Juice Finishes Off Senior Night with Strong Second Half

On a night when Northwestern got some great contributions from underclass bench players Alex Marcotullio and Davide Curletti, it was still the senior Michael “Juice” Thompson who ended up leading NU to victory. Thompson scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half and really took over in the game’s final moments with a couple big threes and some big free throws to push NU to victory. He also led NU in rebounds with a career high 7 boards which helped NU stay nearly even with Minnesota on the glass.

The 11 point win essentially serves as game two of a three game NIT-seeding series with Minnesota for Northwestern. With tonight’s win, I believe NU ensures they’ll get a bid to the NIT (they have the same league record as last year, no bad losses, and overall the college basketball world isn’t as strong). However, at this point Minnesota would probably get a higher seed and a home game while NU would be a bottom half of the bracket seed and play on the road for the third straight year. That’s legitimate as Minnesota has more quality wins than NU. However, if NU can beat Minnesota in game three of the series in Indianapolis on March 10th that’ll likely move NU ahead of the Gophers on the NIT Selection Committee’s big board. Of course, if NU does beat the Gophers in round 1 of the Big Ten Tournament, then perhaps they should focus on beating Ohio State in round 2 and trying to somehow get themselves into the NCAA Tournament for the first time. After all, that is still the goal for every NCAA team until they are officially eliminating and NU isn’t out yet.

If NU is going to beat the Gophers again in Indy, playing defense like they did tonight will certainly help. Alex Marcotullio played a career-best game on offense, but it was his defense which really helped NU. He frustrated Minnesota’s guards (especially Blake Hoffarber) all night by not allowing them clean looks from three and staying physical with them when they tried to drive. It was exactly the type of effort which NU needs more consistently if they ever want to seriously compete in the Big Ten. Marcotullio’s 5-of-9 shooting and 18 points, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 3 rebounds were also all great for NU on a night when NU didn’t shoot all that well (just 37.3%) and needed somebody they could count on to make big plays.

Marcotullio’s former AAU teammates Davide Curletti also helped NU to victory. Curletti had a significantly stronger game than Luka Mirkovic for the second game in a row and probably deserves a start in Indy. He helped keep NU in the game in the first half and for the game scored 12 points, got 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, and didn’t miss a free throw going 6-for-6 including a couple in the clutch.

The fact NU gets a week off before playing Minnesota again also may help the Wildcats. John Shurna scored 15 points today and although he didn’t shoot all that well (5-of-14 overall and 3-of-10 from three) he did show moments of explosiveness with a couple dunks, blocks, and rebounds. With another week of rest, perhaps the non-conference season John Shurna will show up for NU. If that happens, I think Northwestern has chance to beat any team they face the rest of the season.

As the Wildcats leave Welsh-Ryan for the 2010-11 regular season, they obviously would like to make the NCAA Tournament, but you have to be pleased that even if they don’t, they still have chance at the postseason for the third year in a row. While NU hasn’t won a postseason game since March of 1994, that fact that NU has a real shot of being in the NIT three seasons in a row is unprecedented success for the Wildcats in the post World War II era. A ton of credit for that success goes to the senior class honored tonight before the game so I want to give credit once again to Juice Thompson and his classmates Mike Capocci, Ivan Peljusic, and Jeff Ryan. All four contributed at different levels on the court during games, but each gave of themselves four or five years of heavy commitment to Northwestern basketball and as turned out their four or five years included some of the program’s most successful seasons. Let’s hope more success is in their future.

20/20 Vision for John and Juice: Shurna nets 28 and Thompson 23 in Wildcats Seventh Consecutive Win

Northwestern won tonight’s game 78-62 and while it wasn’t always pretty, it was a very solid win. American University hung with the ‘Cats in the first half (NU held a 38-34 halftime advantage) and early in the second, but NU pulled away in the second half to cruise to a comfortable lead and eventual victory. NU used some nice pressure defense in their man-to-man and matchup zone defenses to get that lead. I thought NU would play more 1-3-1 coming into this game, but it wasn’t terribly effective when NU did play it early and Coach Bill Carmody said after the game he’d told the ‘Cats at halftime, “we’re not going to that 1-3-1 defense” as he knows they’ll need other defenses to be effective in the Big Ten. In NU’s second half matchup and man defenses Carmody credited the play of Alex Marcotullio and Jeff Ryan for making things happen. It’s impressive to watch those two play defense, whatever the style. They both are adept at tipping balls away and slowing down an offense’s momentum. As a result, they both often mange to start fast breaks for the ‘Cats and while it’s not usually them who scores, they deserve as much credit for many of NU’s points as the guys who actually get them in the scorebook.

Carmody also said that center Luka Mirkovic was “terrific tonight” and I have to agree. I said last time out Luka wasn’t aggressive enough, but he brought his aggressive side tonight. He got a ton of tough two hand rebounds and scored 11 points, most importantly converting 5-of-6 free throws. I still think Coach Carmody needs to get out the blocking pads in practice and start hammering Luka as he tries to make layups so he learns to finish at the rim, but if he can make foul shots and get rebounds he’ll be a solid contributor all year. Monday night should be a good test of consistency as Luka hasn’t had a lot of big games away from the friendly confines of Welsh-Ryan.

Drew Crawford had some foul trouble early and only scored 4 points, but he really had a very nice game. Coach Carmody said Drew, “passed the ball exceptionally well” and the numbers prove that out with 5 assists and 0 turnovers for the sophomore. I’ll also say right now that I expect Crawford to have a big scoring game Monday vs St. Francis. Drew showed last year that he’d often precede a really big scoring game with a very solid all-around game that wasn’t necessarily huge in the scoring column, but that helped NU win.

Now, I’ve kind of worked backwards in my praise as obviously the two biggest starts of the game were John Shurna and Juice Thompson. Shurna scored 28 points on 9-of-14 from the field and 7-of-8 from the charity strip. It was great to see the extra work Shurna put in on free throws paid off tonight. Of course, Shurna made a wide variety of shots, but probably the most memorable were a 35-foot three as the shot clock ran down and his last bucket a running one hander on the baseline. Both were spectacular shots. People all across Big Ten country are debating just how good Shurna is or will become. Personally, I think he’s certainly the most consistent scorer in the league right now, but (and these two don’t always go together) he may also be the most explosive. It’s amazing how many points Shurna can put up in short order and how many different ways he can get them.

Juice Thompson scored 23 points and when American locked down Shurna for a stretch thanks to some solid play by Charles Hinkle, Juice stepped up. Thompson made 4-of-6 threes tonight and did a really good job attacking the basket as well. Unlike the Long Island game were Thompson was almost exclusively a perimeter player, he scored half of his baskets inside the arc tonight.

The only major critical issue I want to bring up tonight is one I’ve had for awhile. Bill Carmody is excellent at setting up out of bounds plays, but NU is consistently terrible with the ball in the last possession of the first half. Why is this? Because Carmody doesn’t use a timeout in order to setup a play and inevitably everybody stands around until about 3 second are left on the clock and then Thompson or Shurna forces a shot. This makes no sense to me. You only get to carry four timeouts to the second half anyway. Why wouldn’t you use the non-carry over TO if you got it in order to setup a play? Especially if setting up plays is your best/favorite skill in the world. I’d really like to know.

Overall, though, this game was a solid positive and I look forward to seeing the ‘Cats play in the world’s most famous arena early next week.

Tech Wrecked: Wildcats Win by 20 and Take One for the Big Ten

“If they (Northwestern) shoot like that they’ll make the Final Four.” – Karl Ravech

The above quote was said at halftime of the ESPN2 broadcast of tonight’s game and I think it pretty much sums up my feelings. I honestly think NU still has a number of areas that need improvement, but if you aren’t impressed with the way the Wildcats shoot the basketball, well, then put simply, you must be awfully difficult to please. NU’s 55-point first half was actually better in terms of offensive execution than their very impressive first half against Creighton. I would suspect that any opposing coach who watches that tape will be beyond perplexed at how to defend as NU as the ‘Cats got great production not only from Drew Crawford and John Shurna, but also from JerShon Cobb, Alex Marcotullio and a number of others.

