Northwestern Basketball

Dear National Collegiate Athletic Association,

What the hell are you thinking?

Ninety-six teams in the NCAA Tournament? At long last, have you no sense of decency?

This is the worst idea since Plaxico Burress thought it would be fun to bring a loaded gun into a night club.

You're going to wind up shooting yourself in the proverbial leg.

Right now, it's an honor for teams to be one of the select 65 of the 347 D1 basketball schools to be chosen for "The Big Dance."

Expanding it to 96 teams would turn "The Big Dance" into "The Bloated Dance."

According to Dictionary.com, the second definition of bloated is "excessively vain, conceited."

March Madness has been so successful, you think you can capitalize on America's love of sports by expanding the tournament so you can make more $$$.

Sorry, but even Americans have their limits when it comes to indulging in super-sized stuff. There's a reason why Burger King hasn't made anything bigger than the Quad Stacker. 

Do we really want to see No. 1 Kentucky play No. 24 Podunk University? It's bad enough watching one seeds destroy 16 seeds every year. Americans love rooting for the underdog, but expanding the field to 96 teams would completely eliminate the first round upset.

Even if you gave the top teams byes to avoid such public executions, it would still rule out any huge upsets early in the tourney.

If you had a bunch of so-called play-in games to narrow things down, no one but alums of the schools involved would watch. Right now you have one play-in game that no one watches—creating more isn't going to do much good.

The current format is perfect, with the exception of the 1-16 game, anything can happen. Northwestern State, the 14 seed that stunned No. 3 Iowa a few years back? With 96 teams, assuming no byes or play-in games, they'd be slight underdogs against the No. 11 seed.

That's not fun at all.

Now, you might assume that because I'm a fan of the only school in the so-called "Power Six Conferences" that's never made the NCAA Tournament that I'd be a supporter of this expansion idea.

Nope.

Northwestern making a 96-team field would not be special at all. This isn't tee ball; you don't get a trophy for participation. Plus, the stigma of having never made the tournament back when it meant something to make the tournament would forever be tattooed on our logo.

Also, you think the regular season is ignored by most of America now? Wait until you expand the tournament.

Now, my friend Stephen Woldenberg thinks this is much ado about nothing, and ESPN's Andy Katz seems to agree.

Katz makes the point that the commissioners of the "Power Six" conferences would have to approve your crackpot idea. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, bless his heart, has already come out against expansion (of the tournament, not the conference, that is a whole different story).

But the fact that it's even being seriously considered by people as high-up as the Vice President of your organization is an outrage.

Put a stop to this insanity now, so we can still enjoy March Madness in the years to come.

Sincerely,

Aaron Morse

Maybe I've reached a new insane level of optimism.

But I think Northwestern will beat Michigan State Saturday in East Lansing.

Yes, I know, I'm crazy. Michigan State beat Northwestern by 21 at Welsh Ryan Arena. They're undefeated in Big Ten play. NU is coming off a road loss to a mediocre Minnesota team. Did I mention that MSU is ranked No.5 in the country? Northwestern is happy to be receiving five votes in the AP poll.

And yes...I know the only reason NU beat Michigan State in the Breslin Center last year was Kevin Coble's spectacular mastery of the bank shot.

But here's the thing. The first time these two teams met up, Drew Crawford wasn't DREW CRAWFORD. What I mean by that is he only scored eight points versus the Spartans. Since then he has scored 25, 10, 15, 11, 15, and 11 points respectively in Big Ten play. If you break those games down, the 'Cats are undefeated when Crawford scores 15 or more points this year.

Something tells me he's getting to that plateau tomorrow. Why?

Because no matter how much film study one does of an opponent, human nature is going to take over. Michigan State is going to be focusing all their energy on stopping the lone player who burned them last time: John Shurna. (They'd also have to worry about stopping Alex Marcotullio if he was still alive, but I digress.)

