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Monday Madness

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Today has that similar feel to a Friday during Big Ten football season. The ‘Cats host Michigan tomorrow night at 7pm ct but the buzz has already begun.

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I had a brief conversation this weekend with a friend and cameraman for BTN’s The Journey. He knows my passion for Northwestern well as he  was the same cameraman who I was with at the famous ‘Cats upset win over Notre Dame in 1995 and he tells everyone the story about how I lost it that day. Unprovoked he told me that he’s “done quite a few games at that barn in Evanston”, but according to him, Saturday’s win over Minnesota and the emotion surrounding John Shurna’s record-breaking night was the best atmosphere he has seen in all of his years covering the ‘Cats.

The student section deserves a special shout-out for their passion as they cranked it up to a high decibel level and the season ticket holders were standing and loud way more often than usual. It was a night to remember. After so many nights on so many years when we had a clutch win at home needed to give us that bubble boost, we finally nailed one.  Sure, we’ve had our fair share of big time upsets including earlier this year against Michigan State. However, the context of having so much on the line late in the season and coming through is new for us. Today, we have that “this is what March Madness must feel like” jump to our step. Thankfully, we have Michigan on tap for tomorrow night (7pm ct, BTN) as I don’t think Wildcat Nation could wait another day or two.

I can’t emphasize enough what a difference JerShon Cobb’s return to the line-up did. He was credited with four steals, but he had to have double-digit deflections on the day and his presence was a huge positive for the ‘Cats despite the fact he is completely out of sync on offense. Cobb’s return adds a whole new dimension to our line-up, let alone the fact we can spread some minutes and give a few guys a breather now and then.  Many people, opposing fans in particular, like to rip Welsh-Ryan Arena, but nights like Saturday underscore why I love it so much. When we’re packing that place with mostly purple it is a huge home court advantage. It has the acoustics of an arena double its size and the proximity of the students to the court makes it imposing. If there is one thing Coach Carmody has done extremely well in his tenure, it is to “protect this house”.  The ‘Cats are now 14-3 in Evanston this season with two of those three losses coming down to the last possession (Illinois, Purdue – the other was the blowout loss to Baylor).

There are two other home games against Michigan that were clutch games in my fandom that I can remember where we came through (’99, ’94), but only one that approaches tomorrow night. The 1993-1994 Northwestern squad was the best team I’ve seen at Northwestern in my 20 years of following the ‘Cats. Patrick Baldwin was a linebacker/point guard who was incredible on defense. We had Kevin Rankin dominating the paint at 6-11. We had Todd Leslie as a 3-point marksman and Kip Kirkpatrick who transformed his game much like Reggie Hearn.  We had Cedric Neloms who was the most adept player with a limited shot who could just flat-out score. We had infamous Kenneth “Dion” Lee,  a razor thin streaky shooter and spurty player. The challenges was the Big Ten was absolutely loaded. It was much like this year, just with a ton more star power. We started the year 9-0 and then invented ways to lose going 0-9 (oh, that Purdue buzzer beater by Glenn Robinson still haunts me). We hadn’t sniffed the post-season since Rich Falk led the 1983 squad to the NIT.  It was all relative, but getting to the NIT had captured the entire campus. The final game of the regular season was against #3 Michigan and it was a win-or-go-home game. NU was 14-14 and you couldn’t go to the NIT unless you were over .500. Keep in mind this was the remnants of the Fab Five coming to town. Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose and Jimmy King.

Welsh-Ryan was overflowing. It was an unusually warm March day.  The game was on national TV. The joint was packed 20 minutes before tip-off. We all had pretended that this was March Madness. It was for us. Northwestern treated the fans to an absolute thriller. It was a high-scoring, up-tempo game that had fans on their feet most of the game. Ask Kip or Rankin about the emotion in that building that day. Senior day. Legacy time. The ‘Cats would win 97-93 and tip-off pandemonium on the court against a team that was legendary and had rock star status even without Chris Webber. It was nirvana for us as basketball fans. The subsequent home NIT game against DePaul (they used to be good, trust me) was even louder. Come to think of it, the very loudest moment, I’ve ever heard Welsh-Ryan was the opening tip against DePaul.  Keep in mind that students had literally camped out for tickets just like at Duke and we were proud of that fact. Kevin Rankin got the ball on a give and go off the tip and thunderously slammed it. Keep in mind Kevin, a friend of mine, was Shurna-like polite and rarely dunked it as if it were rude to do so. But he nearly ripped the rim off and the entire place, buzzing with anticipation, lifted the lid off the joint.

What’s the point of this stroll down memory lane? Well, tomorrow night’s game against Michigan is bigger. It’s the difference between that Michigan game being a non-conference opener and tomorrow being a home game against Wisconsin or Ohio State with a major bowl game on the line.  I can’t even imagine what the atmosphere is going to be like. I’m pinching myself with the realization that next week is March and we’re on the bubble.  I posted a week ago about the upside/downside of getting so emotionally invested that the fall is that much harder if we don’t make it. However, the alternative is so much worse. This is what we live for as fans. For Northwestern fans, this is the equivalent of the Rose Bowl. Making it to the NCAA Tournament is a cross we’ve been bearing for way too long and the collective catharsis of making it can be the springboard to the program going to another level. It’s something we deserve. It’s something that will be so magical. The fact that there is no guarantee and that we may very well not make it is what makes this ride so very emotional. 

