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Big Ten Tournament Thoughts

2010-03-08T06:23:09Z

I know no one should really be surprised by the announcement, but the Big Ten made it official and announced the tournament seedings sometime today, so now we as northwestern fans know what we're up against. The official bracket is here and you should all gaze in wonder. Or something.

ANYWAY the important thing is how NU is going to faire, right? Right. So here's some of my thoughts:

Game 1: NU vs. Indiana. Again. Well alright, we beat them pretty soundly the first time, and they handled our defense pretty well a couple days ago, so the real question here is which NU team decides to show up? The one that can defend sometimes, or none of the time? I think that Carmody is a decent enough coach to be able to figure out what Indiana was doing at Bloomington, so NU will be able to scratch out a win.

Game 2: NU vs. Purdue. Well the things we've got going for us in this game, assuming we make it, is that we match up well with Purdue according to Matt Painter, and they don't have Robbie Hummel. They showed that they can still win without him, and I don't recall him having a major role in our win, so we'll see if we can make lightning strike twice against the first of potentially 3 conference winners that NU will need to face. I don't think we'll win this game but let's assume we do for the sake of continuing this thought pattern...

Game 3: NU vs (MSU or MN or PSU). I personally think NU will draw MSU if they make it this far. They've started playing cohesively, and Raymar Morgan has emerged as a guy who can score almost at will. Which doesn't bode well for a team that has trouble defending teams that are relatively inept at scoring, like NU is. This, combined with the fact that now MSU is playing in a win or go home situation, and is vying for a high tournament seed, and the fact that NU can't win on the road, means that this is setting up to be a slaughter. Again. But if lightning already struck twice and we beat Purdue, why not hope for a third time, eh?

Championship: NU vs (the others). I'm predicting that the winner of the other half of the bracket will be Ohio St, because they too have been playing lights out. So this would set up the third game in a row against a conference champion. How's that for a gauntlet? All I remember from the last meeting in Buckeyeland is that it was really, really embarrassing, and I've basically suppressed all memory of the event. I know that Evan Turner is a contender for player of the year, and that's reason enough to be nervous (remember, can't defend to save our lives), so I really think that if by some miracle we win this thing, we'll fall here. I believe that Ohio St is the best team in the conference (as well as having the best player), so this will be the ultimate challenge. Win here and I might say that even if we didn't get an auto bid, we'd deserve an at large selection to the NCAA tournament.

But none of that's going to happen. We're probably going to lose in the second round to Purdue, and I wouldn't be terribly surprised if we fall earlier to Indiana.

Thoughts?

Big Ten Picks for Saturday

2010-01-30T18:14:53Z

Almost forget to do these, and in order to not bump my preview, I'm putting it in the fan posts section.

Indiana at Illinois (-12), 1 PM, ESPN2

I keep going back and forth on this game, as while Indiana is really bad away from home, 12 points is a lot and Illinois hasn't shown the ability to blow teams out. I guess I'll take Illinois but I don't love it.

Pick: Illinois

Iowa at Michigan (-13), 3:30 PM, BTN

Iowa has been playing very well, 3-2 in their last five with the two losses close games against Ohio State and Michigan State. Michigan is coming off the heartbreaking loss to Michigan State and may be ready to throw in the towel on their season. Taking Iowa on the road is always dicey, but I'm going to do it here.

Pick: Iowa

Season Records

Big Ten games: 16-14-2
Northwestern games: 10-2

Northwestern Mid-Season Awards

2010-01-12T20:32:22Z

Since we're about halfway through the season, I thought it was time to hand out some hardware. Who would've thought we'd be 12-3 at this point without Coble? Well, it's because of the guys I'm about to hand these awards to.

Player of the First Half: Michael Thompson

While a case could be made for John Shurna, "Juice" Thompson's play this season has been even more important to the Cats' success. He's averaging just under 15 points a game, which is pretty good, but his 4.5 assists per contest are what won him this award. Plus, he has an insane 2.8/1 assists to turnover ratio.

Breakthrough Player: John Shurna

No contest. While Crawford has been good, Shurna has taken his game to a whole new level. He's the Cats' leading scorer, averaging over 17 a game. The three point shooting leaves a little to be desired, but his inside presence has been a major help after Coble's injury.

Player Who Annoys the Other Team the Most: Jeremy Nash

Nash has been a nightmare for many teams defensively at the top of the 1-3-1. He averages 1.7 steals per game, which is great, but even when he doesn't personally record the steal he's made other teams' lives a nightmare. Keep it up, Nash.

Newcomer of the Year: Drew Crawford

Marcotullio has been in a slump lately, and Crawford won the Michigan game for us almost by himself. It's going to be fun to watch him develop as a player over the next few years, regardless of how this season turns out.

Performance of the Year: John Shurna in the Chicago Invitational Challenge

Shurna scored 25 against Notre Dame and 23 against Iowa State. Those two wins were so big for the Cats, and the Notre Dame victory could be one of those "signature wins" that gets the Cats into the tournament. It couldn't have happened without Shurna.

And finally, on the flip side...

Player Who Deserves Less Playing Time: Kyle Rowley

Sorry, Kyle, but you're killing us out there. Rowley is the only player playing double digit minutes who has an assist to turnover ratio of less than one. He looks lost every time he has the ball, and frequently misses easy layups. His free throw shooting is awful as well. I realize his size is a good thing, but he needs to step it up. Or else Carmody should be giving Luka Mirovic even more playing time.

Go Cats!

Poll

Who is the Cats' mid-season MVP?

John Shurna

12 votes

Michael Thompson

6 votes

Other (Please specify in the comments)

1 votes

19 votes | Poll has closed

Previewing the Cats' Big Ten Schedule (Part Two)

2009-12-24T13:44:49Z

This concludes my preview of Northwestern's Big Ten schedule. The last 9 games of the 18 game schedule are, thankfully, much easier than the first nine. Here we go.

February 2nd vs. Michigan: Michigan always gives the Wildcats trouble, and I predict that trend will continue. This one gives me a bad feeling.

February 7th vs. Indiana: Does anyone else remember the nerve wracking game Indiana gave our Cats last year. Yeah, me too. But hopefully the Hoosiers' freshmen continue to play like freshmen. I like our chances (particularly at home).

