[NU Sports] hoops and walker

[Brad Wilson]

Gee, Frank Loomis doesn't like Randy Walker. Point
taken. Point understood. Point bludgeoned to death.
Tell you what, Frank, why don't you wait to post until
you have something different to say? That would be
news. I am sick of the lunatic, relentless negativity.
It was appropriate when NU hadn't had a winning season
in 25 years. It is not now. Criticism is always
welcome, singleminded, obessive near-hatred is not. 

Especially when, as SjT points out, Carmody gets a
free pass for continued mediocity, inconsistency and
outright failure. That is hard for me to say, because
I have a year's personal experience with Carmody and
like him as a person and a coach. But is becoming
increasingly clear that he may not be the right fit
for NU.

Carmody's kids graduate and there are no off-court
embarrassments that hurt so many other teams. Good.
They occasionally beat a Wisconsin or Iowa. Very good!

But that's not quite enough. It is generally
established that turning around a pitiful hoops
program can be done in much less time, with much less
pain, than football. Take a look at Wisconsin --
before Dick Bennett they were awful at hoops. Now
they're a Top-25 regular. Ohio State went from
probation-inflicted awfulness to the top of the
league. Two years ago La Salle was the laughingstock
of the Atlantic 10 -- now they're one of its top
teams. Such examples abound.

And yet in Evanston it's 14-14, 13-15, etc, etc. As
usual the team is totally dependent on the 3-point
shot and has no inside game on offense (NU shot 3 free
throws ALL GAME at Penn State Saturday) or defense.
The result is the occasional nice win when we shoot
well followed by the two or three losses when we
don't. 

To me, that's not good enough. And it shouldn't be
good enough for those who lambaste Walker for
upper-echelon BT finishes and postseason appearances
that the hoops team can only dream of. Why the double
standard? Got me.

Brad Wilson 






"Entertainment is what which you receive without effort. Art is something where you must make some kind of effort, and you get more than you had before." -- Charles Wuorinen

"Quis ipsos custodes custodiet?" -- Juvenal

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