And so, another mediocre big man moves on

following in the shoes of the original Michael Thompson, Kyle Rowley decided he's had enough of Northwestern basketball, apparently to find more playing time elsewhere. i've not always been kind to Kyle Rowley. a quick search reveals some of these Rowley-related comments from the past season:

"while Kyle Rowley continues to be utterly useless"
"i did not like anything Kyle Rowley attempted (and failed) to do"
"thank god Rowley wasn't in the game at that point"
"contributed 3 fouls and a turnover in 11 minutes"
"When Rowley comes in, we play 4-on-5 on offense"
"not awful"
"at least he's becoming a somewhat competent defensive rebounder"
"awkward as usual but not completely terrible"


at least those comments trended positive as we neared the end of the season. but i'm not mad at Kyle Rowley. the truth is that he came late to the game of basketball and came early to the Big Ten. that was not a winning combination. (don't forget that he was originally a 2009 recruit but enrolled at NU a year early.) he was never the right fit for Northwestern's style of play, but Carmody had no choice. NU was getting killed on the boards every night and the guys on the roster weren't getting any taller. here was a local seven footer who could theoretically help right away, so NU rolled the dice. the early buzz was good - let's take a look back to when Rowley picked the Wildcats:

Rowley came to America two summers ago, in 2006, and was very raw and unskilled. Now weighing in at 280 lbs, Rowley is a very mobile, skilled post presence. He is a good rebounder and adequate shot blocker, is a very good passer for a big man and has great moves around the basket. Rowley is also a good free-throw shooter and has a good mid-range jumper. The skilled big man is also a gym rat, and it is easy to see that his long hours on the court have paid off, as he has improved a vast amount over each of the past two years.

are you sure we're talking about the same Kyle Rowley? offensively he was a nonfactor; he finished his career around 45% FG and 53% FT. his career high was 10 points, and he hasn't done that since 12/1/08. he didn't rebound well enough to earn playing time; only twice in his career did he have more than four rebounds. sure, injury and illness were a factor this season, but he didn't get more than eight minutes for a two month stretch until the NIT game (in which Mirkovic couldn't play).

i also found it interesting that the original article mentioned the possibility of Rowley red-shirting his freshman year. i've since heard Carmody say that he should have done that. we'll never know if that would have made a difference.

personally, i was never able to watch Kyle Rowley play basketball without thinking of the George Carlin bit about bad names for boys. soft names make soft people.