By Paul M. Banks

Northwestern sophomore forward Kevin Coble has the two highest individual scoring games in the Big Ten this season. He’s the first Wildcat to have two 30 pt games in the same season since Evan Eschmeyer over a decade ago. He also has more total rebounds than anyone else on the team despite missing the first nine games. He missed the entire pre-conference schedule to return home and be with his mother in Phoenix while she underwent cancer treatments. The personal story of Coble and his mother has been covered by numerous media outlets including espn.com, USA Today, and Big Ten Network. Coble also led the Wildcats in scoring and rebounding last season, becoming the first freshman in school history to do so. I caught up to him after the Indiana game, where he set a new career high with 37 points on 12-16 shooting from the field, 5-6 from 3pt.

On having a lead late in the 2nd  half the past two games, only to see it result in defeat……

“When we were down in Iowa, we had our lead and then we lost it, and ended up losing the game. It’s hard; it’s added to our frustration that’s been our season so far. For us to rebound like we did against teams like Indiana was really a positive step for us.”

Commenting about when Coach Carmody pulled him aside and told him that he had not been playing up to his potential lately…….

“He and I talked at the shoot-around today, just kind of joking around with each other, and he pulled me aside……you know it’s been frustrating. It’s been a tough year, emotionally, physically for me. Obviously I haven’t been playing like I wanted to. Tonight was a nice step for me, I think. I was telling Coach it’s not that hard, just come up to me and talk. It was nice for us; hopefully that can carry over.”

On how Indiana’s D.J. White took over the game, what parts of his game NU was able to limit and the other parts of the game that couldn’t be contained…..

“Defense and rebounding. You can’t always control offense and what your shots are gonna do and how you’re gonna play in that sense. DJ took advantage of us when we were in Bloomington. It’s near impossible to contain him, but we did as good a job as we could.”

On how much livelier and exciting the atmosphere was for the Indiana game…

“It’s great. I wish every game would be like that. It just gives a different sense to the play. We go to these other schools, and we have our great fans here. It’s just exciting. It’s more fun to play like that as opposed to an emptier gym. So it’s great that all our fans came out, the students. People give them such a hard time all the time — why they’re not coming out. That’s on us too, we have to play so they want to come and watch us. So hopefully we did a little bit of that tonight.”

On how Northwestern played their best game of the conference season against the conference leader and how it could carry over to the rest of the season…(what’s interesting about this is how the Wildcats finally got their first conference win in the next game at Michigan)

“Everybody hit a big shot. It wasn’t just necessarily me. It was a fun stretch of basketball there for the last ten minutes of the half…they would come down, hit a shot, we would come back and answer it, back and forth as opposed to some of those other games where we let them go on long runs, 12- 2, 14-4 runs. That did us in. We didn’t have that tonight; that was great for us. Everybody just raised their play tonight and we deserved to win this game. We’ll still do our same thing everyday, working, and finally, maybe it’s coming together a little bit.”

 

And how the near upset of #13 Indiana was a game with a very different feel than the other losses during the Big Ten season…..

“There was a different feel. We still felt like we were in control. We were doing all right. They still were going to make their runs; they’re a very good team. To have them up 6 isn’t the end of the world for us. We maintained our composure. We had a couple different chances to win. It didn’t go our way.”

On whether or not basketball is a release from the stressful year he’s had off the court and how he can find a way to focus on the game without other distractions bothering him……

“There are  a lot of emotional and physical demands of playing basketball, of playing games like that every night. I try to make it a release, just not become focused on a lot of the external things. Tonight was one of those nights that I was able to block it out. That’s something I really need to examine: how to make sure that I keep the two separate.”

 

By Paul M. Banks

Before the ousting of former coach Kelvin Sampson, Indiana interim head coach Dan Dakich was an assistant. Previously, he was a head coach at Bowling Green University for ten years. He certainly is a Hoosier through and through serving as team Captain his junior and senior seasons under Bob Knight and as an assistant coach under Knight for 12 seasons. What Dakich is most famous for however, is his stellar defensive effort on Michael Jordan in MJ’s last collegiate game. He did a fine job limiting the greatest player in history. Now I’ll be the first to admit that most press conferences can be far from exciting, but Dakich’s first post game presser as the head man was fascinating, exciting, and emotional. It accurately articulates the fallout and aftershocks of THE major national story in college basketball. Here Dakich opens up his heart and soul about a nationally powerful program in extreme turmoil and rough transition; a program he has devoted most of this professional life to.

