[NU Sports] Northwestern-DePaul

[Jonathan Michael Hawkins]

> Once Thompson started playing, and showed what he was capable of on the
> court, everyone else started to pick up their game also. I could almost
> hear the sigh of relief after he sunk that first layup.

Hanley mentions this in his Sun-Times article: "One of Vukusic's
three-point shots started a 10-2 NU run that was punctuated with a
Thompson slam off a fast break to tie the game at 47 with 4:31 left."

That dunk was incredible.  The fans, at last, had their reassurance that
Mike Thompson was the big man we'd been looking for.  Everybody likes
dunks, it seems.  If I had to pick the defining moment of that game, it'd
be the fast-break dunk.

What was also incredible was Thompson consistently pumping up the crowd,
beginning after the dunk and rolling all the way through to the end of the
game - exhorting us to cheer louder and make more noise.  I cannot wait to
see how these 'Cats will play at Welsh-Ryan with both sides of the court
packed with Rowdies, responding to Mike and the guys doing things we
haven't seen at NU in a while.

Walking away from the Arena, I recalled fondly the days of Evan Eschmeyer
and thought "we may be back there again." :)

On to the Dance,

Jonathan