[NU Sports] There is still hope

[Beamsley, Jeff]

Iowa lost to PSU last night.
 
That means that there are now four teams tied for 7th in BT at 5-8, Minny, Illinoise, NU, and Iowa.
 
The cats have the easiest schedule of these four with three unranked teams among the last five games (Minny, PSU, and Iowa).
 
They simply have to take care of business to end up in 7th place in the BT conference.
 
Minny has a better overall W-L record at the moment, but looking at their schedule they are likely to end up 1-4 over their last 5 which will leave them 6-12 in the conference and 18-13 overall compared with NU's projected 18-12.
 
Illinoisy is also likely to go 2-3 over their last five which will leave them at 7-11 in the conference and 18-13 overall.
 
Speaking of Illinoying, their fall from grace is facinating.  They have all of the talent and the big man that many on this list crave.  They also have a good coach who has had success in the NCAA tourney.  What they lack according to their own coach is mental toughness.  Weber blames himself, but I think it is a natural by product of recruiting divas.  You end up with a selfish bunch of kids who put themselves ahead of the team.  Weber was either unwilling or unable to change that mindset.  Without a commitment to team-first values, they folded like lawn chair in the face of adversity.  It will likely cost Weber his job.
 
Say what you want about Carmody, but he gets this part right.  As we saw with Kevin Coble, Carmody is willing to show his best player the door rather than compromise his team-first approach.
 
Hopefully that philosophy pays off in a demonstration of the cats' mental toughness in this late season run.  I look for Sobo to bounce back with a great game against Minny.
 
Jeff