On how comfortable he feels calling the shots and the national media coverage of how he came to power………..

“I’ve done it. I’m not here as a guy that’s been an assistant and never done it. On terms of on the court, during the game and  practice, in terms of – no, one thing I wasn’t comfortable with was the entire week’s articles and speculation that I talked to Coach about that earlier in the week. I wasn’t comfortable with that. I didn’t talk to anybody,   but in terms of the coaching part, ….these kids, the time I have been here, they’ve made me very comfortable as a coach. I have been working with the kids most of the year; the whole team has made me very comfortable.”

On how the scandal/coaching change has affected his team…..

“This is the first time with this team that I’ve ever seen, this is a loud team, a team that has real personality. This is the first time we’re on the plane today and everybody is sleeping. And I looked at Jeff, what is this? Truly I think that when the plane took off, the strain…..it’s been a tough week on these kids.”

On the emotional toll on his team……

“I knew how it was going to carry over quite frankly, anybody that’s been around knows. What Ray said at halftime, ‘We knew this wasn’t going to be easy.’ That was exactly right.”

On how the program is dealing with it….

“ I don’t think it’s something you put behind truly in 24-48 hours….we’re talking about noon yesterday; this takes time. This is a resilient group. They played Kentucky without D.J., D.J. was out the other night against Michigan State.”

On the bittersweet chain of events that led to him getting his ultimate dream job…..

“It’s not the way you want to get a job. There is a responsibility with it that I accept on a multitude of levels, mostly the players, the fans. If they want me, I am going to do it with everything I have. I haven’t even given it thought simply because it’s a difficult situation.”

 Below is what some Purdue Boliermakers think of the Indiana situation….

By Paul M. Banks

Before the ousting of former coach Kelvin Sampson, Indiana interim head coach Dan Dakich was an assistant. Previously, he was a head coach at Bowling Green University for ten years. He certainly is a Hoosier through and through serving as team Captain his junior and senior seasons under Bob Knight and as an assistant coach under Knight for 12 seasons. What Dakich is most famous for however, is his stellar defensive effort on Michael Jordan in MJ’s last collegiate game. He did a fine job limiting the greatest player in history. Now I’ll be the first to admit that most press conferences can be far from exciting, but Dakich’s first post game presser as the head man was fascinating, exciting, and emotional. It accurately articulates the fallout and aftershocks of THE major national story in college basketball. Here Dakich opens up his heart and soul about a nationally powerful program in extreme turmoil and rough transition, a program he has devoted most of this professional life to.

His opening statement…….. 

I thought this was a heck of a college basketball game. I thought going into the game that this would be an incredibly difficult game for a couple of reasons. One, our circumstances, you go through our last 24-48 hours, kids that you see playing basketball are 18-to-22 year old kids. They’re not robots. They have all kinds of emotions, as do I, as does Ray, as does Jeff. The second reason is I think that watching Northwestern, they’ve really improved. They played us really difficult and tough in Bloomington, and they’re much better. Going in, Ray made a great statement at half time. We were kind a walking in, I said, “What do you think?” He said, “This is how we knew it would be. We knew this would be tough. We knew this was going to be something that wasn’t going to be easy.”  So my hats off to how hard the Northwestern kids played. My hats off to the Indiana fans for coming out; they’re unbelievable. But most of all I am so proud of our players, the way they’ve been so resilient in the course of the year. It’s a testament to all things that I think are good about Indiana University and Indiana University basketball. I guess I’m not just talking about the players. I’m talking about the managers. We had our managers last night at our walk through. Got together and ran Northwestern’s so that we could go quickly to bring 5 guys in, playing 5 guys; they’re just unbelievable kids. It’s a big deal on our staff. A lot of it is a testament to why Indiana is a pretty neat place. We had the fans that were here, we got the win…We’ll go from here.

On whether he truly relishes his first victory as a head coach………

“Not right now. I have a lot of emotions about this, feelings for Coach Sampson and what I know he and his family are going through, feelings for our players and I know what they’re going through. I feel a lot better that this is my first win as opposed to that this is my first loss. I can tell you that. We are going to move on and hopefully, as this continues we’ll get better.”
On the internal reaction of his players to the announcement that Sampson was being dismissed from the program…….