Shurna tallied 29 points while taking nearly a third of the shots last time out against the Spartans. The focus will be on him, and the pressure will shift to Michael "Juice" Thompson. Juice got loose against then-No. 6 Purdue, and he was effective last year against Kalin Lucas, scoring 20 points (which matched the eventual Big Ten Player of the Year's total).

But he has chosen some bad times to disappear this season, including the first time around against MSU where he only scored 8 points. Juice makes the offense run, we saw that against Illinois. Even when he doesn't score, he makes everyone else better when he's on the floor.

But he's going to have to score against Michigan State.

I was disappointed with his performance on the last, chaotic possession against Minnesota, and I'm sure he feels the same way. The man is the ultimate competitor and will not accept mediocrity. Look for Juice to redeem himself against MSU by playing with more aggression and confidence.

Better performances from Crawford and Thompson should equal more success for NU on offense.

Now we switch to defense, which was the primary issue the first time around, as the Wildcats allowed Michigan State to score 91 (!) points.

First of all, Durrell Summers played out of his mind in that game, scoring 17 points. Since then he's scored 0, 3, 13, 7, 12, 9, and 10 points respectively. So the man is all over the map. He's the classic case of a super athlete who is also really inconsistent. Some games he's unstoppable, other games he disappears. The key against a player like Summers is preventing the fast-break buckets that he thrives on. You do that by getting back on defense and avoiding stupid turnovers.

Lucas and Raymar Morgan are going to get their points. So stopping X-factor type players like Summers is critical to pulling off the upset.

The reason why I think Northwestern can contain MSU's scoring is because this isn't the same MSU squad that put up 91 last time out. If you look at the bigger picture, those 91 points were the culmination of an offensive explosion, having scored 80 or more points in three of their previous four games.

They haven't scored more than 73 since.

Plus, that was an angry MSU team. They'd just lost to Texas two games ago. Now, I don't care how good a coach Tom Izzo is, this is a much more relaxed MSU team. 

They're too relaxed. They've won their past three games by a combined nine points.

They already got their revenge for last year by wiping the floor with NU in Evanston.

They won't see the upset coming.

Northwestern teams, in both football and basketball, play their best when their backs are against the wall and no one is paying attention. Coming off a loss to Minnesota, which ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi termed "an elimination game" for the NCAA tournament...no one is thinking about NU.

They will be soon. 

Look at Jeremy Nash.

Look at him hit some of the biggest shots of his life.

Look at him snarl at the Illinois Fighting Illini's players as he tenaciously defends them and forces turnovers.

Look at him pound his chest in jubilation after hitting a three-pointer with 5:22 left in the game to put NU ahead for good.

Look at him run around like a maniac after drawing a charge on the other end of the floor.

Look at him score a career high 22 points.

Look at him refuse to let his team lose. 

Without Kevin Coble and Jeff Ryan, Jeremy Nash is Northwestern's lone senior in the rotation.

On Saturday night at Welsh Ryan Arena, he played the best game of his career, and kept Northwestern's NCAA tournament hopes alive and well.

He could not have chosen a better game to unleash the scoring ability that he's been building slowly but surely during his time in Evanston.

Welsh Ryan Arena's atmosphere was the best I've ever witnessed as a NU fan. The Illinois fans were there in force, but they were oddly quiet.

That wasn't the case with the student section, which arrived about an hour before game time, and was rocking from start to finish.

But for one scary time frame in the second half, it appeared Northwestern would fall short against the Illini.

After Nash hit a three-pointer at the 18:27 mark, NU converted exactly two shots from the field until Shurna dunked on a back-door cut with 7:19 to go in the game.

That's not good, but Northwestern's defense held tough and kept them in the game.

The Wildcats cut the lead to one, Nash hit his gigantic three, and the Wildcats never looked back. 

He nailed clutch free throws and contributed a beautiful put-back down the stretch as well.

On a night when both Juice Thompson and John Shurna suffered from early foul trouble, it was the senior who picked up the slack.

Look at Jeremy Nash.

Look at him as he keeps everyone dreaming of March Madness.

