivan scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half to lead Brown to victory. In that contest Sullivan was masterful at finding openings in NU’s 1-3-1 zone. This season Coach Carmody has eschewed the 1-3-1 in favor of a matchup zone. I think this is a better choice and will certainly help limit players like Sullivan who are good shooters, but not super athletes.
The other guy to watch for from Brown is guard Adrian Williams. Williams is the only guard Brown starts. He scored 16 points and added 7 steals in the win over Holy Cross and had 13 points in the two point loss to Rhode Island. He didn’t play in Brown’s 89-52 loss to George Mason. Obviously his presence makes a difference for the Bears. Matching up with Brown’s four forward lineup will be an interesting challenge for NU.
Prediction
This is a game Northwestern should win, but going on the road with a bunch of freshmen can be really tough. It is my hope that the older players will step up. Most important will be the shooting of Craig Moore and Michael Thompson. I think those guys are due for good games so I’m predicting a Wildcat win. I say Northwestern, 77 Brown, 68.
Tomorrow…
A post on my efforts to follow the game from the Ryan Field parking lot after Northwestern takes on Illinois.
Location: Pizzitola Sports Center (Providence, R.I.)
TV: None
Radio: WNUR FM 89.3 (www.sports.wunr.org)
Fun Fact: Northwestern is the first Big Ten team ever to play at the Pizzitola Sports Center
About Brown
Brown is led by Head Coach Jesse Agel. Agel was an assistant for 19 years. He spent 17 years working at Vermont for Tom Brennan and the last two at Brown working for Craig Robinson. Coming from a family which includes several coaches I great respect for guys like Agel. He worked his way into a head coaching job through hard work and dedication, he was never a big name who got handed a job because he worked at Duke or North Carolina. I hope he has a great success, just not on Saturday.
As far as the players on the Brown roster the most effective scorer is 6-8 235 lbs. forward Matt Mullery, Mullery scored eighteen 62-57 win over Holy Cross, he scored 22 in a loss to Rhode Island. The other top scorer for Brown is Loyola Academy graduate Peter Sullivan. In Brown’s 73-67 win at Northwestern last season Sullivan scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half to lead Brown to victory. In that contest Sullivan was masterful at finding openings in NU’s 1-3-1 zone. This season Coach Carmody has eschewed the 1-3-1 in favor of a matchup zone. I think this is a better choice and will certainly help limit players like Sullivan who are good shooters, but not super athletes.
The other guy to watch for from Brown is guard Adrian Williams. Williams is the only guard Brown starts. He scored 16 points and added 7 steals in the win over Holy Cross and had 13 points in the two point loss to Rhode Island. He didn’t play in Brown’s 89-52 loss to George Mason. Obviously his presence makes a difference for the Bears. Matching up with Brown’s four forward lineup will be an interesting challenge for NU.
Prediction
This is a game Northwestern should win, but going on the road with a bunch of freshmen can be really tough. It is my hope that the older players will step up. Most important will be the shooting of Craig Moore and Michael Thompson. I think those guys are due for good games so I’m predicting a Wildcat win. I say Northwestern, 77 Brown, 68.
Tomorrow…
A post on my efforts to follow the game from the Ryan Field parking lot after Northwestern takes on Illinois.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Some Final Thoughts on TXAMCC and On to Brown
Some quick additional thoughts from yesterday’s game. The overall performance was very good and it’s great to be 2-0, but some work still remains for NU to do. Most notable is three-point shooting. If NU is going to win games this year they have to be able to shoot close to 40% from beyond the arc. Still, it’s nice to see and for the players to learn that intensity on defense can win games even when the offense falters.