Obviously, John Shurna played his usual solid game. He finished the day with 21 Pts, 1 Reb, 2 Ast, 2 Stl, 2 Blk. That total of 21 points will actually lower his average, but like a number of Wildcats he has only himself to blame as even Shurna, a solid free throw shooter, struggled from the charity strip tonight making only 3-of-6 freebies.

As good as Shurna was, it was Drew Crawford (19 Pts, 6 Rebs, 3 Ast, 3 Stl) and JerShon Cobb who really stepped up early for NU and set the tone. Georgia Tech actually started off quick with a big dunk from Glen Rice Jr. and the ‘Cats found themselves in a hole. When that happened, both Crawford and Cobb made tough shots to ignite a Wildcat run that to be perfectly honest continued all the way until the break. Bill Carmody mentioned Cobb wasn’t too happy with his limited playing time Sunday night, and to be honest I was worried about the youngster's confidence if Coach Carmody decided to go with Jeff Ryan or Mike Capocci in that spot, but after tonight I suspect Cobb is happy and I feel happy for him. Like Crawford last year, it seems to have taken a little time for Cobb to get totally comfortable and healthy, but he brought out an assortment of moves tonight which show why he’s got a great future. His second basket of the game, a reverse layup after a lighting-quick drive, needs to make every highlight reel of this game and this season. Cobb finished with a career-high 10 points as well as 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Most importantly, though, he likely found a comfort level which will carry him into the rest of the season.

Before the game reader Mikey K said NU needed a big game from Crawford and I have to give him credit for that observation. Without Crawford hitting tough shots early I think things could have gone bad quickly. Crawford also had an under the radar big play in the second half when he took the ball to the hole hard for two after Georgia Tech got a dunk and seemed to gain some momentum.

Together Crawford, Cobb, and a much more aggressive than ever Juice Thompson are giving NU more players than ever before who can get the ball to the hoop and finish on their own. That doesn’t even include John Shurna who might not be as quick off the dribble as those three, but who also goes to the rack with authority when he sees the opening.

NU made 12-of-19 threes tonight and some major credit needs to go to Alex Marcotullio who made 4-of-4, including one he converted into a 4-point play after sinking a shot while drawing a foul. Coach Bill Carmody was actually most impressed with Marcotullio’s only non-three point field goal saying that Alex, “threw in a runner on the baseline ala Tim Doyle,” when talking with Doyle postgame on WGN.

In my ideal vision of this season Marcotullio is the guy off the bench who can bring NU instant offense and he showed up big time in that role tonight. He also (along with Jeff Ryan and Cobb) provided his usual solid defense atop NU’s 1-3-1 zone. NU played both the switching man and the 1-3-1, but Georgia Tech’s aggressive style made playing the 1-3-1 and almost goading Tech into driving into the middle of the defense where NU could collapse and force a mistake a better option for the ‘Cats tonight.

Some other big plays tonight came from Juice Thompson who had 14 points and 4 assists. Those assists gave him 403 for his career. The NU record is 452 by Patrick Baldwin (the point guard on the last NU team to go 5-0 and to win a postseason game). Also, Luka Mirkovic was credited by Coach Carmody as being “terrific” tonight. If you eliminate the skill of free throw shooting, where Luka went 3-of-7, I agree. Luka played well on defense (7 defensive rebounds), was spectacular as a passer (a team leading 7 assists), and attacked the basket in one-on-one situations well enough to score 11 points. When combined with Davide Curletti (who didn’t play as much because Luka did play so well) NU’s center’s posted a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. With Luka’s 7 assists, they barely missed a triple-double. I’d bet anything Carmody would take those numbers from that spot every night. Also of note is that thanks to the effort of those two centers, and some solid shooting, NU outrebounded Tech 32-28.

Really, I have only two major criticisms after tonight. First, NU still has a number of players who get beat off the dribble simply because they don’t get low in a defensive position and move their feet. Second, unless they plan to shoot 64.6% from the field every night (which would fine) NU can’t only shot 56.7% from the free throw line. Think about that—NU almost was 10% better from the field. They were if you take out a few late game heaves from the bench players.

One other note, the attendance of 4455 isn’t awful for an NU home game, but the crowd could be much better. It could also look a lot better on TV if people in the purple seats decided to show up. It’s really bad when the announcers are in close-up and behind them are only empty seats. I really think NU needs to start to find a way to move the season ticket holders who show up every game but are either in the upper level or the bleachers over to the better seats which are almost always unoccupied.

John and Juice Take ‘Cats to 4-0 for First Time Since ’93-94

Northwestern beat Creighton 65-52 on Sunday night to move to 4-0 for the first time since the ’93-94 season. That is the same year the Wildcats last won a postseason game when they defeated DePaul in the NIT. NU has bigger goals than the NIT this season and this win combined with the chance to get a victory Tuesday against Georgia Tech could help them reach those goals. Not surprisingly NU was led by John Shurna both in points and rebounds, but he wasn’t the only player to really step up today. Juice Thompson scored a season high 18 points and dished out 3 assists including an impressive alley-op feed to Shurna for Shurna’s third impressive slam of the night.

NU also got really good contributions off the bench from Davide Curletti, Mike Capocci, Jeff Ryan, and Alex Marcotullio. The only one of those guys who posted a real significant stat line was Curletti who scored 7 points and tied for a team high with 6 rebounds. It was great to see Curletti find a shooting touch hitting an early three and swishing two free throws. If NU gets shooting production from the five spot the offense will open up even more. Curletti also did do a respectable job defending the larger Kenny Lawson Jr. Capocci only scored two points, but was another Wildcat to really hit the boards hard and he helped the inside defense as well. If JerShon Cobb’s shots don’t start to fall with some regularity, I’d look for Coach Bill Carmody to use Capocci more as the season continues. Marcotullio and Jeff Ryan did their usual solid job defensively. They both played tough at the top of the 1-3-1 and made life tough for the Blue Jay offense. Marcotullio’s biggest play was to tip a pass on the play which allowed Drew Crawford a dunk to finish off the Wildcat victory.

Crawford actually had a really subpar game, but he did manage to score 7 points. The fact is that he will have much better games and probably will have one Tuesday night. We’ve become so use to having Juice, Shurna, and Crawford all play great, but the fact is that they all probably aren’t going to have great games every time out. It is an excellent sign that one of the big three can have an off night and the ‘Cats can still get a 13 point win.

Part of the reason for that double-digit win was NU’s improved defense in both the 1-3-1 and the switching man-to-man. In that switching-man it was an improved second half effort on Blue Jay star Kenny Lawson Jr. that really made a difference. After the game Bill Carmody credited Luka Mirkovic’s hard work on defense in the second half. I have to say that after a tough first half Luka really did step up on the defensive end. He still needs to get much better on offense and can’t miss late free throws like he did tonight and last year vs Wisconsin, but at least he stepped and didn’t get pushed around in the second half. Perhaps offensive improvement is the next step for Luka.

I’ll wrap up here for now and tomorrow look back a little more at this win and ahead to Tuesday’s big game vs Georgia Tech.

Wildcats Use Hot Second Half to Top Huskies 97-78

Northwestern still struggled on defense, especially it seemed early, but the group Coach Bill Carmody has jokingly referred to as the “Runnin’ Rebel Wildcats” made that name into anything but a joke as they piled up a Carmody-era record 97 points. The Wildcats even improved in the second half scoring 54 of those 97 in the second half of the contest thanks mostly to a huge 25 point second half from John Shurna and 8-of-16 threes total in that half.

Obviously, as noted above, NU’s defensive effort wasn’t great. In the first half the Wildcats allowed 38 points and pretty much looked awful whenever they were forced to actually play defense inside the three point line. Thankfully, the Wildcats 1-3-1 completely flummoxed Northern Illinois. I have to say that I truly believe when played correctly the 1-3-1 is a pretty good defense. Especially against a team which struggles from deep as Northern does. Alex Marcotullio (who got the start thanks to a JerShon Cobb injury) and Jeff Ryan played the top of that zone and both caused enough havoc to make Bill Carmody happy. The biggest need for improvement NU will have to make is their ability to play straight forward defense in their man-to-man, switching man, or matchup zone. I will say that some of NIU’s 40 second half points came as a result of facing NU’s second team defense, so I’m less concerned there. Bottom line, NU isn’t a good defensive team, but it might take a couple games to figure just how much of problem their defensive liabilities are going to cause.