February 10th at Iowa: If we lose a game to Iowa this year, we aren't worthy of the NCAA tournament. Both games vs. the Hawkeyes look like easy wins (but you never know).

February 14th vs. Minnesota: We beat the Gophers at home last year, and I expect us to do the same this year.

February 17th vs. Penn State: Just don't let Talor Battle beat you, and this one should be an easy win.

February 21st at Wisconsin: Almost nobody beats the Badgers in Madison, so why should we be any different?

February 25th vs. Iowa: See previous Iowa comments.

February 28th at Penn State: We always struggle at Penn State (see last year's game). But this year's Cats seem... different. For whatever reason, I don't expect us to drop one against them this year.

March 6th at Indiana: This one could be much tougher than it ordinarily would. It's the last game of the regular season, and it's in Bloomington. But, once again, the Cats should get it done.

Prediction: 7-2 in the final nine games, 10-8 overall.

If we beat Texas Pan American and Chicago State in the non-conference as well, that brings us to 22-9 overall. One win in the Big Ten Tournament would just about seal a bid for the Cats. Since we'd be a 6 or 7 seed in the tournament, we'd probably face Indiana or Iowa in the first round. Beat them, and we're going dancing. Dare to dream, folks.

Poll

What will Northwestern's final Big Ten record be?

11-7 or better

11 votes

10-8

11 votes

9-9

16 votes

8-10 or worse

4 votes

42 votes | Poll has closed

Previewing the Cats' Big Ten Schedule (Part One)

2009-12-23T13:25:22Z

With the Central Connecticut State game over and done with, Northwestern is now 10-1. They may well be ranked heading into their Big Ten opener at Illinois.

The team has been a pleasant surprise so far this year. When Coble went down, many (including me) wrote the Cats off for dead. But can they navigate a tough Big Ten schedule to make the NCAA tournament for the first time ever?

In a word, yes. But it won't be easy. Here's a look at the first nine games of the Big Ten season, and how I think Northwestern will fare in them.

December 30th at Illinois: I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the Cats will win this one. Bruce Weber's a good coach, but the Illini haven't played very well this season. We may be catching them at the right time.

January 2nd vs. Michigan State: Welsh Ryan will be rocking for the Cats'home opener. If my prediction about Illinois is right, Northwestern will be playing with a tremendous amount of confidence. But Michigan State will win. I'd be astonished if Izzo lets the Cats sneak up on the Spartans like we did last year. It'll be close, though.

January 10th at Michigan: Michigan's been terrible so far this year. But they'll beat Northwestern in Ann Arbor. Count on it.

January 13th vs. Wisconsin: We have to split with the Badgers. Since we won't beat them in Madison, this is a must win. I think the Cats will get it done.

January 16th vs. Purdue: If Purdue's offensive woes continue, we have a chance. But don't bet on it.

January 19th at Ohio State: Does anyone know when Turner will be back? If he's still hurt when the Cats play this one, they'll win. Even if he isn't, the Cats still have a chance. I'm not sold on the Buckeyes.

January 23rd vs. Illinois: The Cats always lose at least one game they should win. This will be that game.

January 26th at Minnesota: We could pull the upset here, but I don't think we'll beat the Gophers on the road.

January 30th at Michigan State: Will lightning strike twice in East Lansing? I doubt it.

Projected Record: 3-6 through the first nine games.

That sounds bad, but it really isn't. We get to play Indiana, Penn State, and Iowa twice in the final nine games. Plus we get Michigan and Minnesota at home. We should be able to get 6 wins out of that, which would get us to that magic 9-9 mark. The key is to not lost hope during this brutal opening stretch. Go Cats!

Poll

How will Northwestern fare in their first nine Big Ten games?

4-5 or better.

22 votes

3-6

7 votes

2-7

7 votes

1-8 or worse

2 votes

38 votes | Poll has closed

Analysis of the Week in Hoops

2009-12-20T14:06:49Z

First off, that was a great win for the Cats (apart from that stupid running out the clock strategy, which doesn't work). Barring some unforeseen catastrophe when Central Connecticut State comes to Evanston on Tuesday, we will be 10-1 (and likely ranked) heading into the Big Ten opener at Illinois. With that in mind, here's what happened to the rest of the hoops world (and what it means for the Cats).

Butler's last second win over Xavier was huge on two levels. It means Butler will still be ranked this week, which is good for Northwestern (since our only loss was to the Bulldogs). It also means that Xavier may struggle to get an at-large bid if they don't win the A-10, which opens up another potential spot for our Wildcats. This one was huge.

Notre Dame beating UCLA, though everyone expected it, was huge. We need the Irish to play well in the Big East as well.

We've also got a couple of big games today. Iowa State takes on Bradley, and NC State plays Wake Forest. Everyone here should be pulling for the Wolfpack and Cyclones.

Meanwhile, the Big Ten had a fairly lousy Saturday (apart from the Cats). Michigan State and Purdue both won, as expected. Iowa barely beat Drake, which is good. Indiana and Ohio State also beat weak opponents.

But Michigan lost to Kansas (not surprising). And Illinois suffered a crushing loss to Georgia. That one hurts, folks. If Illinois continues to struggle, we have to beat them at least once (which won't be easy).

So it was a mixed bag this week (like most weeks). Let's pull for Iowa State and North Carolina State. And let's hope the Cats continue to play well.

Another Big Win, But This Has to Stop

2009-12-19T22:18:11Z

First of all, I'm obviously thrilled that we're 9-1. Come Monday, Northwestern may well be ranked in the polls (big wins by Butler and Notre Dame today help the Cats' resume). But this has to stop.

If you watched the game today, you know what I mean. This whole "taking the air out of the ball when we're ahead" thing has to stop.

Does anyone remember the Purdue game? I'm referring to the one we lost. What about the Illinois game?

We were fortunate today. After having a 10 point lead, we allowed Stanford to get back into the game by taking the foot off of the accelerator. In the blink of an eye, it was a 1 point game. I almost started sobbing.

Fortunately, Michael Thompson hit a big 3, and the Cats finally hit some free throws to ice the game. But we won't be so lucky next time. You can count on it.

