NU dominates the Ospreys
a 15-2 run late in the first half put the game away, and you knew it was NU's night when early in the second half Shurna threw in an under-handed flip while being fouled. i liked 14/28 from 3PT, i liked 12 offensive rebounds, i liked six guys in double figures. i did not like anything Kyle Rowley attempted (and failed) to do, and i did not like only 18 minutes from Capocci, Fruendt and Reggie Hearn. when you're up by 22 with 13 minutes left, the big dogs need to get more rest.
i was also confused by the NU slurpfest conducted by the announcers, including former Badger Mike Kelley (who apparently works for ESPN to supplement his residual checks from that time he played Rodney Dangerfield's son). the constant patting of Carmody's back even included this gem: "coming off a terrific year last season... tied for ninth in the Big Ten." never mind the fact that they actually finished alone in ninth place, this gets to the heart of my problem with Northwestern basketball. they've been so bad for so long that any season that's not god-awful is deemed "terrific."
enthusiasm among the fan base is pretty high, but to me this season has an awfully similar feel to last year: they've beat up on a bunch of bad teams and lost to Butler. the Stanford game is an opportunity to change the tone a little bit but in name only. the Cardinal have not been impressive this year and there's no question this would be a bad loss. speaking of the Pac-10, it has a chance to be historically bad this season. it breaks FBC's heart that AC's Craig Robinson argument is losing a little steam this year.
i was also confused by the NU slurpfest conducted by the announcers, including former Badger Mike Kelley (who apparently works for ESPN to supplement his residual checks from that time he played Rodney Dangerfield's son). the constant patting of Carmody's back even included this gem: "coming off a terrific year last season... tied for ninth in the Big Ten." never mind the fact that they actually finished alone in ninth place, this gets to the heart of my problem with Northwestern basketball. they've been so bad for so long that any season that's not god-awful is deemed "terrific."
enthusiasm among the fan base is pretty high, but to me this season has an awfully similar feel to last year: they've beat up on a bunch of bad teams and lost to Butler. the Stanford game is an opportunity to change the tone a little bit but in name only. the Cardinal have not been impressive this year and there's no question this would be a bad loss. speaking of the Pac-10, it has a chance to be historically bad this season. it breaks FBC's heart that AC's Craig Robinson argument is losing a little steam this year.
posted by Fire Bill Carmody at
1:11 AM
4 Comments:
To give credit where it is due, I think you need to ac knowledge the wins over Our Lady and NC State (and, perhaps, Iowa State as well) as quality wins. I can't see last year's team winning any of those. But you are right, last night was a matter of taking care of business against a really crappy NFU team. Last night was the first game I had an opportunity to watch, and while I was pleasantly surprised by guys like Shurna, Rowley, and Marcotulio, I think I'll need to see them play some Big Ten games to really be able to judge where they are at.
I can tell you that I came away astonished that Kyle Rowley has somehow managed to convince a Division I basketball coach that he deserves a scholarship. He looks like a guy who picked up a basketball on Monday for the first time in his life. I understand why he's getting minutes now; I suspect the coaching staff realizes they're going to need his big body (really- who else on the team has that sort of frame) once the conference games start, and want him to develop some confidence in his game before then. But games like last night won't develop confidence; if you play that poorly against a dog-crap cailber opponent like NFU, you can't exactly expect success against the big boys of Purdue, MSU and OSU.
Without an inside presence (and make no mistake, the Cats have no inside presence), this team will have to create from the perimeter. While that's something they've never been able to do on a consistent basis in the Carmody era, this squad may have the horses to do that enough to squeek out a .500 record.
Ugh. I just realized I referenced Rowley in the first paragraph as a guy who impressed. I meant Nash.
This is what happens when you post before you've had sufficient quantities of coffee.
NU is certainly helped by the NC State win @ Marquette
yeah, its really annoying that announcers aren't allowed to say anything bad about coaches. when penn state played UVA earlier this year, Mike Patrick went on a minute long soliloquy about how great a decision it was for Penn State to give Ed DeChelis a contract extension, all while his 88-105 record was flashing on the screen.
of course, Patrick is in a whole different level when it comes to blowhards, he's up there with Thom Brennamann
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