[NU Sports] The Dance

Mon Feb 20 12:36:33 CST 2012

I'd be be careful about calling out some of the players that you mentioned
for being selfish as there were two sides to all of their stories:

Coble left for part of one season to be with his mother as she went through
cancer treatment; I'm sure few if any would fault him for doing that.
Also, rumor is that Carmody essentially ran him off the team for good with
an ultimatum that he go on the Italy trip with the team or be thrown off
the team while Coble was still trying to fully rehab his foot prior to the
regular season (the trip was over the summer).  Not sure if the entire
story ever fully came out but one could definitely see either side of this
one (actually, seems like both sides have some fault).

Though Mike Thompson (Duke transfer) didn't have much of an impact and
there were rumors of him essentially giving up on the team, there was also
a report that he left the team due to an irregular heartbeat that was
discovered after about one full year of being eligible to play at NU.

Finally, TJ Parker - he did forego his final season of eligibility to go
pro (in Europe), I find it difficult to fault a guy who really wants to go
pro and does so when that opportunity arises (I can see it more in football
where injury plays such a large role, but given the limited opportunities
in the pro game I can't fault one in basketball, either).  Again, not
definitive but I can see his reasons.

In any case it's also clear that Carmody hasn't brought in nearly enough
depth to field a team that can play at a consistently high level.  But, no
matter, they could win 3 more games and make it into the tourney and that's
all anyone cares about (myself included).

Jonathan

--
Jonathan Hodges
Contributor, HailToPurple
Web: http://www.hailtopurple.com/jhodges/
Twitter: @hailtopurple
Email: j-hodges at alumni.northwestern.edu

On Sun, Feb 19, 2012 at 11:01 PM, Roy S. Lamberton <rstetson at capps-assoc.com
> wrote:

> For all of BC's faults, he does seem to stress the idea of team when it
> comes to playing
> the games.
>
> Kevin Coble was every bit as talented as Shurna, but Shurna puts the team
> ahead of his own
> accomplishments - even his TV interview last night with Shon M, featured
> him deflecting
> some of the glory for setting the new record, towards his teammates, and
> the fact that
> they won the game. I don't know Coble personally, but it always seemed
> that he was always
> more interested in his personal stuff, than playing for the team.
>
> Should Carmody let him go train away from the team while they were
> traveling? Maybe, but
> the rest of the team made the trip regardless of their physical condition.
>
> In any case, it seems that star players don't really thrive in the
> Princeton offense,
> especially under Carmody. The Princeton requires 5 players to make it work
> properly -
> stick in a superstar and it might not work as well.
>
> Guys like T.J. Parker and Michael Thompson, who could have been stars at
> NU, couldn't put
> their personal desires below the team. Parker left early, Thompson never
> really showed up.
> BC wished them well, and good luck and moved on to kids who will play his
> offense under
> control.
>
> This team seems to like playing BC's Offense and playing under BC. It
> shows on their
> faces, when they screw up, they mirror the coach's reaction, and when they
> do something
> great, the coaches are there to pat them on the back.
>
> And when Shurna broke the record, Carmody shook hands, and got out of the
> camera shot so
> Shurna could be covered surrounded by his teammates. OK maybe that wasn't
> intentional, but
> that's how it worked out.
>
> Meanwhile, Ill-noise is probably working up a short list of replacements
> for Weber.
> Bringing that program back is going to be tougher than you might think,
> altho they do have
> the players. Getting them all to believe in team is going to be the big
> issue.
>
> rsl
>
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Opinions expressed above are mine alone and are not
> those of any organizations of which I am a member.
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Roy S. Lamberton - Senior Associate.
> Computer Applications & Support Associates
> Coach Roy's Random Thoughts - http://coachroy.org
> --------------------- Also ----------------------
> "Commissioner" Delaware American Legion Baseball
> Director Media Relations - Little League
>  Senior League Softball World Series
> CTR2 USN (67-70) - CTRCS USNR (Ret) (64-67/70-95)
> Northwestern University - Speech 1974 -
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>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
> Behalf Of
> Beamsley, Jeff
> Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2012 1:20 PM
> To: Tom Maycock; nwu-sports at tssi.com
> Subject: Re: [NU Sports] The Dance
>
> Leonard's attitude is EXACTLY the reason why we still play the games.
>
> He's right of course.
>
> Illnnoying basketball players ARE better athletes than NU basketball
> players.  They are
> taller, faster, can jump higher, and probably have better eye-hand
> coordination too.  As a
> result, they will likely send more players to the NBA than NU.
>
> What NU has, however, is something that Leonard doesn't understand.  It's
> a commitment to
> team and the belief that the team can greater than the sum of its parts.
>  That's the
> reason why NU won in Champaign.  That's also why Illinoisy lost in Lincoln.
>
> Hopefully it will also be the reason why NU will be getting their first
> invitation to the
> dance this year and why Leonard will be staying home blaming his fate on
> others failures.
>
>
> Jeff
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com on behalf of Tom Maycock
> Sent: Sun 2/19/2012 12:15 PM
> To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
> Subject: Re: [NU Sports] The Dance
>
>
>
> >   He had projected Illinois as the 7th team, but with
>
> > their loss at UNL, that leaves NU as the last BT invite.
>
>
> But how can that possibly be? According to Meyers Leonard himself,
> "everyone knows that
> [Illinois] is better than Northwestern", right?
>
> Meanwhile, there's a nice John Shurna highlight video montage up on the
> front page at
> nusports.com.
>
> Tom
>
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