Teams like North Carolina and Kansas can milk the clock the way we tried to, because they have players that can create their own shot with 5 or less seconds to go on the shot clock. But the Princeton offense is the type of offense that "probes" the defense. Waiting until there's 10 seconds or fewer to try to score is just insane. When NU does that, they usually wind up with a contested jumper instead of a back door layup or an open 3.

If Carmody keeps doing this, we will lose at least one game during Big Ten play that we should win. Maybe more. Haven't you learned your lesson from last year, Cats?

Poll

How many games do you expect Northwestern to lose in Big Ten play if they continue to use this stupid "strategy"?

Zero

0 votes

One

0 votes

Two

4 votes

Three or more

3 votes

7 votes | Poll has closed

Big Ten Expansion? The Chadnudj Plan

2009-12-15T15:47:29Z

Recently, Barry Alvarez caused a stir by suggesting the Big Ten was seriously exploring expansion to add a 12th team, thus allowing the Big Ten to split into divisions and play a Championship. See the story here.

Personally, as a fan, I love this idea. But two problems tend to pop up with this:

Who is your 12th team? Potentially realistic suggestions include Rutgers or Syracuse (to bring in the NYC market), Pitt, Cincinnati, That School From South Bend, and Mizzou. Less realistic suggestions (for academic, geographic, or athletic reasons) include West Virginia, Kentucky, Louisville, Nebraska, or Texas (seriously? Texas? Really?)
How do you divide the league into divisions without creating a serious "historical competitive imbalance" by placing too many of the big powers (OSU-Michigan-Penn State) in one division, and/or preserve traditional rivalries that teams and fans love?

So, to answer these questions, allow me to present the Chadnudj Plan for Big Ten Expansion -- in which the Big Ten adds Missouri, and divides into North-South divisions, while preserving ALL current protected Big Ten rivalries except one (and that one is Purdue-Northwestern, if you're curious and don't want to read further because this is the only rivalry you care about....what, no takers?)

First, on the teams.....Mizzou ends up being the best choice by default. I'm going to dispute the whole "Rutgers or Syracuse brings you NYC" meme...I just don't buy it. NYC is a pro sports town, maybe moreso than Chicago. I just don't think expanding to New Jersey and Rutgers really improves the Big Ten's media imprint as much as adding a better "fit" (both academically and athletically across all sports) would.

Cincinnati would be a nice choice (it seems strange that Michigan has to split the state with MSU, while OSU gets Ohio to itself), but the small stadium, lack of football tradition, and substandard academics (at least compared to Big Ten standards -- no offense Cincinnati graduates!) dooms them overall. (Still -- OSU, start scheduling Cincinnati regularly in non-conference....)

Obviously, the top choice has to be That School from South Bend (a school that could, arguably, deliver NYC even moreso than Rutgers) -- it fits academically, athletically, geographically, culturally, and tradition-wise. Heck, it already has longstanding rivalries with Michigan, Purdue, and Michigan State, each of which would continue unabated if it joined the Big Ten. (P.S. I think we keep the name, regardless of having 12 teams...it's just too synonymous with the style of football to ever be dropped).

The problem? There is no indication they will join...although that opposition might be thawing somewhat (particularly with the opportunity to get in on guaranteed bowl revenues each season, as well as the Big Ten Network royalties that would only increase if you could market dedicated That School From South Bend programming on the network nationally -- I can almost feel the vomit rising in the back of my throat thinking about "Rudy" marathons being played during the summer doldrums in terms of original Big Ten Network programming). Plus, as I've always contended -- That School From South Bend is scared to play a "real" football schedule. Just look at what happened when they lost to Northwestern -- they cancelled the series, and have never agreed to play Northwestern again (yeah, that's right Brian Kelly -- I'm calling your team yellow!)

So where to turn? Pitt is one option, and further solidifies/pulls in Pennsylvania to Big Ten country, but I'm not seeing it. It is very close on all degress to Big Ten schools academically according to some data I've seen. But I'm just not thinking it will happen...I wouldn't be disappointed if it did, but I doubt it works out that way. There's nothing all that interesting about Pitt joining the conference -- much better to see Penn State take on Pitt as a regular non-conference rival (someone at PSU or Pitt will have to explain to me why this doesn't happen).

The best choice, in my opinion (other than That School from South Bend) is Mizzou. Great academics and athletics in men's and women's sports, ties/rivalries that already exist with Illinois and Iowa (and, arguably, Northwestern). It would probably jump from the Big 12 if asked (opening the Big 12 to add TCU? Boise State? Utah?). The Big Ten schools would be closer to Mizzou than the Big 12 schools, on average (making it easier for their fans to travel).

Plus, and here is the ultimate bonus -- you could add Mizzou to the Big Ten, split into divisions, and only lose ONE Big Ten traditional/protected annual rivalry....as I mentioned before, you'd only lose Northwestern-Purdue (and I think we can agree that would not be a huge loss).

How, you ask? Simple -- divide the conference into North-South divisions as follows:

North: Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northwestern, Michigan, Michigan State

South: Mizzou, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Ohio State, Penn State

Every team would play all their division rivals once. (5 games)

Each team would play a "protected" cross-division rival once each year: Iowa-Mizzou, Northwestern-Illinois, MSU-PSU, OSU-Michigan, and then your pick of Minnesota-Purdue, Wisconsin-Indiana or vice-versa. (1 game)

Then, each team would play 2 of the other 5 cross-divisional opponents on a rotating basis (2 games).

8 conference games, and EVERY current protected rivalry protected, while still allowing Mizzou to have its two best geographic rivals (Iowa and Illinois), and ensuring some competitive balance by dividing up the Michigan-OSU-PSU triumvarate.

(For reference's sake, here is the list of Big Ten protected rivalries....notice, the ONLY one that would disappear is NU-Purdue....which I think we'd gladly trade for NU-Wisconsin being an annual game:

Illinois: Indiana, Northwestern
Indiana: Illinois, Purdue
Iowa: Minnesota, Wisconsin
Michigan: Michigan State, Ohio State
Michigan State: Michigan, Penn State
Minnesota: Iowa, Wisconsin
Northwestern: Illinois, Purdue
Ohio State: Michigan, Penn State
Penn State: Michigan State, Ohio State
Purdue: Indiana, Northwestern
Wisconsin: Iowa, Minnesota)

So, have at it fans -- why would this not work?