After John Shurna’s explosive performance after going 16 minutes without scoring, you get the sense that maybe, just maybe we can do this. I was so pleased to see Billy McKinney’s classy quotes saying how happy he is for John and the fact that he’s done so much to get the program to a respected level that it is only fitting to pass the scoring torch. It just feels like Shurna deserves this. He was bold enough to say before the season that if we don’t make it to the Big Dance then his career is a failure. We all know that isn’t true, but the sentiment of that is so appreciated by so many, that it just feels like if there is a hoops God then now is Shurna’s time.

Let the countdown clock begin and may we turn Welsh-Ryan in to the toughest place in America to play tomorrow night.

Standings Shuffle

In case you missed it, Matt Gatens poured in 30 points to help Iowa stun #18 Indiana yesterday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes moved to 6-8 in the Big Ten, tied with Northwestern in 7th place, right behind 7-7 Purdue. Of course, the Boilermakers lost two players – one for good (Barlow) and one suspended temporarily (DJ Byrd) for their involvement in a bar fight. Bad timing for NU who could’ve used a split over Purdue to really help our Tourney chances. Most prognosticators have seven Big Ten teams making it and the Hawkeyes are now in a role to play spoiler as they won’t make it based on their weak RPI and poor non-conference performance (14-13 overall). However, anyone like me who mentally has the road game at Iowa as a likely win, needs to reassess that regular season finale. Iowa’s resurgence to respectability is the most underrated story of the conference this season. If you want to root against someone, root against Purdue. They have Nebraska and Penn State at home and Michigan and Indiana on the road. It looks like a recipe for a 19-12,9-9 season.  We’ve got to take care of business obviously, on our end, but anything close between NU and Purdue won’t go our way since they swept us in head to head. Sorry Boilers, but I’m hoping for an 0-fer for you the rest of the way.

That Time Of Year

Kelly Amonte-Hiller had her BTN Icon’s TV show premiere on Saturday night and it is more of the same this year as the #1-ranked women’s lacrosse team beat Duke 13-5 this weekend to move to 2-0. The ‘Cats face Syracuse next a week from Wednesday. For the full recap go to NUSports.com here.

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The Street Doesn’t Stop Here

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On the heels of one of the most clutch wins in NU basketball history, LTP offers a fun diversion to bridge the anxiety between now and Tuesday.

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PRR did a great job recapping Northwestern’s historic night with the post below. John Shurna’s all-time leading scorer at Northwestern status became a reality, but before, during and after the game he was his usual selfless self talking about the importance of every teammate stepping up and the win. He was already in Michigan mode by the time Shon Morris got to him for the BTN postgame interview. We will be obsessing over Northwestern’s first-ever potential NCAA Tournament bid on a daily basis – as of today, Joe Lunardi, ESPN’s bracketologist has NU as one of the “last four in” - but that will change with each passing game.

While I’m not as modest as John (who is?), I do want to offer up a non-LTP day job promotion of a story you’re likely familiar with if you’ve been reading this blog for years. My company produced an inspirational documentary film, “The Street Stops Here”, which makes it’s national cable TV premiere tonight at 8pm et/7pm ct on ESPNU immediately following the Duke/BC game. Some of you saw it when it premiered during March Madness on PBS, but fortunately, the critical acclaim helped stoke a desire for more.

It’s an inspirational story about Bob Hurley Sr., the head coach of St. Anthony HS (Jersey City, NJ) and father of former Duke star Bobby Hurley. The film chronicles a year in the life of one of his teams to tell a much bigger story about how a tiny, poor parochial school in the middle of a tough, urban city with ZERO resources can manage to send nearly 100% of its kids to college with the carrot of basketball.  Hurley is a born and bred Jersey City guy who left the world of a probation officer once he realized using the power of sport was the most effective way for him to transform lives. It airs six times on ESPNU between now and the Final Four, starting tonight at 8pm et (or as soon as the Duke/BC game ends). If you like the sensibility of the Brian Peters and Jack Marshall story from LTP then you’ll likely love this story, albeit with a lot more edge to it.

Below is the trailer as it was promoted on PBS. Gents, the single most consistent message I received when it originally aired came from wives and went something like “I don’t watch sports, but this film was the first time I was able to spend 2 hours with my husband and kids and actually have a dialogue about something we watched. Thanks for the family time!” .

With all the attention on Coach Carmody (a colleague of Hurley as they’re both “Jersey guys” well-known in hoops circles) and the ‘Cats making their run, this film is a nice diversion from obsessing about NU AND offers a much bigger picture perspective of what’s really important. As if all that isn’t enough, the main subjects in the film are potential opponents in the, gulp, Tournament as the film features Kansas’ Tyshawn Taylor, Florida’s Mike Rosario, Villanova’s Dominic Cheek (not Tourney-bound), Pitt’s Travon Woodall and even Bob’s sons Danny Hurley who is now putting together a national coach of the year season at Wagner (transformed them from a 5-win team two years ago to a 20+ win team this year) and his assistant coach, Bobby Hurley.