Now that we’ve addressed NU’s lackluster defense, let’s address their awesome offense. John Shurna posted a career high-tying 31 points tonight with 25 coming in the second half when he simply caught fire. Shurna made two quick threes (7-of-10 3s overall) in the first 90 seconds of the second half which seemed to ignite the ‘Cats. He also made a couple of very difficult deep and off balance shots which showed just how good of a player he has become. After watching tonight, I feel Shurna should feel totally confident as a team leader and a serious contender for Big Ten Player of the Year. In fact, if NU does make the NCAA-tournament I’ll say that Shurna will be named Big Ten Player of the Year by a number of publications.

NU also got good games from the other two members of their triumvirate of stars. Drew Crawford stepped up early in the game when Shurna struggled and ended up starting the Wildcats scoring run which took the ‘Cats from down eight to up eight early in the first half. Overall, Crawford made 9-of-13 shots and scored 20 points. That’s the type of efficiency I’d like to see from Crawford. He can make threes, but he’s so effective in the lane that I expect him to shot over 50% for the season. Crawford had NU’s only dunk of the game on a breakaway and I also liked the number of little runners he found ways to make as well. Juice Thompson contributed 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting. He also had 6 assists and played what we can expect to be his regular total of 38 minutes. In fact, Thompson may end up playing all 40 minutes in a number of games this season. The only thing that might prevent him from leading the nation in minutes is the fact NU doesn’t have the toughest non-conference schedule, but based on tonight, Bill Carmody may keep Thompson on the court regardless of how big NU’s lead gets in a game.

Before I wrap up I have to give major props to Jeff Ryan, Davide Curletti, and Luka Mirkovic. They all did just enough to be key contributors and make me believe NU has support for their big three. Ryan played his usual great defense and hit a big three early in the game. Curletti scored 9 points (also hit a key three) and gave NU some needed minutes in the post. Luka Mirkovic scored just seven points, but recorded 10 rebounds which were a game high. Similar contributions by these three combined with a healthy JerShon Cobb will give Shurna, Crawford, and Thompson good support this year.

On Wednesday Northwestern earns frequent flyer miles as they head to Texas-Pan America. Northwestern has traditionally handled UTPA with ease, but word is the UTPA coaching staff has billed this as the program’s biggest game so I expect the ‘Cats will need to be ready to play in order to post the victory.

‘Cats Start Season with Short Road Trip (Game Preview)

Northwestern will open the 2010-11 season on Friday at Northern Illinois. The game can be heard on WGN and can seen for a fee through NUsports.com’s all-access package. Of course, that fee is setup as a monthly subscription package so you can’t just order one game. You have to remember to cancel afterwards. Note that if you’re going to pay for this service. To be honest, I think it’s beyond ridiculous a single game service option isn’t offered. Basically, because the monthly system is auto renewed it’s essentially trying to scam people because they might forget to cancel their subscription. One should also note if you plan to do this that NIU's monthly fee is $6.95 compared to NU's $9.95, so I'd go with NIU. I think the money goes to CBS anyway so it's not like you're shorting Northwestern. Of course, I'd pay $9.95 if I didn't have to worry about remembering to cancel later.

Now, on to the game…

Northern Illinois went 10-20 last year and only returns one player who made significant scoring contributions. That player is guard Xavier Silas who transferred to NIU from Colorado when NIU hired former Colorado coach Ricardo Patton. Numbers wise I’d compare Silas to Penn State’s Talor Battle. Battle’s numbers are more impressive because he’s 5-10 and Silas is 6-5, but both players score high double figures and pull down more than five rebounds a game from the their guard spot. Last year Silas averaged 19.7 and 5.3. What he doesn’t do as well as Battle is handle the ball. He had 41 assists and 60 turnovers last season. With that in mind look from NIU to lean heavily on Kyree Jones a freshman from Indiana. James drew interest from some Big Ten schools and is notable in the Chicago area as the son of former Chicago State head coach Kevin Jones. At 6-2 Jones will be bigger than Juice Thompson when going head-to-head, but Juice’s three years of starting experience against bigger Big Ten guards gives NU a major advantage here.

In the front court for NIU probably watch Lee Fisher. At 6-5 Fisher is actually one of NIU’s bigger players. He started 21 games at forward last year and averaged basically 4 points and 4 rebounds a game. He’ll need to do more if NIU wants to pull the upset. It’s also wroth noting that Fisher is bad free throw shooter if that becomes an issue in any way. With Fisher fans might also see Tim Toler a transfer from Danville Area Community College. A Junior College All-American, his 6-7 270 lbs. frame should be a good test for the bulked up Luka Mirkovic.

Bill Carmody made the comment that he might start Mike Capocci in some games depending on matchups, but in this contest I think we’ll see what I expect to be the regular starting line of Thompson, Cobb, Crawford, Shurna, and Mikrovic for NU. I will be interested to see how Capocci, Jeff Ryan, and Alex Marcotullio are used off the bench as I don’t think the exhibition game gave true sense of Coach Carmody’s sub pattern plans. If NU has defensive issues guarding Silas, I’d expect to see more of Ryan and Marcotullio who looked like NU’s best defenders last week. I also wouldn’t be shocked to see NU in the 1-3-1 Friday night. NIU was a terrible three point shooting team last year and even Silas only made 32.1% of his threes. In fact, against such a team the 1-3-1 might be the best way for NU to defend.

This is a road game and those came be tough, but as I posted earlier this week I don’t think the road should faze this NU team. I also think that despite a couple potentially quality additions, NIU still hasn’t recaptured their early-mid 90s form. It could be close early, but NU should win this one pretty easily. I predict: Northwestern, 85 Northern Illinois, 71

Exhibition: Robert Morris @ Northwestern

Northwestern starts the game portion of the 2010-11 schedule with an exhibition matchup on Thursday against Robert Morris College. The game can be seen on-line at bigtennetwork.com or, of course, by spending $5 to go to Welsh-Ryan Arena. Two years ago NU lost to Robert Morris and then posted one the best seasons in school history, so I don’t honestly expect to learn much from this game, but I’ll be watching a four key areas. Speaking of four, I don’t know if excellence in all these areas can get the ‘Cats to the Final Four in April, but it might get them into the Big Ten Tournament’s final four for the first time.

1) Defense

Northwestern played terrible defense for most of last season. Coach Carmody and the players have admitted as much. If NU could have played even halfway decent defense they likely would have been bound for the NCAA tournament. NU has worked on various defensive changes (including man-to-man) and I will be fascinated to see what defenses NU uses against Robert Morris. Personally, I’d really like NU to just play man-to-man regardless in order to work on it in a game setting. With Drew Crawford, JerShon Cobb, and John Shurna, NU has athletes who can play man against similar players.

2) The Center Position

The Center combo of Luka Mirkovic and Davide Curletti wasn’t great in Italy and Luka was arguably NU’s most important and inconsistent player last year. When he played well NU won games, but when he was bad the Wildcats were pretty bad as a team. Somehow, NU needs to find a way to get double figure points and at least seven or eight rebounds a game out of these guys combined regularly if they want to compete in the Big Ten.

3) JerShon Cobb

What role NU’s highest rated recruit of the Carmody era will play is a question many fans are asking. I honestly think JerShon will start, but even if he doesn’t, Coach Carmody isn’t going to leave a potential offensive and defensive playmaker on the bench long. It’ll be great to see JerShon on the floor.

4) The Bench

NU’s bench has at times been invisible, but this year it features 5th-year seniors Jeff Ryan and Ivan Peljusic as well past starter Mike Capocci. It’ll also likely feature Alex Marcotullio coming off the pine to add three point shots and aggressive defense. Basically, this should be a good bench and I want to see how Carmody (generally a short rotation type of coach) uses these guys.


What is everyone else going to be watching?

5th Year Seniors Can Still Make an Impact

Ivan Peljusic is one of two fifth-year seniors still on NU's roster.

Most fans looked to Kevin Coble to be NU’s leader as a 5th-year senior, but with his departure the Wildcats will have to look elsewhere for leadership. Certainly, not having Coble’s on court statistical leadership hurts NU, but the Wildcats have two other fifth year seniors who will be able to provide some leadership on and off court. Those two players are Jeff Ryan and Ivan Peljusic and both will probably see increased playing time with Coble gone as well.