(P.S. I've posted this at a couple sites....just wanted to see people's thoughts....)

Big Ten basketball power rankings: December 14th

2009-12-14T21:04:25Z

Right now there are 4 tiers of teams in the Big Ten:

Final Four contenders: Purdue, Michigan State

NCAA tournament hopefuls: Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio State, Northwestern

NIT hopefuls: Indiana, Michigan, Penn State

No hope: Iowa

so let's break it down

1 (1). Purdue: Another impressive week for the Boilers, as they rallied from a 16 point second half deficit to win at Alabama. It was their first road game of the season and they played with a lot of poise down the stretch and completely shut down Alabama's offense, holding them without a field goal in the final 8:45. My least favorite player in the country Chris Kramer was the key for the Purdue defense. Kramer is one of those guys that when he's on your team you love him, but when he plays for a rival you absolutely hate him and wish he'd catch an elbow to the face. He's a terrific defender and energy guy, and Purdue has enough scorers to hide his lack of a jump shot.

2 (2). Michigan State: For some reason they went on the road to the play The Citadel and struggled early before pulling away in the final 10 minutes. This team still isn't playing like the final four contender everyone expected them to be, but I'm sure it will come soon.

3 (3) Wisconsin: I considered moving Wisconsin down because of their loss to Wisconsin-Green Bay, but further research indicated W-GB is a decent team (9-3 record) and the Badgers were on the road, Also Wisconsin bounced back nicely with a win over Marquette on Saturday. Going forward they'll need someone to emerge as a third option to complement Trevon Hughes at the point and Jon Leuer inside. I expected Jason Bohannon to fill that role as a 3-point shooter, as I've always seen him as a Craig Moore clone, but he hasn't been a consistent enough shooter.

4 (5) Illinois: They move up a spot thanks to a convincing home win over #24 Vanderbilt. This is a deep and balanced team with 5 players averaging in double figures. A note on the Illini: I was browsing Illinois' team page on ESPN and found a link to this article ranking the Division 1 teams in Illinois. I really hope the author intentionally ranked the Illini that low to generate traffic, because the implication that they were the 6th best team in Illinois at any point this season is absolutely ridiculous.

5 (4) Minnesota: The Gophers didn't really do anything to deserve being moved down except continuing to schedule cupcake non-conference games. I've previously ripped them for being offensively challenged and while they have scored over 90 points in 3 straight games, those games came against Brown, Morgan State and St. Joseph's, so let's not get carried away. The cupcakes continue for Minnesota until Big Ten play starts.

6 (6) Ohio State: Not surprisingly, they struggled offensively without Evan Turner in a road loss to Butler. Looking through Ohio State's team stats, I discovered the amazing stat line of their center Dallas Lauderdale. In the 8 games he's played this season, Lauderdale is shooting 89% from the field. That's not a typo, he's made 24 of 27 shots. However from the free throw line, he's just 12 of 30 for 40% shooting, so it might be a good idea for teams to put Lauderdale on the line when he catches the ball inside.

The Buckeyes next play Presbyterian, and I wonder if this fan will be showing up, and if he does whether Thad Matta will have him ejected. Pretty weak by Roy Williams I must say, although it's hard to take a school seriously when their nickname is the Blue Hose. While this is apparently a reference to the blue painted Scottish warriors ala Braveheart, I do know that Tiger Woods might have gone there if they were called the White Hose. Heyyyyyooooooooooooo!

Ok moving on...

7 (7) Northwestern: I'll probably take some heat for this again, but I still don't see NU being better than any of the teams above them, despite both new polls disagreeing with me. Given how woefully incompetent this team was just two years ago, it's going to take me a long time to fully jump onto the bandwagon and think the 'Cats have what it takes to make the leap to NCAA tournament team, although Drew Crawford emerging as a legitimate third option is starting to make me a believer. That was a fantastic performance yesterday, now he needs to show he can do that against a non-terrible defensive team.

I'm also eagerly awaiting the day that the Kyle Rowley experiment ends. He might be the worst rebounding 7 footer in the history of Division 1 basketball. Case in point: he has more fouls than rebounds in his career. How is that possible for a 7 footer over a large sample size? You'd almost have to be point-shaving to pull that off. Unfortunately for NU, he's going to get more minutes Wednesday as Davide Curletti has an injured foot.

8 (10) Indiana: The Hoosiers jump two spots thanks to a neutral court win over Pittsburgh. Now while Pittsburgh has as much trouble with scoring points as John "Vacated" Calipari has trouble following NCAA rules, this is still a very impressive win for a young team. Indiana also held their own for 25 minutes against #3 Kentucky before fading in the second half. Indiana could be dangerous in the Big Ten if they keep improving and will be tough to beat at home even for the league's elite.

9 (9) Penn State: This is an NIT team at best. For some reason i subjected myself to the first half of their game against UMBC Tuesday, and Penn State was just awful. UMBC might be the worst team in Division 1, and they hung right with Penn State for a half despite a 4 guard and 1 small forward starting lineup. Seriously it looked like when ESPN showed LeBron James' high school games and he was playing against teams of tiny unathletic guys, that's how bad a team UMBC is and they still kept it close for a half. Penn State also blew a home game against Virginia Tech thanks to Talor Battle's poor free throw shooting. Battle had half of the Nittany Lion points, but the guy can't do it by himself.

10 (8) Michigan: Another bad week for Michigan sees them continue to fall in the rankings. They got blown out in the second half at Utah (a team with wins over Michigan and Illinois but losses to Idaho, Weber State and Seattle, go figure) and even got hit with the "Just like football!" chant from the Utah student section, a reference to Michigan football opening the Rich-Rod era with a home loss to Utah. They did manage to rally from a halftime deficit to beat Detroit, but they still have a terrible supporting cast around Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims, as Harris and Sims scored two thirds of their points in that game. On the bright side, they get a break from playing mid-major teams as their next game is at Kansas. Ruh Roh.