We’ll be back at it tomorrow breaking down the final four games and building up the drama and excitement for Michigan. I think last night’s win was the most clutch home win since we upset Michigan in 1994 in a one-game makes or break the NIT. Last night, the stakes were much higher, but it could go down as the most important clutch win in modern NU history.

The student section was phenomenal last night and the electricity is building. So much to break down with Sobo’s amazing performance and JerShon Cobb’s return which was the most influential impact not seen on a stat sheet game I can remember. If not for Minnesota’s Welch, last night would’ve been a coronation from start to finish with zero consternation. It was an impressive performance and Coach Carmody deserves a lot of credit, especially for neutralizing Tubby Smith’s gameplan of attacking John Shurna and going physical early. What a win. How exciting is this?

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Dear John,

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John Shurna may very well set the all-time Northwestern scoring mark in tomorrow’s must-win home game against Minnesota. Regardless, it’s time for a (im)personal letter of gratitude for the best Wildcat player in the modern college hoops era.

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Dear John,

Let me start this open letter that it may seem a little odd that a grown man who you have never met is using a blog to write a personal letter in a not so personal manner. I hope you understand that this letter represents the general sentiment of the thousands of Northwestern basketball fans across the globe.  I know that you know that you’re just 16 points away from becoming Northwestern basketball’s all-time leading scorer. I’m pretty confident it will happen tomorrow night against Minnesota (6pm ct, BTN). When it does, it will cement the next-to-last bullet in your incredible collegiate basketball resume. The beauty of all this? I know that you don’t give a care about the personal accomplishment as your selfless style, team-first always attitude and class act ways preclude you from even thinking like that.

It’s very clear that you realize this is it. For all of us who at any level have played competitively, we can relate on the base level of a senior year and the sense of urgency and “I can’t believe it is coming to an end” feeling. You’re mindset is likely 100% geared on whatever it takes to win, one 4-minute mini-game within the game between timeouts to get you to a “w”. The laser-beam focus of getting four more wins and getting an NCAA bid are pretty apparent for all involved. Sometime in March, or if I know your mindset, April, you’ll be able to reflect on your career. However, as we get to the make-or-break stretch of the Wildcat basketball run for immortality, I felt it was appropriate to express my deepest and heartfelt thanks for what you’ve done in Evanston.

My original plan was to save this post for senior night – your final home game at Welsh-Ryan Arena (vs Ohio State). However, with the Wildcats at 15-10, 5-8 and an assumption that 4-1 the rest of the way is necessary to land our first ever NCAA Tournament appearance, I felt the eve of what will kick off a stretch of must-win after must-win games was a more appropriate time.

It’s been an absolute joy to watch you through your four seasons at Northwestern. The team statistics and individual statistics speak for themselves:

  • 16 points away from becoming Northwestern’s all-time leading scorer (Billy McKinney, 1900 points)
  • Anchor for most wins in four year stretch in school history.
  • Led team to first 20-win season in school history and then did it in back-to-back seasons.
  • Three straight NIT appearances after school had three NIT appearances in school history.
  • Scored 20+ points 40 times in your career, best among all active Big Ten players
  • Scored 30+ points 7 times in your career
  • Top ten all-time at Northwestern in following categories: Games played (#2 – 7 behind Juice Thompson), Games started (#2 -9 behind Juice Thompson), Minutes played (will finish at #2), FGs (#2), FGA (#3), 3-point FG (#3), 3-point FGA (#3), FTs (#8), Assists (will finish #7 at worst),3-point FG % (#8),career scoring average (#10 at 15.4 ppg), and of course #1 all-time in scoring.

Those stats are nice, but they don’t tell the full story and why the appreciation is so high. You’ve endured quite a bit of adversity in your time in Evanston. I’ve never heard or read one negative comment from you in your four years, despite the fact you’ve given everything you’ve had and been a part of so many last minute heartbreaking losses. Your junior season was plagued with a severe ankle sprain that would have sidelined many players. Yet, you knew that at 50% of your health you could still be an asset to the team and help win games.  You suffered a concussion at Minnesota after being shoved in to the stanchion. No complaints. It was a year of complete sacrifice to do what it took to win and you led Northwestern to its most successful season of the modern era and the NIT quarterfinals. Before that, you endured the Kevin Coble departure, which I’m sure challenged the notion of team.  My only selfish regret is that we did not get to see the potential magic of you, Juice, Drew and Kevin all playing together.

The white elephant, however, has been playing with the shadow of your head coach’s future.  Your freshman year was on the heels of a 1-17 Big Ten season and 8-22 overall disaster. It was part of a two-year stretch that saw NU win only three Big Ten games (3-33).  While you may not have been the leader of the team as a frosh, you were a key factor in helping with the dramatic turnaround to helping NU go to 17-14,8-10 and give fans hope that perhaps the ‘Cats could make it to the dance. The last three seasons have been filled with fans leaning in to really, authentically believe, THIS is the year. With each passing season, you’ve become that centerpiece of an entire generation of fans and players’ hopes and dreams. Yet, I’m sure somewhere in your brain, you also unjustly feel like you’re carrying another burden, playing for your coach’s future. I truly hope you don’t carry this – you shouldn’t.  