The most obvious way Jeff Ryan will be able to make an impact and see playing time will be rotating in as a backup point guard. Though many fans are frustrated by Northwestern’s reliance on the 1-3-1 zone the truth is when played correctly it is a very tough zone to beat. The problem is that when the Wildcats play that zone for the majority of the game teams adjust to it easily. It also hasn’t helped that NU has been forced to use Juice Thompson on the baseline. Thompson is quick enough to get out of shooters, but at less than 6-feet people can still shoot over him. If NU uses the 2-3 zone more often, but goes 1-3-1 when Ryan comes in it could be a great changeup defense for the ‘Cats because with Ryan in the game the Wildcats would have the perfect player to use at the base of the 1-3-1. Ryan has the quickness to get out on shooters and is tall enough to play a little better defense than Juice when the ball gets into an opponent’s center.

Peljusic’s increased playing time comes not only from Coble’s exit, but from Kyle Rowley’s as well. I expect Luka Mirkovic and Davide Curletti to get most of the minutes at center, but without Coble the Wildcat front court got a lot thinner. The athletic and enthusiastic Peljusic is probably one of NU’s best rebounders now and he has some instincts when it comes to scoring points. His biggest problem is inconsistency and his tendency to play outside the system. Nonetheless, I think he’ll make an impact as a sub for John Shurna and perhaps Mirkovic given the right matchup.

Jeff Ryan might actually play some as a backup for Shurna or NU’s other forward (most likely JerShon Cobb) as well. At 6-6 with the ability to jump Ryan can play against most front court players. He also has solid quickness to backcut against in overplay, but he has in the past had trouble finishing at the hoop or converting free throws. It is important he improve in these areas if he wants to play at small forward or power forward as a backup this season.

Finally, both Peljusic and Ryan have shown themselves to be very valuable to a team’s attitude in how they handle themselves on the court. Peljusic is very famous for as Coach Carmody once said, “Rising his hands like it’s the Final Four every time he makes a shot.” Some fans don’t like that, but for a team that often lacks emotion, I think Peljusic’s outward and enthusiasm and Ryan’s clear understanding of where to be at what point in NU’s complex offense will help provide leadership for at team which likely will have only one senior starter in Juice Thompson.

Rowley Transfer Opens Opportunity for Curletti, Ryan and Recruiting

Kyle Rolwey departs Northwestern after playing 61 games for the Wildcats

If you don’t already know, Kyle Rowley will be transferring from Northwestern with hopes of playing in a program which better fits his skill. Unlike past NU transfers who pretty much only hurt NU (Rex Walters and Geno Carlisle), only hurt themselves (Matt Moran and Carvell Ammons), or hurt both (Steve Lepore), this move will help both Northwestern and Kyle.

While you hate to see any player that you recruited transfer away, I have to believe Bill Carmody realized at some point in the last two years that Kyle Rowley was the ultimate square peg in a round hole at Northwestern. In an offense where the center can get a lot of open threes, Rowley had no range past five feet. Playing a 1-3-1 defense where the center has to be mobile to slide down and help a smaller baseline defender, Rowley was big and sluggish and couldn’t move. If we go back to the Spring of 2008 when Rowley was recruited he was a big get for NU, but at the time NU was desperate for size and Carmody, Hardy, and the rest of the NU coaches probably were willing to ignore some of Kyle’s faults since he was 7-feet and 280-pounds. Those attributes where enough to get Rowley almost 30 starts as a freshman, but even with those starts Rowley eventually gave way to Luka Mirkovic in terms of minutes played. This season Mirkovic still wasn’t an ideal Princeton Offense center, but his occasional ability to hit a three and more mobile defensive ability made him get the majority of the starts. Making things even tougher for Rowley, Davide Curletti showed the ability to pass and shoot from the top of the key as well during the Big Ten season which pretty much restricted Rowley to the bench. At that point I began to believe Rowley would benefit from a redshirt next season. Now, he’ll get one, but it’ll be someone else as he waits out a year as a transfer. To some extent I find that a disappointment, but the truth is even with a redshirt Rowley never would have become a Princeton Offense center. Now, the opportunity exists for others to take advantage.

First off, this is potentially good news for Jeff Ryan. Now, instead of having to comeback as a walk-on next year, Ryan could get a scholarship for his fifth season. That to me is well deserved given the effort Jeff has put in to rehab since his injury. Also, Rowley being gone and NU only having two true centers opens up the possibility of more three guard lineups which gives Ryan the chance to play more. A lineup which features 6-5 Drew Crawford and 6-6 Jeff Ryan at guard spots along with 6-8s Kevin Coble and John Shurna at forward does give the Wildcats a pretty good rebounding team as Ryan is still one of NU’s best leapers.

The other player who should benefit from the Rowley transfer is Davide Curletti. Curletti looked like he might have jumped Rowley this season, but now he’ll get his practice time as well. I’ve been convinced for a while that NU had too many centers on the roster. Especially with none distinguishing themselves as it meant all three (or four with Ivan Peljusic) needed to get practice reps. Now, I think NU can focus on using Mirkovic and Curletti at center most of the time with occasional use of Peljusic. As a result, I suspect you’ll see both improve their overall game (but especially their inside post moves and passing) with the extra practice.

Finally, theoretically this opens up another spot for a class of 2010 recruit. However, I’m not really sure what’s available that would be better than just holding the scholarship for another year. Still, it would be worth looking around.

Bottom line, I wish Kyle Rowley a lot of luck. The odds of success for him will increase in a more traditional system and Northwestern will benefit by having more natural fits for the Princeton Offense getting reps in practice.

Road Woes Continue as NU’s Season Finishes with 76-64 loss to Rhode Island

Well, that’s it. Northwestern’s season ends at 20-14 with a first round NIT loss to Rhode Island. If you’ve watched Northwestern all season you can’t be too surprised with the result of this game, but you have to be frustrated that Northwestern did virtually nothing to correct the defensive problems they’ve suffered through all season.

Northwestern’s inability to play defense has been a recurring theme on this blog all season. Once again the Wildcats couldn’t play man-to-man at all. They again switched on every screen and as a result found themselves in disastrous mismatches. The number of times Michael Thompson got himself caught on a 6-8 or 7-0 forward and was forced to foul or allow an easy basket was utterly ridiculous. The 1-3-1 was probably even worse as the number of open looks Akeen Richmond, URI’s only shooter, got was as ridiculous as having Thompson try to guard 7-0 Will Martell. The 1-3-1 also forced Thompson into trouble because as a result of URI not being turnover prone, which had to be in the scouting report, they passed well and threw repeated lob passes over the top which resulted in easy dunks and layups. This problem was also probably somewhat compounded by the fact that Luka Mirkovic was out with a bad back and Kyle Rowley couldn’t rotate down as quickly as Mirkovic could have. Still, that’s no excuse for basically letting a team beat you in the second half with layups and free throws. The number of free throws URI got was astronomical. Yes, a few came late when NU had to foul, but plenty came earlier. The reason: NU can’t move their feet on defense so they just grab guys.

Basically, I’m pretty sure five people off the street could play the Northwestern defense just as effective as NU’s scholarship basketball players. I mean I can grab people and not be in position very well when playing pickup games. I don’t really blame the players, though. They have enough talent to be better. This is a serious coaching deficiency which needs to be addressed. I’m sure a number of other people will use this loss to go strongly after Bill Carmody. I’ll have my grades for all position groups (guards, forwards, centers) and coaches in the next couple weeks. All I will say now on Carmody is that his performance this year was not in my opinion up to the standard he set last season and showed in his stronger years past. If I were Jim Phillips I’d feel reasonably obligated to give Carmody an extension, but I’d want at least one assistant replaced with defensive expert and I wouldn’t extend him past two years.

A big positive for NU was that this contest was postseason game. That hasn’t happened much in NU Basketball. However, as the last team in the NIT, I think you could argue Northwestern would have been more evenly matched with a CBI opponent. I’d also offer congratulations to Drew Crawford who posted his second consecutive double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds tonight. Also, Kyle Rowley had a serviceable game with 7 points and 7 rebounds stepping in for the injured Luka Mirkovic.

