[NU Sports] Cats beat BC

[Alan Abrahamson]

Actually, this team isn't awful in the slightest.

The problems this year are self-evident:

1. Coble isn't playing.

2. Shurna was hurt for a good part of the Big Ten season.

3. We have no reliable inside game.

4. Our margin for error is so thin that we couldn't overcome problems 1, 2
and 3 consistently.

Going forward, it would again seem self-evident that getting to 20 wins, and
the historic second-round first-ever NIT victory, has saved Carmody's job.
Whether this is a good thing is debatable. The home-game debacle this season
against Wisconsin was, for me, just godawful brutal.

Referring to my list above, there's nothing Carmody could do about problem
No. 2. Problems No. 1, 3 and 4 are absolutely on him, and especially after
11 years. Quibble if you will about whether the Coble matter is on Coble or
Carmody; from my vantage point, one of the participants is 21 or 22 years
old and the other is -- not.

Reality check: It's not clear there would have been money around, especially
after whatever it took to keep Fitz -- I refer here to the run that Michigan
made at Fitz amid the departure of RichRod -- to hire anybody worth hiring
if Carmody were to exit stage right. But that is a separate issue.

The crux of the coaching matter is/was: is Carmody the guy to take
Northwestern to the NCAA tournament?

Or, depending on how you want to phrase the question: Is 11 years enough
time to make your case?

Alternatively, and I acknowledge that this phrasing totally changes the
dynamic of the question: Isn't 11 years enough time?

BTW, and let me stress: I don't have any inside information of any sort. I'm
1800 miles away from Evanston here in SoCal. I only know what I read in the
newspapers. But two plus two is often, you know, four.

Next year, Shurna, assuming he stays healthy, is a first-team All-American
candidate. If we have a legitimate point guard, and can find any sort of
inside presence, we should be NCAA-tourney good. I do not belong to the "oh,
gosh, we are going to have a freshman running the offense and that sucks"
school. Last I looked, a lot of really, really good freshman were playing
college basketball, and going right from their freshman years to the NBA.

I second the motion that my friend Darren Rovell made in his remarks to the
New York Times a couple days ago, in the piece about us not making the NCAA
tournament for the 73rd straight year. "This has to stop," Darren said, and
I concur. This has to stop. It's not funny. Northwestern stands for
excellence in everything. We must make the tournament, and next year. This
has to stop.

As for this NIT -- again, this Boston College game was the best this team
has played all year. The stats say 27 assists on 34 field goals. If the Cats
are going to peak -- might as well peak in March, right? A healthy John
Shurna makes a huge, huge difference.

All comments more than welcome. After these many years together on the list,
I would hope that some/most/all of you would have an opinion about the state
of the men's basketball team as we dash into unchartered territory, the
third round of the NIT.

Go Wildcats -- expecting victory -- Alan









On Sat, Mar 19, 2011 at 11:37 AM, Eric West <e-west at northwestern.edu> wrote:

> On 3/19/2011 12:46 PM, Dennis W. Brandt wrote:
>
>> Without question the best game they played all season.  What wonders can
>> occur when you out-rebound the opposition.
>>
>
> Actually, I was going to say what wonders can occur when you aren't playing
> a tourney-bound Big Ten (or Big East) team. Certainly our best road
> performance, though I think Illinois and Michigan are both better than BC.
>
> While I have been disappointed by this season's unmet expectations, I've
> never thought this was an awful team. They've been fairly consistent all
> year results-wise, with neither a horrible loss nor a great win. For better
> or worse, the NIT is where they belong, and it's good to see them competing
> well in it. Another tough road test looms, though hopefully they can benefit
> from a longer rest period.
>
> Eric West
> e-west at northwestern.edu
>
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