Throughout your career, you’ve been pegged as almost too nice. You were deferential to upper classmen and opponents. Robbie Hummel tells a great story about how you accidentally elbowed him in a game and every time down the floor you were apologizing to the point where he had to tell you to shut up.  I can’t remember a time when you’ve ever lost your cool on the floor. I don’t know how you do it. As fans we might as well have an updated version of the old-school TV tactc of a laugh track. However, it would be called the Shurna-unspoken-white-man-stereotype. I can’t remember a television broadcast that didn’t include some version of “John Shurna, he’s the guy you’d likely pick last in the pick-up game based on appearance and then one minute in to the game you realize he’s going to eat you for lunch”. I’ve gone from abhorring it to embracing it.

I must say, this year has been something truly special.  The context of this season might get lost for future generations as it relates to your level of play, but not for me. The passion and grit this team has showed, fielding six players more often than not is such a remarkable handicap for any Big Ten team. However, this isn’t just any Big Ten season. It’s the best RPI ranking in memory, statistically making the backdrop of your season among the toughest.  Yet, there you are atop the Big Ten in scoring with a 20.3 ppg average. The amazing thing is that you can go 6-7 minutes without scoring in a game, leveraging the coverage your getting to be so unselfish to setup your teammates.  You’ve played with tremendous heart and are playing nearly every minute of every game – and here is the underscore – with every Big Ten coach spending the majority of their time building their defensive gameplan with the sole mission of finding ways to stop you.

The past week you’ve taken your game to new heights. The talent, determination and relentlessness has gone up a notch and I can see and feel the sense of urgency. You’ve gone in to takeover the game mode and refuse to lose mode posting ridiculous 29 point and 30 point performances ON THE ROAD at Purdue and Indiana, two  very good defensive teams with hostile crowds. It’s been head-shaking. I can see the senior urgency and you so close to being the centerpiece of a team that would go down in the history banks forever. Yet, somehow, you seem to have more fun than anyone else on the floor. You smile. You laugh. You celebrate team. It’s freakin’ awesome and inspirational. 

Let’s face it. Every player that has signed up to play at Northwestern has come to campus with “the dream”. You can’t compete at this level without the mentality that “I want to be the one who helps us make the dance for the first time”.  A little ego can be a very good thing.  I feel like I can see that thought bubble above you on every trip down the floor. Fans are big fans of stats and my favorite John Shurna stat is your record for minutes played in a game – 45, but you’ve done it FIVE TIMES.  You really seem like the consumate team player and have set the gold standard for what it means to be an all-time great at Northwestern. You’ve been the key reason that Northwestern basketball is now at least respected in the best conference in America. You’ve done something very right when you have quotes from media members and fellow competitors like this:

John Shurna is my favorite player. You can have anyone else in the nation. I want Shurna. Good luck to your team.”—Tom Dienhart  BigTenNetwork.com senior writer

“He’s one of those guys you see and you say there’s no way he plays basketball, but he’s one of the best players in the country. He’s an unbelievable player. It’s fun and honor to play against him.” —Jordan Taylor, University of Wisconsin guard

 

I’ve scanned some of the alleged college basketball experts’ projections for national player of the year honors. Your name has not come up on many of the lists. It’s a travesty. You’ve put together one of the more remarkable seasons in Big Ten memory when you account for all of the variables.  The beauty is we get the sense you could care less.

John, it’s time we step up and make sure you know how much you are appreciated. On Saturdays in the fall I still get a good feeling when I see hundreds of players and even kids sporting the #24 Northwestern football jersey. It sends off an unspoken chain of memories of Darnell Autry for all of us that experienced that magical Rose Bowl season. The tension and excitement around NU basketball is that it could be the same type of blow-the-lid off the program euphoria. We want this as much as you do. However, regardless of the outcome of the next five regular season games and the Big Ten Tournament, you deserve to have your #24 hanging in the rafters at Welsh-Ryan Arena. I don’t believe a number has ever been retired in NU basketball history. But, as you’re trying to prove, there is a first time for everything. Ten years from now when a little kid is wearing a #24 NU basketball jersey, we’re all going to have that same kind of internal reaction knowing that you represent doing things the right way.

Best of luck,

LTP Nation

Go-U, N-U Continues Mastery Over UNL

If there is one collective fan base that is currently holding Northwestern Athletics up in the highest regard it would have to be Nebraska. Congratulations to the Northwestern women’s basketball team for their 63-51 upset of #16 Nebraska last night in Lincoln.  Coach McKeown has been suffering a disappointing season of major proportions (I thought we’d be NCAA Tourney bound) as he too has been stung by the injury bug. However, Northwestern entered the game 13-12,3-9 and thanks to Kendall Hackney and Danielle Diamant, escaped with a shocking win.

In this calendar sports year Northwestern upset #9 Nebraska in football in Lincoln, upset national women’s volleyball power Nebraska in Evanston, beat the men’s basketball team in our sole match-up and now this. Bring on the Huskers!

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B-Town

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There really is nothing else like it in the Big Ten. Indiana’s Assembly Hall is an experience that every Wildcat fan should experience.