11 (11) Iowa: Two more losses for the Hawkeyes, to instate rivals Northern Iowa and Iowa State. Not much to say here that hasn't already been said, this is clearly the worst team in the Big Ten. It was good to hear that their coach Todd Lickliter is out of the hospital after surgery, hopefully he gets well soon.

remember that ripping my rankings leads to wins, so criticize early and often

Analysis of the Week in Hoops (and what it means for Northwestern)

2009-12-14T19:27:43Z

First off, congratulations to the Cats for their 90-65 victory over North Carolina A&T, a game in which they attempted 47 threes. Drew Crawford had an outstanding game, and the Cats showed very little rust after almost two weeks off (the exception being Shurna).

This is the first installment of a weekly feature over-analyzing the week in college basketball, and what it means for Northwestern's tournament hopes. So let's get to it.

The Good:

Wisconsin beating Marquette.

The Pac-10 continuing to struggle (most think the league will receive only one or two bids, which opens up more room for teams like the Cats).

Purdue coming back to beat Alabama (imagine if Purdue comes into Welsh-Ryan undefeated and we beat them).

Indiana knocking off Pittsburgh.

The rest of the Big Ten doing fairly well (except Iowa).

The Bad:

Notre Dame losing to Loyola Marymount (that's a killer).

Iowa losing to Iowa State (yes, we beat the Cyclones, but we play Iowa twice).

Butler losing to Georgetown.

Temple knocking off Villanova, and Xavier beating Cincinnati. The reason this is bad is that Temple and Xavier may be bubble teams at the end of the year, while the Wildcats and Bearcats are probably tourney bound despite these losses. Plus, it hurts Notre Dame's RPI, which in turn hurts Northwestern's.

The Neutral:

Butler beating Ohio State (we'll wind up playing both teams once, so it really doesn't matter).

That's all I can think of. According to cbssports.com, Northwestern's RPI is now 40. That's not bad at this point in the season. I'm feeling pretty good about NU's chances right now. How about you?

Note: I realize I'm analyzing this to death. But what else is there to do in between games?

Northwestern 90, NC A&T 65: wait they really attempted 47 threes?

2009-12-14T01:17:23Z

Yes, Northwestern really attempted 47 three pointers in their blowout win over North Carolina A&T, making 20 of them to shatter the previous school record of 15 made and setting a Big Ten record. 12 of the makes came in the first half, as the 'Cats took a 50-37 lead into the locker room. Carmody said at halftime that he was upset with his team's defensive effort, and his players listened to him and shut down the Aggies to start the second half, allowing just 5 points in the first 10 minutes and letting NU open up a 30 point lead, a run capped off by a highlight reel alley-oop from Juice Thompson to Jeremy Nash.

Drew Crawford led the way with 13 3 point attempts, making 8 of them and finishing with a career high 35 points. I believe that's the highest point total for a Northwestern player since Kevin Coble had 37 against Indiana. Crawford was outstanding, mainly from behind the arc, but he had a couple of strong drives to the basket, highlighted by a circus reverse lay up in the first half. Thompson added 19 points and a season high 8 assists, making 5 for 11 from 3 point range. Nash once again filled up the stat sheet with 10 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals, and Alex Marcotullio had 11 points off the bench. John Shurna really struggled on offense, scoring just 6 points and going 0 for 7 from the line, but he did have 10 rebounds.

The story of the game though was the ridiculous number of threes attempted by Northwestern, as 47 of their 63 field goal attempts were from behind the line. Of those 47 threes, I'd say at most only 6 of 7 were forced; NC A&T just played very bad defense and didn't close out on perimeter shooters. On one play early in the second half, they didn't have anyone near Crawford in the corner when NU was inbounding from underneath the basket, this when Crawford already had 28 points in the game. He made the shot, and a minute later he was inexplicably wide open in the exact same spot on the same inbounds situation. It wasn't like Carmody ran a play for him, he was just standing alone in the corner. If I were the coach for NC A&T, I'd have called a timeout and gone crazy on my team, just terrible defense. NC A&T's defensive game plan seemed to be to not allow backdoor cuts, which they did successfully, the problem was they didn't go anywhere near perimeter shooters. Credit has to go to Northwestern for taking what the defense gave them and not trying to force it inside, instead riding the hot hand from the perimeter. In future games, opponents will be wary of the outside shooting and crowd the perimeter, hopefully opening up the middle for backdoor cuts and easy lay-ups.

The only pieces of bad news from today came from the centers, as Davide Curletti hurt his foot in practice and did not play. Apparently it isn't serious and he's expected back for Saturday's game against Stanford, which is good as NU will need him in Big Ten play, as once again Kyle Rowley couldn't get out of his own way, fouling out in 8 minutes and turning the ball over twice. Luka Mirkovic got most of the minutes at center and did what NU's centers should do, not look to score but instead focus on defense, rebounding and setting up teammates out of the high post. He had just 3 points in 29 minutes, but did manage 8 rebounds and 3 assists, and he blocked 1 shot and altered several more on the defensive end. And thankfully he didn't travel in the low post once.

Was nice to see an easy win for Northwestern against a weak opponent, hopefully they can keep it up Wednesday night against North Florida, and it would even nicer if Crawford can continue to be a force on offense. He's now had 2 big games against weak competition, but he's yet to show he can score against BCS conference teams. This team will be very difficult to defend in Big Ten play if he can play like he did today.

NU basketball vs NC A&T: Gameday

2009-12-13T17:35:10Z

After 11 days off for exams, Northwestern finally returns to action today, hosting the North Carolina A&T Aggies at 4 PM central time. The game will be available on bigtennetwork.com for $2.99 and will of course be on WGN radio.

NC A&T (the A&T stands for Agricultural and Technical in case you were wondering) is 4-5, and they're coming off an overtime win over Norfolk State in their Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opener 8 days ago. They haven't played any power conference teams, and two of their wins are over non Division 1 opponents, so on paper this should be an easy win. One concern though is that NC A&T is averaging more than 30 attempts per game from distance, accounting for almost half of their field goal attempts.They've only shot 31% on those attempts, but if they get hot vs NU's zone this could be a closer game than I'd like to see.

For the second time this season, there is no point spread available for an NU basketball game. I demand answers from Vegas, as there are lines for Princeton vs UNC Greensboro, Portland State vs Pepperdine, and Niagara vs. Illinois State, but nothing for this game. So due to the lack of a line, my undefeated record against the spread picking NU games (2-0 if you're scoring at home) is going to last at least another few days. I will say that I think Northwestern comes out a bit flat due to the 11 day lay off, but pulls away in the second half for a double digit win. So Go 'Cats, and remember that multiple commenters in the game threads = W.