“Well, my thoughts were it’s natural. It wasn’t like a boycott. They got told at 11:45, I think was the meeting. We went down there; I finished up the meeting with them at 12:30. To ask them to go practice – well some do and some don’t. These guys are 18-to-22 year old kids. I’m having a hard time with it, and I’ve been through some things. Kids started texting me about 6:00. I wasn’t calling them to come back; I knew they’d be back. If you’re around kids, you understand. Yesterday was far deeper than just we had a practice. Way deeper, this is the second time TJ has been through something like this. I’m sure everybody out here has an opinion about how this should have gone, but your opinion is not based on being age 18-to-22,  25-26 games into a season with a guy that you came to play for, with a guy that you have worked with continuously, with a guy that you love. I heard Erik talking about how Coach is a father figure, and now for whatever the reason, he’s no longer there. That’s a difficult thing; so there was no chance I was going to sit there and demand that they do it. I have respect for 18 to 22 year old people. I push them, I yell at them, but I respect their opinions because they’re bright people. It was a non issue. When they came back, I was being text ‘Coach, I’ll be there; we’ll be there.’ Kids needed the time and needed space and probably still do. It’s tough.”

On the emotional and effective game played by his senior leader and star D.J. White….

“It’s like Manny being Manny, D.J. being D.J.…he’s done that all year. He’s been the best player that I’ve seen all year. I have more respect for him as much as any kid I’ve ever coached. He blocked the shot. Hit a couple free throws and won the game. That’s DJ.”

On why he didn’t enter the arena for first game until there was just a couple minutes to tip-off…

Just because it’s emotional. There’s a lot of reasons. I’m hanging out. I got done talking to the kids, the kids went out. The one thing I’ve never liked as a coach is warm-ups, I hate it. I came out with a couple minutes to go. Usually I come out with 1 minute to go because I hate it. I didn’t expect that, I didn’t think about it. I’m thinking why are they cheering. Then I hear people yelling. It was nice.”

 

By Paul M. Banks

Indiana freshman two guard Eric Gordon is the Big Ten’s leading scorer. (16th nationally) He’s a leading candidate for Big Ten freshman of the year and considered a top 5 NBA Draft pick by every expert across the board. (David K. currently has him 2nd overall in his mock draft) In the preseason, Lindy’s ranked him the nation’s third best freshman, Newcomer of the Year, Most Entertaining and Top NBA Prospect. He made the midseason watch list for both the Naismith and Wooden awards. You get the point: he’s truly “everybody’s All-American,” and will likely receive a very phat paycheck this June.

He’s currently considered public enemy #1 by fans and supporters of the Illinois Fighting Illini for originally giving a verbal commitment to Bruce Weber’s program before he eventually signed with the recently deposed Kelvin Sampson and Indiana. What most members of Illini Nation find particularly loathsome about his recruiting process: Gordon’s infamous “I’m still solid with Illinois” quote, made while he had decided to reopen his recruiting. As Gordon heads into what will likely be the final games of his college career, he plays for a program in crisis. In this interview, following his first game under a new coach, he discusses Kelvin Sampson and how he and his teammates are handling the adversity of transition amid scandal.

On how he and his teammates prepared mentally for the first game after the coaching change…..

Well, coach Dakich explained that we had to come out and play. We didn’t have a lot of preparation against Northwestern; they got better since the last time we played them. Just work hard and don’t worry about anything else.

On former coach Kelvin Sampson and where the program goes from here…….

Well he’s the one who got us all here in the first place. He wasn’t just like a coach. He was more like a father to us. We just miss him, but we just have to keep on playing, keep on playing with Coach Dakich.

On how he’s handling the loss of his coach and “father figure”……

I mean this has been tough. A decision has been made, and we couldn’t do nothing about it. We just got to keep on playing to finish up the season.

On the adjustment of playing for a new coach as March approaches….

A head coach is the biggest part of this program. He’s got to run it and each person is playing for him. It’s just really tough.

By Paul M. Banks

As I walked into the McGaw Hall Fieldhouse for the Indiana-Northwestern post game press conference, I said out loud to myself, “Wow! I’ve never seen it THIS crowded before!” Immediately to my left was ESPN’s Wendy Nix who nodded and smiled. She is even more gorgeous, with her sultry and husky voice, in real life. Her smile could light up the gloomiest North Shore February day. She’s also probably the only woman on this planet who can tell me something I don’t know about the New England Patriots. Her husband Ben, the Boston Red Sox VP of player personnel, is one lucky man. When I found my seat for the press conference, I also noticed Jay Mariotti from ESPN’s “Around the Horn” and more video and audio equipment than I’ve ever seen at a presser. When the speaking began, there was a shutterbug soundtrack usually reserved for the press conferences that television stations break into live.