Unfortunately, Rowley’s missed free throws and a number of missed shots from Crawford did hurt. Crawford and John Shurna needed to do a much better job converting three pointers for NU to win, but they constantly missed fairly open looks. Michael Thompson did get 24 points and kept NU in the game (to a point) almost by himself. Sadly, Jeremy Nash’s offense disappeared towards the end of the season and it didn’t reappear tonight. In NU’s biggest wins this season Nash scored big points, but since about the middle of February he hasn’t served as an offensive weapon. I was also disappointed that John Shurna finished the year in a slump as well. Like Craig Moore last season, one of the Wildcats best offensive weapons, he struggled in the Big Ten Tournament and the one NIT game. That probably contributed to those defeats. Northwestern isn’t deep enough to seriously believe someone is going to come off the bench and make up for a cold shooting Shurna.

It’ll be a long offseason now for the Wildcats. For the second straight year they’ll be kicking themselves for a number missed chances to go beyond the NIT. Last year NU lost games in the final minutes to loose out on a tourney bid. This year they lost games in the final stretch of the season. It’s awfully depressing. Perhaps the reason has to do with that lack of depth. If that is the case the addition of JerShon Cobb and the return of Kevin Coble and Jeff Ryan will help. Next year the ‘Cats should be 10-deep with ease.

For now, though, these losses hurt. It’ll be hard to enjoy basketball for the next few days knowing that NU should still be playing. Eventually, I’ll get over the pain and enjoy the tournament, but part of me won’t even want to do so.

I suppose in the meantime NU fans can concern themselves with NU’s women’s basketball team playing a WNIT game tomorrow at home and the women’s lacrosse season which should see the ‘Cats contend for a 6th consecutive title. There is also spring football and the fun Dan Persa/Evan Watkins debate should start soon. In the end, though, what I really want to see from Northwestern athletics is an NCAA Tournament bid. I’ve waited more than a quarter century for such an event. Given that, I suppose I can wait another 365 days.

Northwestern Basketball: The Class of 2010

Seniors Jeremy Nash and Matt Steger with NU's Chicago Invitational Challenge Championship Trophy

Thursday of this week at least two seniors, Jeremy Nash and Matt Steger will play their final Big Ten home game. It’s also possible a third, Jeff Ryan, will also see a Big Ten opponent in Welsh-Ryan for the last time. I’m not a big fan of basketball program keeping Ryan in limbo as they pursue a recruit for next season, but that’s simply the nature of college athletics. You have to recruit the best possible players to be successful or you aren’t employed. I just wonder what the uncertainty of his future is doing to Jeff’s academic and career plans. Whatever the case, I certainly hope NU takes time to honor Jeff with Matt and Jeremy in case he doesn’t come back. It he does return, he can join Michael Jenkins and Ivan Tolic as players with multiple senior days.

What I think is most special about this senior class is that they’ve seen some of the lowest lows and highest highs in NU basketball history. They arrived in 2006-07 to a team which lost a number of senior starters, most notably Vedran Vukusic. As a result, Jeff Ryan and Kevin Coble (who would have been honored as a senior if not for his injury) got the chance to crack the starting lineup. Ryan started ten games that year and played perhaps the best game of his career when he scored 18 points in a narrow loss to #3 Wisconsin at Welsh-Ryan while subbing for an injured Coble. Ryan’s sub-30% three point percentage has been a point of distress for fans during his three years of play, but he made an amazing banked-in three on that day to help NU almost pull of a shocking upset. I’ll never forget the frustration on Bo Ryan’s face as Jeff consistently blew by defenders. Clearly the Badgers weren’t prepared for Ryan playing instead of Coble and it showed.

Unfortunately for Ryan and the ‘Cats, the 06-07 season was mostly filled with close losses like that Wisconsin game. The ‘Cats went 2-16 in the Big Ten. They beat only Minnesota (in a blowout) and Penn State by two, thanks to a Craig Moore miracle heave towards the hoop with the shoot clock running down. The Wildcats were 13-18 overall that season, but I doubt the players look back with much fondness on wins over North Florida by 1 point and Wheaton College by 2 points. Still, the fact that Coble, Ryan, and every once and a while Jeremy Nash, got solid minutes did probably help develop what would become a solid team two years later.

Sadly, before that solid team emerged in 2008-09, NU faced the 2007-08 season. When I said this group faced the lowest of lows, I was talking about this season. Northwestern finished that year 8-22 overall and 1-17 in the Big Ten. Many of those Big Ten losses weren’t close and that was the year the movement to fire NU Coach Bill Carmody really picked up steam. In fact, during player introductions while starters such as Jeff Ryan and Kevin Coble were introduced, the NU student section other gave voice or displayed signs indicting their desire to see NU hire a new coach. The sentiments in the stands probably didn’t make a huge difference of the floor, though, Craig Moore did once to tell group of anti-Carmody students to shut up. Bottom line, playing in a situation where they lost virtually every game and faced uncertainty about their program’s future had to be tough. It was probably especially tough for Jeff Ryan who also ended up missing the season’s final eight games due to injury. While Ryan was out at the end of the season, though, classmate Jeremy Nash made his first major impacts on NU’s basketball program. Nash, who missed the season’s first eight games, started to appear more in the role of defensive stopper and posted career highs in points and rebounds that February before making his first start in the Big Ten Tournament that March. NU lost that BTT game to Minnesota after holding a 10-point, a trend which would depressingly continue the next year, but that game at least showed despite their 1-17 Big Ten record, Northwestern’s basketball team had life.

That life appeared much more clearly in 2008-09. This was the year this class experienced some of the highest highs in NU basketball history, maybe the highest highs since the National Championship of 1931. With Jeremy Nash causing havoc at the point of the 1-3-1 zone, Northwestern upset #7 Michigan State in East Lansing 70-63. It was the Wildcats first ever win at the Breslin Center and their first win over a top-10 team in a decade and a half. Later in the season, the ‘Cats beat Ohio State for the first time in more than a decade and won at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana for the first time ever. Jeremy Nash was active in all those victories, but for classmate Jeff Ryan, the biggest win came when NU won at #19 Purdue. NU’s primary defense in 08-09 was the 1-3-1. However, NU decided to take the rare step on playing man-to-man against Purdue late in the game. When that occurred, Ryan got matched up on Purdue superstar Robbie Hummel and competelly shut him down for a seven minute stretch when the Wildcats surged into the lead.

This season, Jeff Ryan and Kevin Coble have been out virtually all year. Even walk-on senior Matt Steger has spent the majority of the year in street clothes on NU’s bench. As a result, the only senior to any significant time has been Jeremy Nash. With the leadership spotlight on him alone, Nash has responded. People often talk about players making themselves better, but Nash has taken that concept to a whole new level. A guy who looked like he couldn’t through his jump shot into Lake Michigan from the Lakefill as a freshman, Nash now converts about 30% of his threes. That’s not great, but it’s enough that a defense has to respect him as a shooter and that’s given him a much more well-rounded offensive game. It’s the reason he’s second on the team in assists and fourth in scoring. Speaking of Nash making threes, he made what I think is the current front runner for shot of the year when he hit a three to put NU ahead against Illinois on January 23rd. Now, the season isn’t over yet and I hope, and know Jeremy does as well, that both he and his teammates have many more big shots in their future, but it’s impressive that a player who was such an offensive liability in the past can be the guy who made the season’s biggest offensive play. I think it is safe to say that if some players with more talent had Nash’s work ethic they would be far superior to what they are today.

Speaking of work ethic, I’d be remiss if I didn’t end this post with some words of praise for Matt Steger. Thanks to injury Steger, like Coble and Ryan, has spent most of this year sitting behind the bench. But for three years he practiced just as hard as any player on the NU roster and did so not because he needed to get ready to play and beat teams like Michigan State and Purdue, but so his teammates could be ready to beat Michigan State and Purdue. The legacy of this senior class will not doubt be their contributions to some of NU’s best basketball moments, but let’s please remember the member of this class that helped set those moments up even if we as fans didn’t often see him do so.

Finally, best wishes to Jeremy, Jeff, and Matt in their future, whatever that might be, but let’s remember they’ve got at least two more home games and a big Big Ten Tournament at which they could use our support before they leave Evanston.

Go ‘Cats!