Northwestern fans are not feeling too well after Tuesday's blowout defeat at the hands of Ohio State.

The Wildcats are 2-4 in the Big Ten, but all four of their losses have been to teams that have been ranked in the AP Top 25 at some point this season.

The schedule is still going to be very tough these next two weeks, as the Wildcats wrap up probably the 10 most difficult games imaginable to open the Big Ten season.

All 10 games feature teams that made the NCAA tournament last year.

That's where Northwestern is looking to go this year for...wait for it...the first time ever. (Heard that enough times?)

I think Northwestern can win three of their next four—Illinois, Minnesota, and Michigan—and it appears that they HAVE to split their next four games.

The most important thing for NU to do is defend their home court. Starting Saturday against Illinois, a team they lost to in OT on the road, and then Michigan, a team they beat in Ann Arbor. If they win those two games, they'll be in solid shape.

But then the problem becomes winning the games you're supposed to win. Six of their final eight games in Big Ten play are against Indiana, Penn State, and Iowa.

They must win all those games in order to make the NCAA Tournament.

In fact, Northwestern probably needs to win every home game from here on out. The toughest tests will be Illinois, Michigan, and then later in the year, Minnesota.

You can see their remaining schedule here.

If the Wildcats protect their home court, they'll finish with over 20 victories. Mix in a road upset here or there, and a NCAA tournament berth is likely.

It's not going to be easy, but it remains very possible despite the bad taste the OSU loss put in many fans' mouths.

Saying the Northwestern men's basketball team likes to shoot the rock from outside is a pretty significant understatement.

After all, 47 percent of the shots they've attempted this year have come from downtown.

In fact, many fans and pundits have said that NU lives and dies by the three.

So if I were to tell you that they made a season-low four three-pointers against the sixth ranked team in the country, naturally you'd assume they lost...right?

Well, they won, and they did it in the most impressive fashion imaginable. They beat Purdue, possibly the best defensive team in the entire conference, if not the country, at their own game.

The Wildcats were tougher, quicker to loose balls, and they dominated the boards.

Yes, you read that correctly.

They dominated the boards—as in they out-rebounded Purdue 42-23.

Ever since I called him out after the Illinois and Michigan State games, Luka Mirkovic has played like a man possessed. I would like to take credit for his turnaround, but I seriously doubt anyone on the team even knows this column exists. 

But I have to give credit where credit is due. Mirkovic had his way with Purdue's future NBA big man: JaJuan Johnson, going over Johnson a couple times for baskets and also forcing the star center into early foul trouble that he never recovered from.

Purdue showed their fatal weakness: a lack of depth (something NU can relate to), as the backups just couldn't handle the challenge of stopping Mirkovic. The man was everywhere, scoring 16 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.

If he does that every game, Northwestern will not only make the NCAA tournament, they'll advance pretty far.

That's how good they are when Mirkovic plays at that level. Of course, he won't play like that every game. He's still a sophomore and will have his ups and downs, but man oh man, he sure showed off his potential against Purdue.

It will be interesting to see how he plays against Dallas Lauderdale and the Ohio State Buckeyes on Tuesday. Luka feeds off the crowd, pounding his chest, and "raising the roof" with his arms. He won't be able to do that in the harsh atmosphere of Columbus.

While Mirkovic was doing some great work in the low post, Juice Thompson exploited Purdue's lack of quality point guard up top. Thompson hit a couple threes, but most of his damage came from hard drives to the basket that ended with him either scoring or drawing a foul.

I think the play of the game though was Drew Crawford's "and one" drive to the basket late in the second half. That was the type of athletic, aggressive play that NU hoops has rarely seen in the past, and it was a huge difference-maker as NU pulled away from the Boilermakers.

The fact that NU went to the charity stripe 30 times in the game speaks volumes to how aggressive they were on offense. The fact that they hit 26 of those free throws shows that they spent a lot of time in practice after the debacle that was the Wisconsin game.