The December NU v. Auburn Fan Thread

2009-12-10T12:21:11Z

I'd like to try out a little experiment here, with Rodger's blessings. I've noticed that Auburn fans and NU fans have been hopping back and forth between Sippin' on Purple and Track 'em Tigers, commenting on threads and ribbing each other a bit. I'd like to take this opportunity to gather all of us into one central place.

Lord knows that the Sippin' main page scrolls very fast, and sometime posts fall out of the public eye quickly, and some threads that had promising discussions disappear with them (don't stop though, Rodger, we love you for it). In an effort to quell that, I'm posting this as a FanPost, because they don't move nearly as quickly, and still update with new comments notifications and fun stuff like that.

I know that we could all head over to ESPN, but let's face it, the ESPN game thread is a shit storm of homerism and superiority complexes. Everyone over here is much nicer, frankly. I do post at ESPN, but I also like to have discussions with people I can relate to. Also they don't tell you when someone posts a new comment. So curb that craziness, to promote monthlong friendships between NU and AU, while at the same time fostering that beloved sense of competition, I present the December Northwestern versus Auburn Fan Thread for Discussion. Comment away :)

Poll

What will the outcome of the Outback Bowl be? (spread: Auburn by 7.5)

Auburn wins, NU fails to cover (Auburn by 8+)

46 votes

Auburn wins, NU covers (Auburn by 1-7)

22 votes

NU wins outright (NU by 1-7)

18 votes

NU throws Vegas for a loop (NU by 8+)

13 votes

99 votes | Poll has closed

The Worst Idea Anyone Has Ever Had in History...

2009-12-09T23:22:35Z

The NCAA is considering expanding the NCAA tournament field from 65 to 96. Under this scenario, the 32 top teams would receive a first round bye. To this proposal I have only one word.

NO!

No, no, no, no. no. I'll leave the reasons why this is a terrible idea to other people. The "Sporting News" website has a couple of good opinion pieces (both of which mention Northwestern, by the way) about this (one endorses it, the other opposes it). I'll just leave you with one thought: suppose this system had been in place last year. Northwestern would have made the tournament. But what's so great about that, if 95 other teams also made it. When Northwestern finally makes the NCAA tournament, I for one want it to mean something.

Also, it would destroy the regular season and make it harder for Cinderella teams to emerge come tourney time. I'll be creating a site at some point where those who agree with me can make their voices heard. We've got to make this clear to the folks in power: if you expand the tournament, we won't watch.

Comment if you're with me. If enough people threaten to revolt, hopefully this won't happen.

Poll

Expanding the NCAA tournament from 65 to 96 teams would be:

A Bad Idea

5 votes

A Terrible Idea

3 votes

The Worst Idea in the History of Mankind

6 votes

No Big Deal

0 votes

14 votes | Poll has closed

Big Ten basketball power rankings: December 7th

2009-12-07T22:44:15Z

While everyone's attention is deservedly focused on the football team's surprise invite to the Outback Bowl, basketball season keeps rolling on. Northwestern is off until Sunday for exams, but there have been plenty of developments around the Big Ten this week, so let's get to the rankings, with last week's rankings in parentheses.

1 (1). Purdue: As the conference's only undefeated team, they're still the easy choice for the top spot. Purdue is the best defensive team in the Big Ten and maybe in the country, with Chris Kramer locking people down on the perimeter and JaJuan Johnson blocking shots in the middle. Until they hung 101 points on Buffalo Saturday, they shot just 38% from the field in their first 6 games and still won them all, showing just how dominant they are on D. I still have questions about their offense, namely who's getting the ball down the stretch. Robbie Hummel was supposed to be the man, as last season he was the preseason player of the year in the Big Ten, and while he's a good scorer he's not close to player of the year levels. If and when the Boilers start clicking on offense, they will be scary good and a strong contender for a #1 seed. They get a tough road test Saturday at Alabama.

2 (2). Michigan State: They fell in today's polls thanks to a loss at North Carolina, but I won't penalize them as I watched that game and UNC played as close to a perfect first half as you'll ever see, the Spartans just didn't have a chance. They still have the best point guard in the conference in Kalin Lucas and the best coach in the conference in Tom Izzo, so expect them to hit their stride soon.

3 (5). Wisconsin: I watched all of their home win over Duke and was very impressed. Trevon Hughes has really stepped up his game and Jon Leuer is becoming a force in the paint. Depth is a concern here, but Bo Ryan will have this team ready to play every night, he's done a fantastic job as usual.

4 (4) Minnesota: I might have the Gophers a bit too high, but I still think this is a very dangerous team. They've got a ton of depth and an excellent coach in Tubby Smith. This is a typical Tubby Smith team in that they will play excellent defense every night but are offensively challenged. Right now I think Tubby is playing a few too many guys and thus they're unable to get in a rhythm on offense. Another problem is all the legal violations by various players, but that seems to be sorting itself out. It may take a while, but with their incredibly soft non-conference schedule the rest of the month, they've got time.

5 (8) Illinois: The Illini vault three spots thanks to their miraculous second half comeback at Clemson. I must admit I didn't see most of it as I flipped away from that game in the first half when Illinois was getting run out of the gym, but erasing a 23 point lead on the road against a ranked team shows a lot about the heart of this team. Freshmen guards Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson are both solid contributors already, adding to a strong frontcourt in Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale. When you're relying on a freshman backcourt, there will be growing pains and inconsistent play especially during Big Ten season, but there's a lot of talent here and this team is much better than the one that lost to Bradley.

6 (3) Ohio State: They fall 3 spots because their star Evan Turner is out for 2 months with 2 broken vertebrae, which sounds like a season ending and possibly career threatening injury to me, but I guess it's not that serious. Still, this is a gigantic loss for Ohio State, as Turner was leading the Buckeyes in scoring, rebounding and assists. It's unclear how good they'll be without him, but dreams of contending for the Big Ten title are almost certainly out the window now. Jon Diebler is averaging 17 points a game, but he's mainly a spot up 3-point shooter and won't get nearly as many easy looks without Turner in the lineup (but he does look like Bubbles' friend Johnny from the Wire, so he's got that going for him). We'll find out how good they are without Turner on Saturday when the Buckeyes visit Butler.