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We all know that Northwestern battles Indiana tonight (5:30 pm ct, BTN) at fabled Assembly Hall. We’ve even got some good news complements of WildcatReport.com – JerShon Cobb is good to go as needed for tonight’s game and the home stretch. More on this after the game. Today’s post is about Bloomington and specifically Assembly Hall. It’s a venue that, like most in the Big Ten, has been historically unkind to Northwestern, until the past few years. As I was with our football trip to Nebraska, I’m putting my expectations in the beyond “managed” category. I’ll be rooting hard, but this one is expected to be a loss. The Hoosiers, much like Illinois, boast a dominating presence in the post with freshman beast, Cody Zeller.  Unlike Illinois, I don’t see the Hoosiers getting rattled by the 1-3-1 and going away from pounding it in the paint.  If we collapse on Zeller, Jordan Hulls will kill us from three.  While Indiana has regained a semblance of its illustrious past this season after weathering the most miserable stretch in the modern era of the program, this team is a year away from truly being back to Bob Knight era intimidation. That being said, a 20-point loss tonight would not shock me. Here’s why.

Last week I found myself in the stands for Indiana’s home game against Illinois. I happened to be in Bloomington for business and was fortunate enough to get a ticket for the game. Now, I’ve been to one game at Indiana, about eight or nine years ago and part of me never wanted to return. Much like when you travel to an NU football road game and witness a win at say, the Big House (which I’ve done twice – yes, I’m 2-0 watching NU in Ann Arbor!), you don’t want to return and risk tarnishing the memory. However, this trip actually further entrenched my admiration for Indiana fans and even tipped the scales heavily on to the fan envy side of the scale. Throughout Bloomington students were seen all day sporting the white T-shirts with “B-Town” in the signature crimson font. The collaquial tees are the unofficial gameday wear of students and fans alike. By 10 am, there was a healthy line in place at Assembly Hall for that EVENING’s game. “B-Town” was buzzing as the quintisential college town and epicenter of collegiate hoops feel screamed gameday. It’s funny that “B-town” sounds and reads so much better than the given “B-ton”, as the play on “B” evokes the mental image of basketball town. 

I entered Assembly Hall 30 minutes before tip-off. There were easily 10,000 fans already in their seats. Assembly Hall is one of what I’d consider one of the five remaining unique arenas in the Big Ten. Purdue’s Mackey, Minnesota’s Barn, Illinois’ Assembly (a brother of Mackey) and our very own Welsh-Ryan are the holdouts from the cookie-cutter NBA carbon copy arenas that exist in the rest of the league. I’m one of the very few who LOVES Welsh-Ryan as it gives us a true home court advantage and can be tough to play when its packed with our fans (I’ll happily admit the concourses and concessions are just woefully outdated), but that is an entirely different post.

When you walk through the Assembly Hall entrance you can see the tunnels that lead out to the seats the scoreboard – a newly minted jumbotron tacked on to what used to be a relic, Hoosiers movie like scoreboard, is almost eye level. I was in the cheap seats and climbed the ramp that led to my seats.  You walk in towards your seat and the first thing that strikes you is the vertical pitch to the entire arena. Instantly my mind flashed to Naked Gun movie excerpts where a wheelchair cascading down stairs and flipping over the railing came to mind. If you’re afraid of heights, this experience is not for you. However, the endzones are student section bleachers, holding a few hundred fans. The majority of the 17,000 go way up the sidelines and there is an even an upper deck that is rarely seen on TV that redefines “rafter seats”.  All of this description is to underscore the downright eerie and moving experience of seeing all 17,000+ rise as one in full-throated chants and clapping. The student section, which you think is only in the baseline, extends so far in to the one side of the stands it is hard to comprehend how large it is. Estimates ranged between 8,000 and 10,000 students, all clad in their home whites for what was a whiteout.  Imagine, an entirely full Welsh-Ryan Arena with students. Now double that capacity and the rest of Joe Q. Fan. You start to get a sense for what I’m talking about.

The walk through the tunnel in to the arena might as well have a metal detector that warns “you’re about to enter 1957″.  The arena, candidly is a dump. Yet, much like Cameron and other halls of champions, it is positioned as “charming” or “unique”.  If the ‘Cats had gone to 20 straight NCAA Tournaments, media shapers would be saying the same thing about Welsh-Ryan. Take the winning tradition away and you become more objective. The seats are smooshed together and getting up to leave is a huge inconvenience for the entire row. Yet, not surprisingly, no one, and I mean no one, leaves their seats. The interior looks like a precursor to NU’s Pick-Staiger music hall with acoustic shells plastered all over the interior walls and ceiling. About 10 feet above my head was an overhang from the upper deck. Sound does not escape. Simply put, it is by far the loudest arena in the Big Ten taking all of the above in to account.

The thing that will stick with you though is the simplicity of the experience. No slap-stick gimmicks between timeouts, no M&M or Dunkin Donut races on the scoreboard, simply the band, the cheerleaders and the occasional basketball promotion on the scoreboard. They have tried to inject an NBA-like introduction by lowering the lights and using a spotlight, but the most memorable part of the pregame is the ENTIRE arena standing to sing the Indiana fight song set to an iconic old TV commercial for the Indiana Farmer’s Bureau with a woman sweeping the floors. It is basketball simplicity in a world of amuse-me-every-second oversaturation of promotion at basketball games. I loved it.