On a personal note, this is my last basketball season as a Northwestern student, and it was an amazing feeling to rush the court. My buddy Kenny Avila actually was the first one out there and he was worried that no one else would follow him, but we did. It doesn't top rushing the football field after NU beat Wisconsin, but it was a pretty amazing experience nonetheless.

Another item of importance: the Wildcats did not play the 1-3-1 zone defense at all against the Boilermakers. They played the 2-3 zone with a little man to man mixed in the entire game. This caused two things to happen: it allowed them to rebound better, and it prevented Moore and Hummel from getting open corner three attempts.

The beauty of the 1-3-1 is that it forces a lot of turnovers, but NU was still able to cause havoc with their 2-3 zone in this one.

Lastly, NU showed they can win against elite competition even when their leading scorer John Shurna has an off night.

Can you imagine how good this team will be when everything clicks?

It should be a scary thought for the rest of the Big Ten.

Things looked bleak for NU in the first half of yesterday's game against Michigan. They were down 34-14 with just over four minutes remaining in the first half. Michigan was ripping their 1-3-1 defense to shreds and the Cats were struggling to find the net.

Then Drew Crawford started shooting.

With a barrage of threes, a pair of made free throws, and a couple of deflections that led to steals, he almost single-handedly made the game interesting again.

NU's defense stepped up in the second half as the Cats came back to score a crucial road victory. Crawford finished with 25 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the floor.

Even in one of his biggest games there is one major thing that stands out to me when I look at his box score line: he only had nine field goal attempts.

This isn't the first explosive game in Drew's career. He exploded for 35 in a rout against North Carolina A&T and scored 22 in a win over Liberty.

The problem is that he hasn't consistently been aggressive on offense. Crawford also has five games where he finished with a single made field goal.

Despite the fact that he has the best field goal percentage among Northwestern's rotation players by a wide margin, and has the most raw talent of anyone on their roster, he is only attempting 7.5 shots per game.

Northwestern needs him to be a more consistent factor on offense if they want to be successful. They can't afford to have him defer to other players with such regularity, especially in games where John Shurna or Michael Thompson is struggling.

I understand that he's a freshman and it's asking a lot for him to shoulder a large portion of the scoring load.

However, given the makeup of the roster, it really has to be Crawford who steps up to complement Shurna and Thompson. The rest of Northwestern's regular rotation is much better suited as role players.

Jeremy Nash is a terror defensively on the wings, but he doesn't really have the offensive talent to be a featured scorer. One need only look at his 36 percent mark from the field to confirm this.

Luka Mirkovic can occasionally make a good post move inside, but does not finish with enough regularity to be considered a top-tier option. When he tried to force the issue against Illinois and Michigan State, he finished 5-for-22 from the floor in those two games. He's far more effective when he focuses on defense and rebounding and only takes the relatively easy available shots on offense like he did against Michigan (6-for-8 from the floor).

Kyle Rowley is even more limited offensively, shooting under 40 percent on the year and turning it over at a rather high rate for someone that barely plays 10 minutes per game.

Alex Marcotullio is the last of the players who get at least 10 minutes per game whom I haven't mentioned. While he is a dangerous shooter with great range and can be a real pest on defense, he relies very heavily on his outside shot (83 percent of his attempts are threes) and he makes some typical freshmen decisions that backfire.

That leaves Thompson, Shurna, and Crawford as the players who have to do most of the scoring. While the two veterans have performed quite well, Crawford could be more consistent.

He has the talent to be a bigger factor on offense. He has shown that he is a solid athlete who can finish at the rim and bury three-pointers at a solid percentage. He has also shown flashes of the ability to take defenders off the dribble and hit mid-range jumpers as well, though he hasn't done it consistently.

If he can step up and be a big factor on offense, Northwestern will be much more difficult to beat. So far, teams have only had to worry about Shurna, Thompson and the three-pointer. Drew has to give another dimension to their attack. That would take some pressure off their other top scorers and give Northwestern more margin for error on offense.