This was an entirely different animal from the Northwestern-University of Chicago preseason contest, (a game I dubbed the “Intellectual Invitational” because it’s a dream match-up for grad students in pretty much any academic program) where I was joined by just a small cadre of journalists. It also verified the arguments I made against my friends a couple weeks ago in a Wrigleyville pub. They seem to be amused by my presence at Welsh-Ryan Arena’s press row. Not sure if my buddies were making fun of me or of Northwestern’s lackluster history as a program (they have never qualified for the NCAA tournament) or both. One of them even said, “You should build a new site devoted to just Northwestern basketball and have discussion forums for the fans; your website would have 4, maybe 5 total readers.” How dare they make fun of “my Cats” and my Wildcat Alley media credentials! I do understand where they are coming from…but Wendy Nix doesn’t smile at them. = )

 

Northwestern is set to become a reverse New England Patriots, as they are 0-14 in Big Ten conference play, with just four left to play. They have an RPI of 253 which ranks well below Northeastern (192) and Northwestern St. (233) Should they fail in their quest to avoid imperfection, a winless Big Ten season (a remarkable feat during this age of parity) would complement their 2000-01 and 1991-92  0-16 campaigns. Still, like the Cubs they are “lovable losers” and covering them with the same intensity that I follow the New England Patriots (“unlovable winners”) for my nfldraftblitz.com job has instilled a great deal of loyalty and perhaps even affection in me. If you mess with my Wildcats, you mess with me. With a sellout crowd of 8,117, Northwestern-Indiana was the hottest ticket in town. The first game in the aftermath of the Kelvin Sampson ousting was also the hottest media credential in town. There was overflow of press row into the auxiliary press row into the additional overflow auxiliary section.

 
Media Matters

As an Illini grad, I’ve made it very clear how I feel about Eric Gordon, Kelvin Sampson and Indiana, but attending this presser made me realize that they are human beings. Some of Gordon’s facial features up close along with the sometimes nerdy sounding tone of his voice remind me of Dave Chappelle. And it’s hard to hate someone reminiscent of another person who has made you laugh out loud so many times. I’ll be the first to admit that most press conferences feature mostly air kissed platitudes and well sanitized statements, And Jordan Crawford delivered by dumbing us all down with the typical gag inducing “we’re just focused on winning the conference right now. We’re just focused on the team goals” type cliché. However, new Indiana coach Dan Dakich’s first presser as the man with the first courtside chair was the most interesting that I’ve ever attended. The way he opened his heart and soul about what the program is currently going through in the wake of scandal and resignation was emotional and powerful. If I were not an Illinois grad and perhaps a nicer man, I’d almost consider feeling sorry for them.

Journalists are like athletes in that although competition amongst us is always cutthroat, we get the best things accomplished when we work together. Continuity- that’s what’s it all about, because in either game: basketball or journalism, it comes down to the teammates you have and how much you can trust them. When you work alongside them for long enough you can sense where they’re going to go next. Perhaps the highlight of this presser, was running into my old tag team partner from the Daily Illini, Larry Hawley. He’s now a reporter with Fox 59 Indianapolis. Even though I haven’t seen him in seven years, we talked and interacted exactly as we did in the old times. I have a sense for how his mind works and I often can anticipate what he’s going to say or write next. The same sense of continuity is present in Northwestern’s young duo Kevin (or Kyle as they called him on SportsCenter) Coble and Michael “Juice” Thompson. The latter is first in the Big Ten in minutes, third in assists; the former is on the verge of becoming one of the conference’s top scorers.

I once told Kevin Fleming from the Sports Action Team that one of the keys to the creative process is having someone you can bounce ideas off of and vice versa. Take the SportsBank team. Dave and I are from the same hometown and go way back. When we’ve attended press conferences together, I’m often correct in anticipating what decisions he’ll make. In Sarah Spain, I get her sense of humor and intelligence, so I can often spot what is being written in between the lines or know where she’s going with a joke before I even finish reading the sentence. The man behind the Soxman mask has become one of my good friends in Chicago and I usually recognize what track his train of thought is on. Continuity- feeling natural around your teammates and anticipating what they’ll do next. It works on the court for Indiana’s Armon Bassett, Eric Gordon, D.J. White, Jamarcus Ellis and Jordan Crawford. It also works for the TSB team.