Also, let me say I love the three man center rotation. I think all three have great potential. However, I’m not sure why Ivan Peljusic is slipped so far down the depth chart. I’m honestly not sure the three freshmen do anything significantly better than him. The only notable difference is the fact Rowley and Luka are several inches taller. Peljusic is tall, athletic, and brings a ton of enthusiasm to the court. I really like the kid and hope he cracks the lineup a bit more. I feel the somewhat the same way about Jeremy Nash, but the difference is Nash doesn’t offer much scoring. I think Peljusic has the ability to score in double figures in Big Ten games. Heck, he did it last year. I’m not sure that Rowley and Curletti are at that point yet. For all we’ve heard Mirkovic should be, but it wasn’t really apparent last night.
Brown Game
Okay, so as far as I can tell there are three ways to follow the Brown game. Here they are:
Go to the game – If you live on the east coast I’d encourage you to go and take in this game in person. You’ll instantly become a fantastic resource for the rest of us as the majority of NU fans are going be relegated to listening on the radio or just waiting to see the score on the bottom line during Saturday Night Football.
Pay $7.00 and watch streaming video from Brown’s website - Here’s the link: http://brownbears.cstv.com/multimedia/schedule.html
Honestly, I’m not sure the cost is worth it, but if I weren’t going to be in the Ryan Field parking lot I’m crazy enough I might have paid the cash. I guess I should thank the Big Ten Network for the 2:30 start.
Listen to the game on WNUR - WNUR, NU’s student radio station, will broadcast the game live. I’ll be turning it on in the parking lot at Ryan Field. For those who will be in the warmth of their home, I suggest you visit www.wnur.org/sports and listen in to what the youngsters have to say on-line. WNUR takes some criticism at times, but I know from my experience at NU (which was pretty recent) that those guys put in a ton of time and great effort to bring broadcasts like this life. So I want to offer a big thanks to WNUR’s broadcast team as I’d be pretty angry if all I could do to follow the game was to watch the score trick across the bottom of my TV.
If you have any other ideas on how to keep track of this game please post. I’m sure all of crazy Wildcat fans want to know.
Also, let me say I love the three man center rotation. I think all three have great potential. However, I’m not sure why Ivan Peljusic is slipped so far down the depth chart. I’m honestly not sure the three freshmen do anything significantly better than him. The only notable difference is the fact Rowley and Luka are several inches taller. Peljusic is tall, athletic, and brings a ton of enthusiasm to the court. I really like the kid and hope he cracks the lineup a bit more. I feel the somewhat the same way about Jeremy Nash, but the difference is Nash doesn’t offer much scoring. I think Peljusic has the ability to score in double figures in Big Ten games. Heck, he did it last year. I’m not sure that Rowley and Curletti are at that point yet. For all we’ve heard Mirkovic should be, but it wasn’t really apparent last night.
Brown Game
Okay, so as far as I can tell there are three ways to follow the Brown game. Here they are:
Go to the game – If you live on the east coast I’d encourage you to go and take in this game in person. You’ll instantly become a fantastic resource for the rest of us as the majority of NU fans are going be relegated to listening on the radio or just waiting to see the score on the bottom line during Saturday Night Football.
Pay $7.00 and watch streaming video from Brown’s website - Here’s the link: http://brownbears.cstv.com/multimedia/schedule.html
Honestly, I’m not sure the cost is worth it, but if I weren’t going to be in the Ryan Field parking lot I’m crazy enough I might have paid the cash. I guess I should thank the Big Ten Network for the 2:30 start.
Listen to the game on WNUR - WNUR, NU’s student radio station, will broadcast the game live. I’ll be turning it on in the parking lot at Ryan Field. For those who will be in the warmth of their home, I suggest you visit www.wnur.org/sports and listen in to what the youngsters have to say on-line. WNUR takes some criticism at times, but I know from my experience at NU (which was pretty recent) that those guys put in a ton of time and great effort to bring broadcasts like this life. So I want to offer a big thanks to WNUR’s broadcast team as I’d be pretty angry if all I could do to follow the game was to watch the score trick across the bottom of my TV.
If you have any other ideas on how to keep track of this game please post. I’m sure all of crazy Wildcat fans want to know.
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