Crawford made Michigan pay yesterday, but if NU wants to go dancing he has to do that regularly.

With 4:23 to go in the first half, Manny Harris hit two free throws to give Michigan a 31-14 lead over the Northwestern Wildcats.

I never turn off my teams' games early, but I was tempted to do it in this case. I mean, as a Northwestern fan I've suffered enough trauma to start 2010. First the Outback Bowl, then the blowout loss to MSU in hoops, then the uninspiring win over Texas Pan-American that could have easily been a loss, it hasn't been a fun start to the new decade.

An 0-3 start to Big Ten play would be extremely difficult to overcome, at least for a NCAA tournament berth. (They started 0-4 last year, but still made the NIT.)

But then Drew Crawford decided to save Northwestern's season.

For all the attention paid to John Shurna and Michael "Juice" Thompson, the freshman Crawford is the X-Factor this year for NU hoops.

He's the best athlete Northwestern basketball has had since Geno Carlisle. The kid still makes some mistakes passing the ball and he's struggled with foul trouble at times.

But man can he score.

Down by 17, Crawford coolly drained two threes in a row, then drove hard to the hoop and drew a foul. The freshman drained two shots from the charity stripe, then banged home another triple.

And like that...it was a six-point game.

From then on, it was a back and forth battle, that saw NU go up by 10 in the second half, only to see Michigan storm back to take a one-point lead.

Then Crawford took control again, hitting four straight free throws to give NU the lead for good.

He tallied a game-high 25 points, and just as importantly hauled in eight rebounds.

He didn't do it alone of course. Luka Mirkovic played his best game of the season, scoring 13 points and pulling down eight rebounds. Meanwhile, Shurna and Thompson both hit some huge shots late in the second half.

But it was the 11-0 run by Drew "The Truth" (my new nickname for him) Crawford that will keep Northwestern fans realistically hoping for a NCAA tournament berth.

They'll need to have every aspect of their game working though when nationally ranked Wisconsin comes to town Wednesday night. More consistent performances from both Shurna and Thompson will be necessary in order to pull off the upset.

But for now, the truth is...Northwestern's season is very much alive.

Northwestern men's hoops has come back down to earth in Big Ten play after a sensational non-conference slate.

Back to back losses to Illinois and Michigan State have revealed a massive hole that everyone who follows NU hoops knew was there but really didn't want to admit would be a problem.

The Wildcats have no one who can play the center position with any resemblance of competency.

Mike Tisdale made that painfully apparent to NU fans in the 'Cats opener against Illinois. Tisdale is a moderately talented string bean center who hasn't exactly overwhelmed opponents during his time in Champaign.

But in the opener, hook shot after hook shot went over starting center Luka Mirkovic's head as Tisdale scored a career high 31 points. Meanwhile, Mirkovic was also a liability on the offensive side of the ball, as he tossed up 13 shots while only making three of them.

Michigan State didn't really have a true center, but they drove to the hoop at will on the Wildcats and there was no one clogging the lane to stop them.

NU plays a 1-3-1 defense, meaning that while the center is not under the hoop (that responsibility falls to Michael "Juice" Thompson), he is still in the middle of the floor, and he's supposed to do his best to contain whoever is in the paint.

One problem with Mirkovic is that he can't really jump. Tisdale's shots were basically uncontested because Luka just sort of stuck his arms up in the air, as if he thought that'd be enough.

It wasn't.

Meanwhile, I almost prefer his back-up, Kyle Rowley, on the offensive side of the floor. That's because while neither one of them has much skill, at least Rowley knows this and generally stays out of the way.

Mirkovic looks fine offensively against lesser teams (he tallied a double-double against Texas Pan-American), but he's not good at all against real teams, such as Illinois and Michigan State. He's gotten into an annoying habit of hoisting up three-pointers, which is the last thing NU needs from him (he's shooting 26.7 percent on the year from downtown).

Rowley turns the ball over way too much though to be trusted offensively. In fact, he's the only player on the team who plays regularly to have compiled more turnovers than assists.

