[NU Sports] Basketball

[Michael Vance]

Don't look now, everyone, but it's a (ever so slightly) positive note 
from Dennis about basketball!  :-)

But I actually agree in principle, Dennis.  I'm a little hesitant to 
make anything non-negotiable, especially where the whims of the NCAA 
selection committee may come into play.  But things like an over-.500 
conference record, defending the home court (no home losses to 
lower-ranked teams, no more than 2-3 home losses total), another good 
recruiting class, and a showing in post-season play that exceeds 
whatever we do this year (whether that be an appearance in The Dance, or 
a deep run in the NIT) are terms that I would be pleased with.  At a 
higher level, I would put it as "significant improvement" on all or most 
key measurements of program-level success.

On a different note, Tom Hamilton and Steve Smith briefly discussed the 
overall excellence of the sophomore class in the Big Ten this year..  Is 
there another conference that can match this sophomore class?

Thompson (NU)
Lucas, Summers, Allen (MSU)
Hummel, Moore (Purdue)
Davis, McCamey, Tisdale (Illinois)
Battle (PSU)
Diebler, Lauderdale, Turner (OSU)
Harris (Michigan)

That's not everyone, just the ones who really jump out.  If I dug into 
every stat and found all of the sophomores that lead their team in some 
key stat, I'm sure there'd be more.  I'm not nearly as familiar with the 
other conferences.  Are there any others that come close?

-Michael

Dennis W. Brandt wrote:
> The Wildcats are looking up a bit.  Coble never looked better than against O-my-we-lostSU.  Even Rowley had a brief flash of glory, something he has not shown all season.  My vote at this point is for Carmody to get one more year at the helm with the non-negotiable expectation that we will be in the NCAAs next season.  If not, it's adios amigo.  Moral victories be damned.  They still add one to the L column.  EXPECT VICTORY!  (I just made that up.  Honest.)
>
> Closing out the season will be rough sailing.  Four of the last five regular-season games are on the road.  If they win three of those, they'll have the league saying, "Watch out!"  Could be an interesting tournament.
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