7 (7) Northwestern: The 'Cats are exceeding everyone's expectations so far this season without Coble, and shouldn't have much trouble with their remaining non-conference schedule. It was nice to see Juice Thompson get some love from Andy Katz this week.

Catching up on my Northwestern blog reading, I recently found this post on Welsh-Ryan Ramblings and thought I'd weigh in. While Ryan could certainly contribute next season, I think it would be a big mistake to take him over a potential recruit who could add just as much next year and obviously a lot more in the future. But my question is can NU take away a scholarship from someone on the roster who is adding very little and likely will never contribute, namely Mike Capocci and Nick Fruendt. I'd like to see Ryan get another year, so let's replace someone who's doing nothing. if possible.

8 (6) Michigan: A couple weeks ago this team was #15 in the country, but right now they're no more #15 in the country than a team of me, Rodger, pfoley, Krissy Cox and McNulty the night after a bender (and yes, I know that's my second Wire reference of this post). John Beilein is running his trademark perimeter oriented offense, which is working terribly as Michigan is shooting a putrid 29% from 3-point range. It's a case of square peg into round hole if there ever was one (and we here at Northwestern know all about a team running an offense that doesn't fit its personnel). But unlike past NU teams that had so little talent they couldn't run any offense effectively, Michigan has a potential star in Manny Harris. Unfortunately for Wolverine fans, his strength is slashing to the basket, not 3-point shooting, so it's up to Beilein to do some coaching and change his offense to fit his personnel, namely more Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims and less 3-point shooting from bad 3-point shooters.

9 (9) Penn State: Aside from Talor Battle, this is a bad team. Even with Battle scoring 28 points in the second half, Penn State still only won by 3 against a mediocre Virginia team. When he struggles like he did Saturday, you get stuff like a 45-42 loss to Temple. This team really misses an inside presence like that provided in recent years by Jamelle Cornley and Geary Claxton.

10 (10) Indiana: It looks like another rebuilding year for the Hoosiers, as Tom Crean's highly touted freshman class isn't ready to make the leap to contender quite yet. And their schedule is getting tougher, with games against Pittsburgh and Kentucky this week.

11 (11) Iowa: They were at least competitive against Virginia Tech in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, but the cupboard is bare talent wise for the Hawkeyes. Look for their struggles to continue this week as they have tough road games against Valley favorite Northern Iowa and Iowa State

That's the rankings for this week, and remember that criticizing the power rankings tends to lead to Northwestern success, so rip me early and often.

Playing for our second consecutive National Title

2009-12-07T21:12:30Z

I'm very proud of our team for being in contention for its second straight NCAA National Championship in football.

What, you don't believe me? Well....

Check this out: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/bowls09/news/story?id=4722205

Buried at the bottom is this fantastic quote:

"Lapchick noted that "if there were a national championship based on graduation success rates among bowl teams, Navy and Northwestern would have played for the national championship." He said both teams graduated at least 92 percent of football players and at least 83 percent of black players."

Some of you will recall that last year we would have also played for this mythical student-athlete national championship in a game against Boston College -- a game I'm confident we would have won. There's nothing better, in my mind, than being the best STUDENT-ATHLETE football program in the nation.....plus, this year's mythical game would have given us a chance to beat Navy, something That School From South Bend no longer knows how to do.

GO CATS!

Happy Birthday Fitz!

2009-12-02T23:08:51Z

That's right, on December 2, 1974, our fearless and feared (by his opponents, particularly Iowa) leader Pat Fitzgerald was born, and immediately screamed until his face was purple....his favorite color.

So, here are your questions for the comments section:

What are you doing to celebrate this holiest of holy days?
What type of intense celebration do you think the Fitzgeralds are celebrating today?
Does Fitz need to blow out his candles, or do they extinguish from gusts of wind from the force of his eyes blinking?

Northwestern 65, NC State 53: Juice saves the day volume 2

2009-12-02T04:51:33Z

(not to keep writing at the top of everything other people write, but this is rodger, and you all should check out this fanpost. G1000 made his first post a good one, it may seem ridiculously early to start talking tourney, but the early season has pretty much gone as well as anybody could've asked, even sans injuries. plus, i've had about 400 conversations discussing exactly what's written in that post in the last 24 hours, so, read it.)

Northwestern played their best half of the season to open the game at NC State, taking a 10 point lead to the locker room, and had the 'Cats hit some of the wide open threes they missed, it could have been a lot more. They were executing their offense to perfection, getting a lot of easy lay-ups and open jumpers, not turning the ball over, and playing strong defense.

But at halftime, they must have been watching the ESPN halftime shows talking about how Northwestern could be a tournament team, and got full of themselves and came out very flat for the 2nd half. There were turnovers, bad passes, forced shots, mental mistakes, defensive breakdowns, you name it. Had they been playing a top Big Ten team, they would have gotten run out of the gym. But two things kept them in the lead, the first that NC State couldn't knock down an open 3 if their life depended on it, and second that Michael Thompson put Northwestern on his back and made big play after big play down the stretch. The final margin was a comfortable 12 points, but this game was much closer than that.

The closest NC State got in the 2nd half was 4 points, as Alex Marcutullio lost his composure and stupidly threw an elbow for a technical foul, leading to a 4 point NC State possession. The Wolfpack student section, which had been silent for most of the night, was finally making some noise (and on that topic NC State students, when you boo like crazy every single time a foul is called on your team, you look really stupid, especially when that's the loudest you've been all game and the officials are doing a pretty good job) Anyways, the lead was in jeopardy, but Juice calmly ran the show at the point, drove to the basket and kicked it out to a wide open Marcotullio, who buried a 3 from the corner. For the rest of the game, with his younger teammates losing their composure and not playing under control, Thompson looked totally calm, and showed tremendous leadership down the stretch, finishing with 22 points with most of them in the second half. Without Thompson, this game likely would have finished much like the debacle vs Illinois last year.