Go 2010 Seniors!

Northwestern Should Offer a Fifth Year to Jeff Ryan

Jeff Ryan should get the chance to tour Welsh-Ryan after helping NU to many wins next season.

Recently the question was posed whether or not Jeff Ryan could return for a fifth year of eligibility. Ryan is eligible to return as he hasn’t taken a redshirt year yet. As that is they case, NU wouldn’t even have to apply for a medical hardship in order to bring him back. However, Northwestern already has 12 of the 13 NCAA-allowed scholarship spots filled for next season if you include Kevin Coble’s fifth year and JerShon Cobb coming in as a freshman. If NU adds a recruit in the spring signing period the ‘Cats will have filled all 13 spots for next year. That would be mean no spot would be available for Jeff Ryan to return. When you consider reports that NU is still recruiting guards in the class of 2010 it sounds like NU’s coaching staff is leaning towards Ryan not returning. Personally, I think this would be a mistake. Yes, NU might miss out a potentially strong player in the 2010 class, but NU has interest from a number of talented players in the 2011 and Northwestern needs to be as experienced as possible next season.

If you look at realistic expectations for Northwestern for the rest of this year and next year, one has to conclude that next season should be a huge year for NU. Yes, Northwestern might be the NCAA Tournament this year, but next year NU could realistically be a top-25 team in the preseason with top-5 Big Ten aspirations. Next year, though, will also offer up a non-conference schedule which will feature several road tests, unlike this season where NU only plays one non-conference road game. NU will have to go to Northern Illinois, DePaul, and Texas Pan-America for sure next season. While none of those three schools are power houses, sometimes teams panic on the road. Having two fifth-year seniors on the floor would certainly help stabilize NU if the team gets into trouble. The experience would be even more valuable if NU renews it’s series with Stanford and travels back to California or takes on an out of state in-season tournament trip which matches the team’s high expectations. A team with Coble, Thompson, and Ryan would be one of the most experienced teams NU ever put on the floor. Also, when you consider that Shurna will be a junior who will have started for 2 years the team would probably be as experienced as any team in the nation. Now, I’m not saying Ryan would start along with those guys, but he could rotate into any spot on the floor expect center. Also, if Coach Carmody wanted, Ryan could even step back into the starting lineup and play the top of 1-3-1 as NU will graduate defensive stopped Jeremy Nash.

Jeff Ryan being a very versatile player is my next point in favor of offering the Glenview, Illinois native a fifth year. If NU adds a point guard recruit, which seems the target, NU would no doubt have valuable asset in a true backup for Juice Thompson who Juice could mentor for a year. NU would not, however, have a player who could back up Thompson, Shurna, Coble, and whoever starts at shooting guard. Jeff Ryan could do so. I think it’s also important to note that NU and other schools have successfully played freshman guards in the past. Therefore, it is not essentially NU add a player to be a backup for a season next year.

Admittedly whoever NU recruited would probably be a better scorer than Ryan, but when you look at NU’s 2010-11 roster the ‘Cats don’t really need another scorer. They’ll have Thompson, Shurna, Coble, Marcotullio, Cobb, Crawford, and probably a center with an improved offensive game in order to put up points. With that group what NU will need is a reliable guy who can offer stability off the bench and play defense and rebound. Ryan can do both those things very well.

The bottom line is while the Chicago Invitational Challenge has me expecting success from NU the rest of this season; I expect a next year to be even better. However, I also expect next year to be even more challenging and believe Jeff Ryan’s experience as a fifth year senior would help NU meet that challenge.

Injuries to Ryan and Coble Force May Force Major Changes in NU’s Rotation

Bill Carmody and the entire Northwestern basketball program must feel as though they are paying off karma at a vastly accelerated rate. Not only have the Wildcats lost their best player (Kevin Coble) for the entire 09-10 season, now they have lost a key reserve (Ryan) that might have helped sub for Kevin Coble.

The most significant fact about Jeff Ryan’s injury is that NU has basically no point guard depth behind Juice Thompson. The only player left who has played the point in game besides Juice is Jeremy Nash and he likely can’t be spared from the forward spot he is now playing thanks to Coble’s injury. That means that Juice is going to play nearly 40 minutes every night. This is entirely possible, but it will take a toll after a while. In addition, Juice has been known to get into foul trouble. If that happens NU really only has two choices at point guard and neither has any significant experience. The most likely choice will be freshman guard Alex Marcotullio who played point guard for his high school team, but really is probably better suited to play shooting guard in college. The other option is sophomore Nick Fruendt who is another player more suited to the shooting guard spot. I suppose Marcotullio’s fellow freshman Drew Crawford could play the point, but Carmody already has him starting at shooting guard/small forward and he has probably only practiced in those spots.

The other issue with Ryan’s injury is that he could also sub for Jeremy Nash in the front court and keep NU’s 1-3-1 defense working. Who else can do this? Well, Crawford is athletic enough, but seems seriously foul prone. The best choice is likely Mike Capocci who will bring great athletic skill, but certainly isn’t as smooth as Ryan when it comes to reacting on defense.

Coach Carmody is now going to have to put trust in some young players. Here’s how I see NU’s roster after the NIU game and the Ryan injury:

Starters
PG – Thompson
SG/SF – Crawford
SF/SG – Nash
PF – Shurna
C – Mirkovic

In Rotation Bench -- Based on NIU Game
F – Peljusic
C – Rowley
F – Capocci
F/C – Curletti (may play or not based on matchups)

You’ll notice that in those 9 players NU has only one true ball handling guard. Therefore, the NU rotation has to be extended now to include the following:

In Rotation Bench -- with Injury to Ryan:
PG/SG – Marcotullio
PG/SG – Fruendt

Depending on how competent Marcotullio and Fruendt actually are in handling the ball against pressure it is even possible walk-on guard Reggie Hearn who is actually a true point guard might see some minutes. This is clearly not how Coach Carmody and NU envisioned the year starting, but NU has to move on as almost the whole season is still to come.

Jeff Ryan Out for Season

We now know that NU forward Jeff Ryan suffered a torn ACL in Friday's win over Northern Illinois and will be out for the year. More on what this means for NU in a bit.

Nash Leads Wildcat Offense and Defense in 77-55 Opening Day Victory

Without a doubt Wildcat fans had many reasons to worry when tonight’s game started. When the Wildcats looked uneasy in the game’s first 5 minutes or so those fans probably continued to worry, but once NU coach Bill Carmody listened to assistant Mitch Henderson and switched from the 2-3 zone to the 1-3-1 the ‘Cats, specifically Jeremy Nash, exploded past the Northern Illinois Huskies on the way to a 22-point victory.

Northwestern wasn’t perfect in tonight’s game, but they did a lot well and it starts with Nash. The senior guard got only the second start of his career and delivered in a big way. Nash scored 20 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, and dished out a team high 3 assists. He also hit 10-of-12 free throws which is critical as I think Nash will get free throw attempts given the type of cutting and slashing game he plays. Nash also took seven three pointers. He made just two, but if he makes on average 35% of his three pointers this year he’ll continue to be a major offensive threat. I also want to mention that Nash had two dunks in tonight’s game. I feel like it has been some time since Northwestern has had a player (especially a guard) who dunked twice in a single game.

Along with Nash, Northwestern also got some great early play from Luka Mirkovic. As NU kind of felt their way through the game’s first few minutes it was the play of Luka Mirkovic that steadied NU. Mirkovic scored NU’s first two baskets (one nice turnaround jumper) and did a nice job all night of converting from the free throw line and staying active inside. In total Mirkovic scored 15 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, made 7-of-10 free throws, and didn’t turn the ball over once. I’d still like to see Mirkovic extend his range a bit more in order to really open up the offense, but he played a nice game.

One concern from Northwestern has to be three point shooting. NU will need to make threes to win big games, but tonight the ‘Cats shot just 5-of-21 from distance. Likely NU’s two best three point shooters, Michael “Juice” Thompson and John Shurna, were 2-of-9 combined with Juice making those two. Now overall Juice and Shurna both posted double digits points with 12 and 11 respectively, but they will both have to shoot better for NU to pull off the big wins fans are hoping for. One major credit that goes to Juice Thompson tonight is that he played 39 minutes and had 0 turnovers. That is simply great point guard play. I don’t know if NU has a solid backup for Juice, but as long as he stays out of foul trouble it seems NU is in great hands with Juice running the team.