The Hoosier band sports an electric bass guitar which drones out the entire band and it will never leave your head. Every timeout it was all I could hear. It’s the Assembly Hall basketball anthem and it started to drive me crazy. However, the emotional lift the fans would give Indiana at those points in the game when they needed a stop, or the momentum was swinging their way was simply incredible. It was as if the fans were willing the ball in the basket and it seemed to work. It happened to be one of the worst officiated games I’ve ever seen as Illinois was just getting jobbed in the second half, and I truly didn’t care who won the game so I know I was being objective. The sheer volume of the crowd noise during Indiana runs had me frightened for tonight. Any modicum of momentum seemed to be jet-propelled by the fan base. Man, was I jealous. The experience hadn’t changed during the worst run in the history of the program over the past three years.  Every night the fans flocked to Assembly Hall knowing their team was going to lose. When you have a century of success buoying your fan base, it takes awhile for the bandwagon to become Teflon-y, to paraphrase Gary Barnett.

The highlight of my night, though, came when Meyers Leonard fouled out.  I’m not sure who is credited with the following chant as I know Alex Marcotullio was subjected to the Boilermaker fans “left, right, left right” jeers as he walked to the bench after his inexplicable fifth foul which was 70 feet from the basket. However when Leonard fouled out every person in the arena precisely chanted “left, right, left, right” in concert with each step he took towards the bench. Leonard obviously heard the chant and widened his stride and the fans didn’t miss a beat, slowing down their cadence.  There was a timeout on the floor, so they stopped as he stopped. My colleague turned to me and said “if they continue the chant after this very long timeout I will be so impressed”. Sure enough it carried on. Leonard, without Bruce Weber having a clue, was pacing up and down the bench, toying with the fans. He then started scuffling his feet to confuse the crowd yet they couldn’t be out done as they in unison, wailed “left,right,left,right” at rapid-fire speed. It might have been the most impressive crowd chant I’ve ever witnessed. Why was I not surprised?

The Hoosiers put the game away with about five minutes to go. Not a soul left their seats early. Just for kicks I stood in the main concourse to get a jump on meeting my colleagues who were in different seats.  I could see the clock and scoreboard. The Illini were down double-digits and fouling with a couple minutes to go. The hallways were empty sans a couple here or there or a dad with his young boy looking to get a jump on parking. The fans stayed until the clock read triple zeroes.  I was left to fantasize about NU and how unlikely it would be in my lifetime that I’d get to experience this for MY team.  I was left with thinking about Nebraska and how sweet it would be to be standing here to observe the shock of actually escaping this place with a “w”. Dare to dream.

 

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Linsanity Meets Fitz’s Twittergate & Other Random NU Football Notes

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The good news/bad news of social media is it defines instant trend-setting. Fitz found out the hard way that seemingly innocuous tweets can stir up a frenzy. At least that was until it was discovered it wasn’t actually Fitz.

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Oh boy. This is just about the last thing I want to be spending my time writing about these days. Pat Fitzgerald created quite the buzz yesterday when the ripple effect of his tweet on the NBA’s newest sensation – Jeremy Lin – took hold in the social media world. Then things got weird. Insanity around Linsanity didn’t even spare Northwestern. Follow along, if you can. ChicagoNow.com was one of the first to report Fitz’s tweet about Jeremy Lin from Saturday night as the Harvard grad-turned-”overnight”-Knicks sensation was lighting up the LA Lakers.  The following tweet appeared:

@coachfitz51: There’s finally a NBA player who plays hard and says the right things off the court

OK. Stew on that line for a second (I read it three times before saying, “I don’t get it”).  That single tweet quickly caught the wave of fellow tweeters and those of NBA fandom were none too pleased. As you can read about here at ChicagoNow.com’s Paul Banks “Chicago Sports Guru” blog and also here at the very well respected Dr. Saturday blog, one fan went so far as to characterize it as racist (huh?!!).  Now that is a joke, especially if you know Fitz. No, it’s absolute insanity.

 A more general response from several NBA fans was that it was a sweeping generalization and in particular a certain set of Derrick Rose fans took special offense. However, in full support of the tweet, several well-known and several unknown Twitter users retweeted and agreed with Fitz. I’m prone to defend Fitz on almost all off the court matters. I was set to do so on this one as well, as I’m not a big fan of the NBA as it’s hard to find players that do go wall to wall every night in the regular season like they do in the college ranks. Making a statement in support of someone who seems to do it the right way seemed pretty harmless to me. Yes, I’m biased to no longer Love It Live or even Love It DVRed.  Of course, there are several hard working guys who do it the right way, but to me, this was a non-story “story”.  Again, I’m likely going to get called out for an inability to be objective on matters like this, but if there is one thing that Fitz is not, it’s confrontational (unless of course you run a recruiting scouting service, that is).

Well, just as I was diving in to the perils of social media and the irony that Fitz staunchly monitors current and prospective scholarship athlete’s social media presences, I then learned that it allegedly wasn’t Fitz at all. Now, both sites are saying that it was Director of Football Operations, Cody Cedja, the very same guy who was so instrumental in helping me with the Jack & Brian story and has been great to me throughout this past season. According to the below statement by NU spokesman, Doug Meffley, Cedja erroneously signed in to Twitter and used Fitz’s handle and not his own. Ironically, Cody “followed” LTP’s Twitter account that very night.

