By Paul M. Banks
Once again, the Northwestern Wildcats are not advancing past the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. Once again they are not going to the NCAA tournament. This happens every March. But this year is a lot different, because this year they won 20 games. The program has never even won 19 in a season prior to 2010. And in 2011, they really could win 25 or more.
Next year, senior forward Kevin Coble will return from his medical red-shirt season. The Cats leading scorer and rebounder from a year ago, (the team’s best player) will reclaim his natural three position from Crawford, and soon-to-be sophomore Drew Crawford will likely slide over to the two; replacing the departing Jeremy Nash.
How Crawford handles that transition will be one of the keys to the season. Drew will play a critical role next season, and his Coach Bill Carmody has big plans on how to accelerate the development of his Big Ten freshman of the year.
“I’d like to see him go to the basket a little more..in the springtime we can work on getting him to post up, and find other ways for him to score. He’s got that long body with long arms. And he’s a freshman so maybe he is getting worn out a bit,” Carmody said following the team’s 74-57 home win over lowly Iowa.
Crawford had a big night in the Cats last game of the season: a double double in the 69-61 loss to #2 seeded Purdue in the Big Ten quarters.
The Wildcats best player this season, John Shurna, will be a junior and again starts at the four, while seniors Luka Mirkovic and Juice Thompson complete the 2010-11 starting five. The loss of Nash will hurt, as he’s sort of like a poor man’s version of Travis Walton or Dr. Chester Frazier. And you’ve seen, by watching Illinois and Michigan St., how much losing those (excuse the cliche) “glue guys” can hurt. Of course, entering next year is Jershon Cobb, quite possibly one of the highest rated recruits in NU history.
In essence next year will be a net gain to a team that looked pretty good at times, starting 13-1 and obtaining the school’s first national ranking since 1969. Unfortunately, they folded down the stretch of the regular season and had to run the table in the conference tourney in order to make the NCAAs.
Now they’ll head to the NIT “we feel pretty good about that…it’s a chance to play more basketball and that’s good that’s what these guys do,” Head Coach Bill Carmody said after the game. Perhaps they can add a couple more wins onto their record and build some momentum for next year in the NIT. It can only help, right?
Basically, a team that set the school record for wins will lose just one starter (but regain their best player) for next season. The future truly does look bright.