Off the bench Ivan Peljusic scored 7 points, got a team high 7 rebounds, and dished out 2 assists. Peljusic might sometimes force things a little bit too much, but he has great energy and along with Shurna is NU’s best player at fighting inside for rebounds.

Also off the bench it was nice to see Kyle Rowley come in and play well enough to score 5 points and make one nice move from an and 1.

Mike Capocci also played well off the bench converting an alley-op pass from Jeff Ryan for a huge fan pleasing jam. Capocci also made 3-of-4 free throws and that works out to the same 75 % as his 9-of-12 last season. I really do think he might be a guy NU can use from the line when teams want to foul.

News and Notes: The NU students did a great job of showing up and supporting the 'Cats tonight....Other than the Ryan to Capocci alley-op the best play of the night might have been John Shurna grabbing a rebound and dribbling coast to coast for a layup and a foul….Shortly after a nice steal and throwing that alley-op Jeff Ryan went down with an injury which appeared to be related to his leg or knee….Northwestern made 34 free throws a high for a Bill Carmody team….Northwestern’s women’s basketball team scored an impressive season opening road victory with a win at Toledo 73-64….Junior Amy Jaeschke scored 27 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in that contest.

Men’s Basketball Season Preview: Is this NU’s Year?

NU Tips Off The 2009-10 Season Friday Night

Northwestern is scheduled to play at least 32 games this season including the regular season and at least the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. In order to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time, I believe Northwestern must win at least 20 total games. While not great, I believe that with a 20-12 minimum record that NU’s RPI will be high enough the Wildcats could make the NCAA Tournament as a #12 seed. I also believe that should the Wildcats make the tournament they would have a decent chance to pull an upset based on the unorthodox Princeton-style offense they run. So will the Wildcats get to that magical 20-win plateau? I believe the answer is yes.

In order reach that spot with an RPI which is solid enough to make the NCAAs, it is my opinion NU must post at least an 11-2 record in their 13 non-conference games and at least a 9-10 record in Big Ten games including the Big Ten Tournament. Also, while NU can lose to either Butler or Notre Dame they cannot lose to both of their marquee non-conference opponents. The Wildcats need to beat at least one of those teams to ensure a strong RPI when they enter the Big Ten season. Right now I believe NU has a better shot to win in Welsh-Ryan against Butler than they do playing at a neutral site against Notre Dame. NU’s other likely non-conference loss is on the road in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge against N.C. State. Certainly N.C. State is not dramatically better than NU (the Wildcats might actually have the better overall roster), but I believe the long trip and short turnaround after the end of the Chicago Invitational Challenge will not help the ‘Cats. Overall in non-conference play, though, I do expect the ‘Cats to post that 11-2 record and will be very disappointed if they finish worse than 10-3.

As far as the Big Ten season, NU has their word cut out for them. The Big Ten returns every all-conference player from the first team and features three teams I see as legit final four contenders in Michigan State, Purdue, and Ohio State. The Big Ten also has multiple first round caliber NBA players with guys like Evan Turner, Manny Harris, and Raymar Morgan. In some ways this is the worst possible year for NU to be as good as they’ve ever been because many other teams are significantly above average as well. What gives me hope NU can at least split the league season is the ‘Cats came with in a game of doing so last year. Actually, if not for three epic collapses they would have added wins over Penn State, Purdue, and Illinois. The Illinois loss was about the worst thing I’ve ever seen on a basketball court (and I saw NU score 6-points in a half once), but other than a less than spectacular effort the very next game against a beatable Michigan team, NU rebounded very well from that disaster. That’s a credit to NU’s players and coaches, but this year NU can’t afford such disasters. NU needs to strive to play at the level they played at in the wins on the road last year against Michigan State and Purdue at all times. They need to make sure a win is a win.

For NU to reach that level they need to find a consistent outside shooter to replace Craig Moore. Moore didn’t have his best games in those to wins (which should give NU fans hope), but he did knock down big shots in each. His shot against MSU when the Spartans started to cut the lead might have been the game’s biggest shot. Obviously, Kevin Coble is a candidate to take of Moore’s role as the go to guy, but teams will focus on Coble and he can’t lead NU alone. Michael “Juice” Thompson will provide outside shooting, but I believe NU’s most important player is John Shurna. Shurna showed last year that he is a streaky, but effective when on, outside shooter. He also showed he was probably NU’s best offensive rebounder and shot blocker. Those skills can change a game and a Shurna who is one year better at his overall game could become NU’s best player.

The other guy NU fans are looking to is freshman guard Drew Crawford. If Crawford scores double figures that’ll be a great lift for NU, but what I think he must do to help NU win is play defense and rebound. Crawford is a better scoring threat than Jeremy Nash, Mike Capocci, or Jeff Ryan, but if he is really going to take minutes away from those upper classmen than he has to be able to play defense the way Nash and Ryan do and rebound like Capocci can. Nash has the ability to change games at the top of NU’s 1-3-1 and either he or Crawford will have do so if the ‘Cats want to start a new collection of upsets that match last seasons run.

NU’s deepest, but really unproven, spot is center. The Wildcats have four players that could play this position. Kyle Rowley got the majority of the starts last season and at 7-0 280 pounds he is among the biggest players in the Big Ten. If Rowley is just a tab bit more comfortable on offense and more aggressive on defense he could become a force inside. Right now, Luke Mirkovic is getting the start at center because Rowley is out with an injury. Mirkovic is a good passer (essential for a Princeton-style center), but I’d like to see him become more comfortable shooting. Mirkovic had flashes as a shooter last year, but a consistent three point shot from Mirkovic would be nearly impossible to defend. NU’s other centers are Davide Curletti and Ivan Peljusic. Curletti is a force defensively and might offer NU somebody who can shot from the five. Peljusic is another plus-level athlete that if he can cut down on turnovers could really help NU off the bench.

Without a doubt this is Bill Carmody’s most talented NU team, and while the talent at NU is continuing to get better, I think Kevin Coble will be a tough loss at the end of this season. Therefore, I believe this is a critical year for Northwestern and Carmody. The good news is Coble is the type of player who can carry a team and if NU gets close to the dance in his senior year, which they will, I think he’ll have one of his 30-plus nights and push them over the top. I look for this in the Big Ten Tournament. Therefore, I say NU makes the NCAAs this year by winning 20 games in the regular season plus a Big Ten Tournament game for a record of 21-12 and a #12-seed.

Note: Expect a preview of the NIU game to be posted either tomorrow night or Thursday. An early preview is online at Carmody Court check out this link: http://carmodycourt.blogspot.com/

Why 3 NU Dunks Matter

I imagine fans of other teams who visit this site or Wildcatreport.com are probably a little confused at the excitement over NU having three dunks in a game. They probably don’t understand why we’re all talking with great joy over three two point shots in an exhibition game. The fact is though those shots mean more than just six points. They show this Northwestern team has a deeper level of athletic skill than most NU teams past—maybe all NU teams in the past. This is going to be a potentially huge advantage for NU when they start the Big Ten season. Yes, NU will still be less athletic than some opponents, but getting closer in status to the athletic skills of an Ohio State or Michigan will help NU pull some upsets. Face it, NU was just as good as Michigan last year, but couldn’t stop a one man show by Manny Harris. The same was true of Ohio State, but they had Evan Turner.

You see, it’s not that NU had players dunk that has fans excited, it’s that those dunks show NU has athletic players. One nice thing about the Princeton Offense is it neutralizes some athletic advantages of opponents, but it doesn’t take care of them all. I remember several past games where NU was in the game for a long while, but eventually the other team locked down on defense because they were more athletic. I also remember many games were talented Wildcat players got to the hoop and put themselves in position to score only to have their shot blocked away by athletic big men. It’s a lot harder to block a dunk. I think that might even be a lesson Drew Crawford learned last night as he had some early attempts blocked and then threw down a dunk later. I hope his teammates learn this lesson as well. I still worry every time Jeff Ryan tries to finger roll in a layup in traffic.