 “While watching the Knicks game, Cody intended to tweet that from his own account, but he signed into Fitz’s and made — and subsequently deleted — that tweet. Paul Banks has updated his Chicago Now blog to reflect that fact. Being a Southside product, Fitz is a huge Chicago sports guy and big Derrick Rose fan…we want to make sure that fact is known!” – Doug Meffley, Northwestern University Feb 13, 2012.

Yikes. Isn’t this fun. Perhaps I don’t have a gauge on what constitutes what you care about, but my sense is this is not it. If I’m wrong, let me know and we can tweet about NU’s twittergate. If not, on to more important things like…

Tim McGarigle is Leaving…

The Northwestern assistant coach has left his alma mater to take a job as the Linebackers Coach at Western Michigan. I’m disappointed as the all-time single season tackle machine at NU is moving up the coaching ladder after a grad assistant gig for Fitz. I was hoping he’d find a way to work up the NU ladder, but so it goes in the land of collegiate coaching. FootballScoop.com broke the news on Friday.

Adam Rittenberg – Video Update of NU Offseason

Not surprisingly, the focus is on Kain Colter at QB and of course, the annual hope is not a strategy projection that minimal losses at the staring positions on “D” will translate in to victories. Click here to learn about Adam’s biggest off-season list of players who need to really make the jump for NU to have the success we hope for.

Pre-Snap Review of Northwestern

Our man Paul Myerberg (not Pete Thamel!!), checked in with his always crafty take on Northwestern at Presnapread.com. Pete’s Mad Libs approach to our coach is a poke at all of us who might be overlooking what the outside world seems to think of #51. Take a look at what I would say is his overly optimistic take on NU 2012 with a tad too much reliance on the age old few number of departing seniors equating to improved success on “D”. I hope he’s right as we were both wrong this past season. I’m trying to stay positive but the negative framing of having “not had a losing record in five seasons” is too much for even my purple Kool-Aid drinking self to stomach. Especially, when I consider our 6-7 2011 a losing season.
  

Recruiting Update

WildcatReport.com reported that Northwestern has been the first Big Ten school to offer Trent Hosick, from Kansas City (Staley HS), MO. According to one of the most glowing reports I’ve ever read by Louie Vaccher, Hosick, a dual-threat QB led his team to a state championship over current NU 2012 class member Mike McHugh (WR).  Northwestern offered him without a commitment to his desired QB spot, as Hosick had a prolific RB and didn’t quite throw enough to convince the ‘Cats he’s ready for QB. However, Vaccher’s report on his character made you feel like Hosick was Tebow-esque. Hosick will likely get an offer from every Big Ten school and NU continues to invoke the first-to-offer strategy as part of the recruiting advantage. Stay tuned to WR for more.

Survey Says…

Here is what you had to say about our 2012 recruiting class in our recent poll:

How Do Feel About The 2012 Recruiting Class?

  • Talk to me in three years (40%, 225 Votes)
     
  • Ecstatic (39%, 218 Votes)
     
  • Good, not great (21%, 116 Votes)
     

Total Voters: 559

 

 

 

 

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Boiling Over

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Sunday’s loss to Purdue felt like a kick in the stomach. It’s been a year of opportunity and another one went by the wayside.

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Ouch. That one hurt. Perhaps I’m reaching, but it sure looked like we were tight in the first half (as was Purdue) in yesterday’s spirit-crushing loss. The ‘Cats uncharacteristically were throwing the ball away, making bad decisions once they got caught on offense on the baseline and as many of you pointed out, seemingly didn’t care too much about boxing out.  Both teams shot miserably in the first half and Purdue went one stretch missing 12 consecutive shots, yet Northwestern could not capitalize on the window opening to build a lead. You got the sense it would just be a matter of time before Purdue found its rhythm, and indeed both teams did in an explosive second half.

There were moments when I thought we were on the ropes as Purdue started cranking from 3-point, land, in particular, Byrd, who has the same spot on the floor that he loves. Yet, Northwestern would respond – a huge Shurna three or even a nasty Crawford dunk – and the Boilers couldn’t put us away. It was after the Crawford dunk that I thought “here we go”. We had seemed to find the fight and the hunger factor that was missing for most of the first 30 minutes.  I really was on the edge of my couch in full “believe” mode. The fact that NU and Purdue are virtually the same team on the NCAA selection line was just weighing over me.  A sweep by Purdue and it could cost us as the last team out if it would come down to the two of us. I was willing John to keep on his takeover the game mode, which was clearly in effect. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Northwestern player score 30 points while having single digits so late in to a game. He was in that “give me the rock” mode we’ve been wanting him to have and it became our team, our season, on one guy’s shoulders.

Purdue deserves a ton of credit. They play defense as hard and as well as any major BCS team – especially at home. Meanwhile, Painter deserves credit for finding the vulnerable spot in our zone as they continued to kill us from 15-feet by slicing through the middle and finding either a runner or a kick-out to their three-point shooters. Yet, the game seemed to have this weird flow, where you felt we were going to get buried and then just like that you thought we were seizing momentum and were going to go on a run. Neither really happened.