So stay tuned to TSB this week for

-The emotional and powerful Dan Dakich press conference. What you may have read is just the tip of the iceberg. It was a very moving experience to hear him open up on the disarray of Indiana’s program.

-The Eric Gordon interview (definitely the highest NBA potential of all Sports Bank interview subjects)  

-The interview with Northwestern’s Kevin Coble, one of the Big Ten’s premier scorers and a player whose story has been featured on espn.com, USA Today, Big Ten Network and many more media outlets.

Usually, “exclusive” is how I roll, but there will be no exclusives this time, because of the reasons listed above.

By Paul M. Banks

 

An exciting end to emotional week as conference heavyweight gets nearly knocked off

It wasn’t supposed to be like this for Indiana. The nation’s #15 ranked team wasn’t supposed to find themselves down to lowly Northwestern with just under three minutes to go. They never anticipated they would have a very realistic chance of losing in the final 13 seconds. The Hoosiers had just routed then #7 Michigan State and also handed Big 10 leader Purdue just its second conference loss. So how on Earth did they find themselves down by eight in the second half and trailing for about ¾ of the game…to a team with a RPI in the high 200s and a 7-17 (0-13 conference) record?  Where shall I begin? Like it was stated in Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass,” “Begin at the beginning, continue on until you reach the end, then stop.”

Hoosier Cellular Provider?

Hiring a coach, Kelvin Sampson, with a checkered past is where the program’s current turmoil began. His almost megalomaniacal behavior and outrageously egregious disregard for the NCAA rules on cell phone calls and text messaging (“can you hear me now?” Indiana AD Rick Greenspan) landed him in hot water with college basketball’s governing bodies. This forced Indiana University to give him a $750,000 parachute and end his contract effective immediately. After Sampson’s “resignation,” (and I’m using the heaviest air quotes possible here) Six players threatened a boycott and skipped the first practice held by interim coach Dan Dakich. The “Indiana Six,” (not to be confused with Lost’s “Oceanic Six”) was led by senior captain D.J. White. It included guards Armon Bassett, Jordan Crawford and Jamarcus Ellis, and forwards DeAndre Thomas and Brandon McGee. They skipped Dakich’s first practice Friday afternoon, but returned for the Friday night walkthrough. This move was supposedly a protest against the decision to promote Dakich instead of assistant Ray McCallum, whom the players favored. This boycott forced Dakich to have his team managers run Northwestern’s offense in practice. The shorthanded practice session also limited him from effectively utilizing his game plan. It wasn’t until he switched his defense to a “Triangle and 2” that he was effectively able to turn the tide of the game. His practice sessions limited his ability to adequately prepare that strategy. Restating these chain-of-events makes it abundantly clear that this Indiana team was an emotionally irritated and distracted group from the get go.

 

Best game I’ve ever covered. In any sport. Period.

Indiana’s 85-82 come from behind victory had everything you could ever ask for in a college game. It will always serve as my “Exhibit A” anytime someone dares to make a case favoring the NBA over college basketball. If sports journalism is a science than this game was my soil sample for scientific analysis, because all the organic properties that make it great were present in this “moral victory” for Northwestern. During this high scoring and exciting affair, anytime a Northwestern player uncorked a three, I braced myself for the sonic eruption set to occur. My reflexes acted like a tuning fork sensing the seismic vibrations of Welsh-Ryan arena. I have never heard a sell out crowd of 8,117 at Northwestern’s home gym be as loud and as animated as it was on this particular Saturday night. Jamarcus and Ellis and D.J. White raised the arms to the masses inciting them to make noise like a basketball version of Hulk Hogan. Although technically a road game for Indiana, it was essentially a neutral site contest. After the Hoosier faithful made themselves heard, the wildcats responded by talking a lead, promoting the northwestern supporters to make the exact same motions inciting the crowd to make noise for NU. It was like judgment time for an act on “Showtime at the Apollo.” As emotions spiked on both sides jawing and chest-bumping between the two squads occurred almost precipitating an on-court brawl. This game had near fights, a dynamite atmosphere, 9 ties, 8 lead changes, and also featured the best individual performance by any Big Ten player this season. Kevin Coble may have missed the entire first half of the season, but his 37 points on 12-16 from the field, 8-8 FT, 5-6 from distance is a season high for any Big Ten player.  The previous high also belonged to Coble when he had 34 against Michigan. Coble’s entrance into “the zone” prompted the Wild Side student section to chant “Kev-in Co-ble…clap-clap-clap-clap-clap.” (Earlier the chant was “Where is Kelvin?”)