This greater NU athletic ability also translated to a huge rebound advantage last night. In the past even NU’s biggest guys were so athletically limited that rebounding was a big problem. That cost NU big time as teams got a ton of second chance points. At times it even seemed the opposing squad’s offense was to miss threes and get rebounds. Indiana even admitted this was a strategy against NU once. Now, NU has a guard in Crawford that I think can realistically get in the neighborhood of five rebounds a game on average and probably many more against weaker competition. With John Shurna, an excellent rebounder, and Kevin Coble in the front court this will sure help the ‘Cats. NU should also get some rebounding presence once Kyle Rowley comes back. He’s not a super athlete, but at 7-0 280 pounds just his size is enough to help NU control the paint. The Big Ten has big centers and it’s nice to see NU with one as well. I’m also interested to see how NU uses Ivan Peljusic in the front court. As seen last night he’s very athletic, but a little small when compared to Luka Mirkovic and Davide Curletti. What role will all three have? We’ll have to wait and see. We’ll also have to see about Mike Capocci who is clearly NU’s best pure athlete, but sometimes seems to struggle with more nuanced basketball skill. Still, Jeremy Nash made great strides going for athletic guy to regular contributor last year and Capocci might be able to do the same.

NU Exhibits Solid Offense and Defense in 78-49 Exhibition Victory

Exhibition games are always kind of tricky to get the sense of a team. Sometimes they do mean a lot, but sometimes they mean nothing at all. If you’re Syracuse you’re hoping for category two. If you’re Northwestern you’re probably hoping for category one (with some understanding that you’ve still got work to do). The Wildcats did some nice things tonight, but I don’t think we totally saw the same game plan from Coach Carmody which we will see in 9 days against Northern Illinois. For example, Carmody played 12 different players in the first half. Unless he’s been replaced by a body double I don’t see that being a common place thing.

What that predilection to substitute tonight did seem to show was that after the ‘Cats top eight players (including the five starters plus Nash, Ryan, and Rowley) the best players NU has are probably reserve big men Ivan Peljusic and Davide Curletti. Peljusic didn’t shoot all that well, but showed his usual energy with a fast break dunk and scored at the rim a few times late in the game and hit a three at the buzzer. Curletti got some shots in the second half and didn’t really look that great shooting either, but word is that he can knock down the long shots enough to keep defenses honest. He also was pretty good on defense which I’ll get to in a moment.

One item which is probably worth mentioning is that aside from Peljusic, NU also got dunks from Mike Capocci and Drew Crawford. I don’t think NU is exactly going to be known as a high-flying team, but it does show this version of the ‘Cats has a few more athletes than past squads. The fact is dunks only count two points, but it’s a lot harder to block a dunk than a soft layup and NU can’t afford to allow so many blocked shots.

I really liked seeing how NU played defense tonight. They seemed to play mostly the 2-3 zone, but showed nice active hands and extended the zone a bit. One area where Curletti seems to standout is that he does do a really nice job fighting for position in the post and making it hard for opposing big men to get good position. I don’t know if that’ll be enough to get him a ton of minutes (especially when Rowley comes back), but it certainly works in his favor. Jeff Ryan also looked good defensively and really stands out to me on the few occasions NU plays man-to-man. I think NU has the potential to be a man-to-man team at times this year depending on who the opposition is on any given night. I wouldn’t man Ohio State, but NU might have a decent shot go man-to-man against some non-conference foes and Big Ten teams who have a similar type athletes.

The most impressive NU player tonight was probably sophomore John Shurna who displayed both a nice three point jumper and the ability to scrape for rebounds. Early in the game I thought Shurna might have ten boards by halftime at the rate he was pulling in loose balls. NU’s two top players Kevin Coble and Michael “Juice” Thompson each had strong moments, but actually got a nice rest in the second half of the game. This might be one of the few times all year they get such a chance so I take that as a positive.

Overall, I’m happy with what I saw from NU tonight. I’m not ready to declare them ready for the NCAA Tournament just yet, but they do look like they’re ready for what will be a surprisingly talented NIU team that arrives in Evanston on November 13th.

Preview: Robert Morris University @ Northwestern

The Match up: Robert Morris University @ Northwestern

When: Wednesday November 4^th

Location: Welsh-Ryan Arena (Evanston, IL.)

Broadcast Information: Big Ten Network On Demand at http://www.bigtennetwork.com/ for $2.99

Fun Fact: Last time Northwestern played Robert Morris University they were known as Robert Morris College.

The Game: As opposed to analyzing whether Northwestern has a shot to beat Robert Morris University, because last year proves it really doesn’t matter, I have instead decided to highlight some of what we can look for to see if NU has a shot to live up to the hype the team has for this year.

First, I want to see how NU scores points from behind the three point line without Craig Moore. Michael Thompson is NU’s best returning percentage shooter and Kevin Coble can of course knock down treys, but Moore was the guy with the quick release who was always the go to guy when NU ran a set play out of a timeout. Who will Coach Carmody call on in those situations now? I suspect the answer is Thompson, but I’d love to see freshman guard Alex Marcotullio get a shot. Apparently in AAU his coaches would yell, “layup” whenever he took a three since he was so reliable. If it’s the same at NU, I suggest the student section do the same.

Second, and probably most obviously, I want to see the starting lineup. Moore and Kyle Rowley started most of NU’s games last year. With Moore graduated and Rowley hurt, it will be interesting to see who NU’s starting five are tomorrow night. I suspect NU will go with the veteran lineup of Thompson, Jeremy Nash, Coble, John Shurna, and Luka Mirkovic, but you never know.

Third, I want to see Drew Crawford play. Crawford arrives in Evanston with a lot of hype and a lot of expectation. Can he live up to that hype? Well, the good news is unlike previously hyped NU recruits, he isn’t being forced to come in and take the team on his shoulders. He will be used as a nice backcourt compliment to Thompson.

Fourth, what defense does NU play? RMU has some solid wing scorers. With the 1-3-1 vulnerable to the wing three this game might provide NU an excuse to work on man-to-man. With Crawford now on the roster, I do think NU is getting closer to having solid man-to-man defenders at every spot.

Fifth, who is in the rotation? As we learned last year not every exhibition features the real rotation, but I’m curious how (or if) guys like Mike Capocci, Ivan Peljusic, and Jeff Ryan will be used. They have Big Ten talent, but it kind of looks as if they might have been passed by when looking at NU’s last two recruiting classes.

Finally, did the ‘Cats make any noticeable strides in the weight room which will lead to better rebounding. Word is that Shurna and Coble have added muscle. It would be nice if NU were at least a little closer to their opponents when it comes rebound margin this season.

Thoughts on Greg Paulus and football

Perhaps the biggest college basketball story of the last week is actually a college football story. Duke point guard Greg Paulus is thinking about going to the University of Michigan to play football next fall as a QB for Michigan's football team. Now, anybody who paid even slight attention to college football last year knows that Nick Sheridan and Steven Threet didn't really get the job done at the QB position as Michigan finished 3-9. Still, is it at all realistic to think a basketball player could step in and save Rich Rod's program. Well, the Green Bay Packers thought enough about Paulus to work him out, but to be honest if I were him I'd consider going to college for a year to play in order work on skills I hand't used in 4 years. That said, although Paulus was a top rated QB in high school I'm not so sure he could help Michigan. I mean he hasn't played football in four years and well I think there are certain football positions where a great basketball athlete could step right in, I don't think QB is one of them. You can't just be an athletic guy and play QB, you have to be a skilled football player. I mean while there might be some similar skills in reading a defense and setting up a play in basketball and reading a defense in football I don't think the two tasks are that similar. If Michigan has to go with Paulus as QB I think it probably isn't a good sign.

As I read about Paulus I did also wonder if any NU players could play a role on the football field. Now, don't get more wrong, NU football is in a lot better shape than Michigan (that's a pretty nice fact), but I do think there is one spot where a couple basketball players could help. NU lost three starters at WR and Jeremy Nash was a great WR in high school. With his 6-3 size he would be NU's biggest target and anybody who saw Nash play this year knows he has athletic skills which are hard to match. Jeff Ryan might be another player who could line up at WR, but with his many injuries I'd wonder if he could hold up over a full year of football. Now, this obviously isn't going to happen, Coach Fitz has a good group of young WRs and Coach Carmody needs his guys in the fall to prepare for a very important year, but it is interesting to think about.