It's a testament to how far this program has come that in a double digit road win over an ACC team I have a lot of complaints about how the game went. A lot of the problems were somewhat expected, as underclassmen often struggle to maintain their composure on the road. Marcotullio, who's been so poised all season, was the biggest offender in his first career road game, but Shurna was invisible in the 2nd half after a great first half, and once again Rowley couldn't touch the ball without turning it over. Northwestern also struggled when Jeremy Nash had to go to the bench with 4 fouls. Nash had another big game with 12 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. I know I mention it in every post, but I still can't get over how much Nash has improved on offense, it's remarkable how much better he is.

I was disappointed that Curletti didn't get into the game until late, as once again Rowley got the start and couldn't get out of his own way on offense, although he did do a decent job defensively on NC State big man Tracy Smith. Mirkovic also played well on defense with 4 blocked shots, and he hit a couple of nice turnaround jumpers in the post, one of them a Tim Duncan style bank shot.

To me the most important thing to take from this game is the 'Cats got some valuable experience on the road in a hostile environment, and despite most of the team not handling it very well they still escaped with a win. It's great that they got the experience now, so they can learn from it and be prepared for their murderer's row stretch of schedule for the first half of Big Ten play. While I don't expect NC State to be an NCAA tournament contender, it's still huge to get a road win over an ACC program given NU's past struggles.

Northwestern won't be back in action until a week from Sunday, as the players get a break for exams. So until then, let's enjoy this winning streak. Go 'Cats!

edit: highlights!

Taking a Look at Northwestern's Tourney Chances

2009-12-02T02:37:59Z

Northwestern is now 3-1 in their "tough" non-conference games, with one more remaining (Stanford). Since it's never too early to dream, let's take a look at the Wildcats' tournament chances.

Before the season started, there were three things Northwestern needed to do to make the tournament (in my opinion).

#1: Split with Butler and Notre Dame. Check

#2: Win all of their other non-conference games. They have a really good chance at doing this.

#3: Go .500 in Big Ten play.

That last one's going to be tough without Coble. The early Big Ten schedule is brutal. But here's an early look at how it might go down.

2 wins over Indiana

2 wins over Iowa

2 wins over Penn State

Split with Illinois

Split with Wisconsin (we need to win at home, since the Badgers are almost unbeatable on the road)

Split with Minnesota or Michigan

It won't be easy, but judging by what I've seen of this team, they can get it done. I put their chances at slightly below 50%, to be realistic. What do you think? Let your thoughts be known in the poll. Good luck, Wildcats!

Poll

Northwestern's chances of making the NCAA tournament are:

Good

2 votes

50-50

17 votes

Bad

6 votes

Terrible

0 votes

25 votes | Poll has closed

NU basketball at NC State: Gameday

2009-12-01T19:58:08Z

(Rodger here. Since the game is on the road and on TV, come comment along. If you're on campus, the game is on ESPN360, if you're not, you best hope you get ESPNU.)

I would say more, but unfortunately, Loretta insisted on writing an insightful and interesting post below, so, screw that guy.)

Northwestern plays their first true road game of the season tonight, visiting NC State as a part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. For the third straight game, the 'Cats take on an undefeated team from a power conference.

The game starts at 6 PM central and is being televised nationally by ESPNU, with Beth Mowins and Jay Williams on the call. I know nothing about Beth Mowins, but there are only 3 other female sports announcers I'm familiar with: Doris Burke (good), Pam Ward (bad), and Suzyn Waldman (the worst of all time). Hopefully she's more like Doris. As for Jay Williams, I always rooted against him at Duke, but he does a pretty good job in studio and is very humble for such a great college player, so hopefully it will be a good broadcast.

I'll admit to knowing very little about NC State, but some research shows they went 16-14 (6-10) last year and lost their 3 leading scorers, so they were picked at or near the bottom of the ACC by most prognosticators. The Wolfpack are 5-0, with 4 wins over soft mid-major teams and one good win over Auburn. Coach Sidney Lowe (best known for blazers that make him look like he should be in a barbership quartet) was planning to play an up-tempo style this season, but that hasn't happened as they haven't reached 70 points in a game yet. They have been playing excellent defense, as they've forced 20 or more turnovers in 4 of their 5 games.

Their leading scorer is power forward Tracy Smith, who's averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds a game. Smith is a wide body at 6'8", 250 pounds, and could pose problems inside. 6'9" forward Dennis Horner is second on the team with 14 points a game, and is a good 3-point shooter, hitting 8 of 14 on the season. However with the exception of Horner, NC State has shot the ball poorly from long range, as the rest of the roster is shooting just 30% on threes. So expect Northwestern to clog up the middle and force the Wolfpack guards to beat them from the perimeter.

For an NC State perspective on the game, check out Backing the Pack. The author uses a very statistically oriented approach to analyzing the game, which I found interesting. I've gotten into the more unconventional stats for baseball, but I haven't seen this approach used as much for basketball (I'm probably looking in the wrong place though, I'd appreciate some links to the basketball equivalent of baseballprospectus and fangraphs, thanks in advance). Two things really jumped out at me from that post, the first being that Kyle Rowley's stats accurately reflect how bad he is, and the second being that from looking at the numbers, someone concluded that Jeremy Nash is a 3-point specialist. For anyone who's been watching NU basketball over the last few years, you were probably as shocked as I was to read that. His first two years, it was an accomplishment when he hit the rim on a perimeter jumper. It's really impressive how much he's improved his offensive game, credit goes to both him and the coaching staff.

NC State is a 5 point favorite in this game, a line that looks about right to me. Historically, NU has been absolutely awful on the road in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, losing all 5 games by double digits, low-lighted by a 94-57 humiliation at Virginia. In their only trip to NC State, they lost 74-47 in 2003. Now this team is certainly better than a some of the dumpster fire rosters that the 'Cats brought into those games, but this will definitely be a tough game in a hostile environment. Last season, NU was inconsistent on the road against power conference teams, playing great in wins at Purdue and Michigan State, but barely showing up at Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. I would like Northwestern to win on a neutral court here and really like them at home, but on the road I'm hesitant.

My pick:

NC State 58, Northwestern 55. This will be a grind it out halfcourt game that's close the whole way, but in the end NC State pulls it out at home. I really hope I'm wrong.

Comment here if you're watching, scientific studies have shown that multiple commenters lead to victory. Go 'Cats!