The game was obviously much closer than the 10-point final margin of victory indicated. We gave up 87 points which is inexcusable for many reasons, none moreso than the fact that the Boilermakers scored well over 50 points in the second half. Bottom-line in this game is that we could not get a stop, let alone consecutive defensive stops in the second half. You hate to slip in to that fatalistic zone that comes with being a Northwestern hoops fan, a point you’re reminded of by Gus Johnson every other trip up the floor (alternating between “the Wildcats haven’t had four consecutive conference wins since 1967″ and “Northwestern is trying to secure an important win that would help their case for their first EVER appearance in the NCAA Tournament”).  However, that’s where I was with 10 minutes to go in the game and NU playing catch-up.  I was reduced to speaking outloud and muttering such insanity as “just once, please let us win this and get to the dance”. 

In the end, it was a reversion back to the outside of the Tournament looking in as we’re now 5-7 in conference play with six games to go and likely requiring a 4-2 finish down the stretch. Let’s face it, we’re entering highly improbable territory with possibly the toughest road venue in the B1g, Bloomington, staring us in the face on Wednesday. Let’s play the odds and assume we lose that game. It would take a near miraculous finish to pull out a 9-9 mark and breaking the streak.

I hate this feeling. I can’t stand it. I feel like a petulant child who wants to kick and scream to get his way. It’s also riding the rail of the entire program, as our run towards the bottom of the middle tier of the Big Ten pack seems to be hitting us like the proverbial glass ceiling under Coach Carmody. Breaking through to the NCAA Tournament, in my opinion is a quasi-version of program rocket fuel that could help us break through with that one additional recruit we might net as a result. The not making it to the Tournament is a presumed direction change for the program and the inevitable drop back to the basement in the post-Shurna world. When you’re nearing half a century of breaking through, you then resign yourself to thinking, what’s the downside of a dip in the program to try and assemble a resurgence? Well, there is a big assumption in that line of thinking. It is one that assumes we’ve landed the “right” guy for the head coaching position.

Ultimately, that’s why this season and last season are so manic. It’s become more than making it or not making it. It’s become the inevitability of needing to go in to rebuild mode on a program that has been light on the build. We’ve gotten to the point where we indeed compete night in and night out and there isn’t a team in the Big Ten were not capable of beating. That’s a good thing. Getting sucked in to believing, “no wait, this REALLY could be the year” to then lose is just the toying of emotions that we discussed as being so mentally unhealthy. No need to worry though ‘Cats fans, NU has us right where they want us – back off the believing bandwagon – just so they can pull off another shocker to bring us back.

Happy Thoughts

Congratulations to Northwestern alum and Olympic swimmer, Matt Grevers, who made waves Saturday by not only winning at the Missouri Grand Prix, but then using the winner’s podium as his pulpit to propose to his now fiancee, Annie Chandler. You can read all about it here in SI.

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Wildcat Up!

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If you’re like me, you woke up this morning with a pit in the stomach. Tonight’s road game at Purdue is one of those “winnable” games that will have to be secured for us to get the elusive final four wins.

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Last month, the Illini broke our hearts in Welsh-Ryan arena capping off a second half comeback in a game that slipped away. Northwestern improbably returned the favor at Assembly Hall last week picking up a win at a venue we had yet to win at this century. Now, just a couple weeks after another heartbreaking last second home loss to Purdue, Northwestern (15-8,5-6) is out for road revenge once again. Purdue and Northwestern have near identical overall and conference records and could very well be fighting for one another’s NCAA spot when the season comes to an end.

However, today, Northwestern, on paper, has a chance to really put themselves in even better position for a home stretch NCAA Tourney appearance if they can come away with a victory. The Boilermakers (15-9,5-6)  and Wildcats are about as even as two teams can be as evidenced by their head-to-head match-up which was a see-saw battle that came down to the last possession.

I’m nervous. As I expounded upon in the post just below this one, I’m emotionally back in, which means I’m set-up to have my soul crushed. I’m really nervous. I’ll continue to pound the “four wins and we’re in” mantra.  Obviously a win today and we’d only need three more wins with Iowa and Penn State on the schedule.  I’m prone to every game being “must win”, but genuinely I’ve walked and talked myself into this one being just that, even though technically it is not.

I’m banking on Northwestern’s newfound confidence across the non-Shurna/Crawford members playing a role. David Sobolewski is coming off of his best game as a Wildcat on the heels of being named B1G Freshman of the Week. All five starters finished the Iowa game in double figures. The ‘Cats own the league’s  longest current winning streak (3) and, gulp, are seeking their fourth straight, which thanks to NUHighlights research, hasn’t happened since 1967.  However, Purdue realizes they too are in NCAA Tournament danger zone and realize taking care of business tonight is a must.  Both teams are in almost identical situations with the one major exception being that NU is wearing the weitght of history on their shoulders while Purdue is simply wearing the weight of annual expectations not being met.

And, don’t look now, but here comes the media attention. TV crews are starting to swarm around NU practices. The Sun-Times had this article today describing the lunacy that is NU is better primed for a NCAA Tournament bid than Illinois is. And, history is none to kind to us when the ‘Cats have even a modicum of expectations from the media.

We’ll be here to break it down tonight and tomorrow, but my nerves are going full throttle as I eye the clock and do the mental countdown to the BTN 5pm ct telecast. Let’s do this.

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