FW: [NU Sports] Is 11 years enough?

Mon Mar 21 15:40:57 CDT 2011

Alan brings up many good questions and makes some good points. And each time
I hear the question "Is x years enough?" I go back to a post (wish I could
remember who made it and saved it) which I thought was excellent.

Basically, the post discussed how bad, I mean how really, really, really bad
men's NU hoops has been and how it has been slowing improving. And to
simplify that post (without adding any facts), men's hoops has gone from:

Really, really, really bad to
Really, really bad to
Really bad to
Bad to
Not so bad (not making NIT) to
Average (making NIT) - don't about half the bball teams make the NCAA or the
NIT?  to
Good- (winning 19-20 games) to
Good (winning a game in the NIT) to
Good+ (winning at least two games in the NIT) sideways to
Good+ (getting into the NCAA Tourney) to
Good++ (?)
Good+++ (winning in the first round of NCAA tourney) to
Very Good (winning the NIT) to ...

You get the idea. Eleven years is a long time, but it has been a very, very
long hill to climb. Thank goodness I'm young enough that I can tolerate the
tiny steps. I do see the program working towards the summit and getting into
the tourney frequently and making some runs in it. Caveat: there may be some
false summits along the way. But as long as the 3-4 year review of the
program is positive, then I think the business (non-emotional) decision is
to stay with and support Carmody, albeit the emotional patience we have
needed to maintain solid support for BC this last decade has been quite
challenging at times.

As whether it takes a certain type of coach to make the NCAA tourney or not,
I doubt it. It is just that the tourney is a highly visible milestone for
the fans. 

At risk of starting yet another thread, I think basketball requires a lot
more individual player talent to win (unlike football where a Gary Barnett
can make a bigger difference).

Go CATS!
Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
Behalf Of Alan Abrahamson
Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2011 3:50 PM
To: Eric West
Cc: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Cats beat BC

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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