By the way, to the ESPN Sportscenter anchor on Saturday who referred to him as “Kyle Coble,” Coble’s leave of absence is a story that has been told this season by ESPN.com, USA Today, Chicago Sun-Times, Big Ten Network, and many more media outlets. So please get with the program!  

 

Cats Nipped

You’ve all seen, heard and read about the thrilling conclusion by now. About how a gusty freshman from the Chicago Public League named Michael “Juice” Thompson took a senior conference player of the year candidate in White (who is also nearly a foot taller than him) to the whole and came up just inches short. A play when the defense most likely expected him to kick it out to Coble for three. Juice also missed on a three when he had another chance to force overtime, but he had a solid game nonetheless. This was truly a “character building” game for the freshman who leads the Big Ten in minutes and ranks third in assists. For Indiana, reserve guard Jordan Crawford had a “just couldn’t miss” night going 6-7 from the field, 4-5 from behind the arc, 5-5 from the line. And the often overlooked point guard Armon Bassett filled the scoring void on a night when White and freshman phenom Eric Gordon weren’t at their very best. By the final minute, the concept of “no cheering in the press box” was no longer even considered within my area. Northwestern’s history as a program is such that any win over a ranked team is considered monumental. This potential victory would have occurred over a program with a fallout being documented by a national media blitz. That would have been Earth-shattering for NU. We all wanted the underdog. Especially a dog that is this much under their opponent. And who didn’t truly want to see a traditional national power go down in the wake of a cheating scandal?  In summation, it wasn’t a perfect night in Wildcat Alley, it was four points shy.

By David K.

2/25/08

In my last Ring Out Ahoya article, I correctly prophesized that maybe it was a good thing Marquette hit a rough stretch in the middle of the season.  After back to back losses to Louisville and at Notre Dame, the Golden Eagles seemed as if they were fading fast in the Big East.  But MU has responded in a big way, destroying their competition in their last four games by an average of more than twenty points per game, and seemingly peaking at the perfect time as March is right around the corner.

Yes, their wins at Seton Hall, vs. Pitt, at St. John’s, and vs. Rutgers were all games Marquette should have won.  However, what really makes these past two weeks impressive is the convincing fashion in which the Golden Eagles have been victorious.  Defense has been the catalyst in all four wins as Tom Crean’s crew turned up their ball pressure forcing 76 turnovers.  Everything seems to be clicking as the entire roster is making contributions and the starting five is living up to the lofty expectations set for them at the beginning of the season. That is vitally important with four games remaining in the regular season.  Big Monday puts Marquette on the national stage visiting a Villanova squad that has risen from the dead.  After dropping five straight and falling to 4-7 in conference, the Wildcats have been on a role as of late, winning four of their last five. Their only loss was a two-point defeat to Georgetown on late free throws coming after a questionable foul with less than a second left. 

Speaking of the Hoyas, after the Golden Eagles grapple with ‘Nova, they return home to host JT3’s boys.  This week will tell just how serious a contender Marquette may be come tourney time.  Running their win streak to six games with a pair of big victories against talented opponents would certainly help their seed come Selection Sunday and more immediately, inch them closer to a first-round bye in the Big East Tournament. 

No team ever wants to face an opponent who is playing their best ball heading into March.  If the Golden Eagles have anything to say about it in the next couple weeks, they very well could be that dreaded match-up nobody wants in the NCAA Tourney.

Stat Lines to Love

Dominic James vs. Pitt
2-11 FG, 4 points, 5 rebounds, 12 assists, 0 turnovers

James was absolutely phenomenal against the Panthers, putting his shooting struggles aside to get his teammates involved with “DVR rewind” worthy dishes.  James has amazing abilities to create on nights when his shot is off.  Now if he can just do this on a regular basis…

Jerel McNeal vs. Rutgers
7-10 FG, 14 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 steals, 3 blocks, 0 turnovers

That is about as complete a game as a college player can have.  We all know about McNeal’s abilities on the defensive end, but when he plays within himself on the offensive side, he is a force.  He plays much taller than his 6’3 stature. He’s a great rebounder and uses the glass on drives almost as well as Dwyane Wade used to.  Again, consistency is the issue.  If McNeal can limit the out of control with the ball tendencies and focus on his all-around game, the Golden Eagles are that much better.

Hey Sportscenter Anchors…
Jerel is NOT pronounced like Darrell with a “J.”  Figure it out!