More of the same

if you're in need of a very non-specific and, at times, poorly written preview of the NU basketball season, look no further. i'm not sure why this guy ranked only 144 teams when there are almost 350 schools in D-1, but this article says essentially the same thing that everyone is projecting - same team, better than last year, maybe pull a couple upsets, not good enough for the NIT.

Chasing another Illinois recruit

Tavaras must be working hard. he leads NU's recruiting efforts in metro Chicago, and the 'Cats are hot on the trail of wing Drew Crawford from Naperville Central. i've seen him listed at anywhere from 6-2 to 6-5, and chicagohoops.com has him ranked 29th in the state for the class of 2009. but he's played well this summer and had 20 points in the Illinois Warriors' loss in the U17 Super Showcase Gold final.

given the programs they're competing with, you'd like to think NU could lock this one down. but of course that's hoping a bigger fish doesn't swoop in at the last minute.

maintaining the Split pipeline

former players Ivan Tolic, Vedran Vukusic and Davor Duvancic are all from Split, Croatia, and current forward Ivan Peljusic is from nearby Zadar. while none of these players have been program-changers, Coach Carmody apparently likes that type of player, since our newest assistant coach is Ivan Vujic, a Split native.

in other coaching news, former NU guard and fan favorite Nate Pomeday has joined Craig Robinson's staff at Oregon State, and Ben Johnson is now at Northern Iowa. the funniest part about that last one is that Ben Jacobson says Johnson "has played for ... outstanding people." i'm not sure i agree, considering Johnson's two coaches at Northwestern were Kevin O'Neill and Bill Carmody.