Neither one of them looks particularly comfortable with the ball. Whenever they get the rock, the crowd holds their breath, waiting for them to get it to someone else.

Carmody got so fed up with the two centers that he actually benched them down the stretch against Michigan State in favor of reserves Davide Curletti and Ivan Peljusic. If Curletti was a few inches taller, he might be a decent option, but he just hasn't spent enough time on the floor to be effective at this point. Meanwhile Peljusic is a turnover machine.

Something's got to give when NU takes on Michigan on Sunday. DeShawn Sims could score 40 points, and I'm not kidding.

I still think the Wildcats will make the Big Dance, but right now NU's NCAA Tournament prospects are teetering on a ledge, partially due to the poor play at the center position. 

The last time NU men's hoops was ranked by the Associated Press...

Richard M. Nixon had just been elected president of the United States of America.

The Jets had just won Super Bowl III.

Ohio State actually had recently beaten USC in the Rose Bowl.

Yale University had recently announced that they were going to admit women.

Elvis and The Beatles were popular throughout America (now instead, we get Lady Gaga, but I digress).

Color television was the next big thing.

Women's basketball didn't exist.

Bill Carmody was in high school.

Joe Paterno was the head football coach at Penn State (some things never change).

My mom was a freshman at Northwestern but didn't know the team was ranked because very few people on campus cared (see above).

Yes, it's been awhile (Jan. 14, 1969 to be exact) since the Northwestern men's basketball team found themselves in the AP poll. In fact, back then it wasn't a top 25 poll, it was a top 20 poll!

They will be headed to Champaign to take on the unranked Illinois Fighting Illini on Wednesday. The question of course is how will the Wildcats avoid a letdown as the overwhelming favorites in this Big Ten opener?

I'm kidding, but this seriously boggles the mind. Northwestern is ranked, Illinois is not.

Yes, the same Northwestern program that two years ago won exactly one Big Ten game and has never made the NCAA Tournament.

Yes, the same Illinois program that's made the NCAA tournament nine out of the last 10 years.

And oh, by the way, did I mention NU lost their two top scorers from last year's NIT team to injury and graduation?

We've broken down how they've done it this year elsewhere on the site, so there's no need for that here.

Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride (and be thankful Oliver! won't be winning Best Picture at the Academy Awards).

Northwestern's men's basketball's official history page does not have a year-by-year wins and losses section, probably for good reason.

Since their last outright Big Ten title in 1931, (and retroactively a national title! ) NU has been losing a whole lot more than they've been winning. They shared the Big Ten title in 1933, but since then it's been a vast wasteland of awfulness.

Wikipedia has the year-by-year carnage if you really want to see it.

Lots of well known basketball names, from Tex Winter to Bill Foster to Kevin O'Neil have tried to turn things around in Evanston, to no avail. Rich Falk came the closest; the 1982-1983 Wildcats currently hold the single season team record for wins...with 18.

Not only has the program been awful, it's been rocked by both tragedy and scandal .

The greatest irony of all is that NU actually played host to the first NCAA Final Four in 1939.

They've never been invited to March Madness and they've only made the NIT 4 times. But they never made it in the era when the NIT actually meant something.

NU's most recent coach before current head man Bill Carmody was the previously mentioned O'Neil. His teams were lifted the first couple of years by NU's last All-American—center Evan Eschmeyer—who almost single-handily put the 'Cats on his back on their way to the 1999 NIT.

But in 1999-2000, O'Neil's only year without Eschmeyer at the helm of NU's men's basketball program, the Wildcats won a grand total of zero Big Ten games.

He left out of frustration to join the Knicks (remember when people wanted to go to the Knicks?!), and a few days later, NU announced the hiring of Carmody.

Carmody cut his coaching teeth under legendary Princeton coach Pete Carril.

You can't say expectations were high, how could they be, but fans were definitely intrigued by the unique offense Carmody brought to the Wildcats.

Perhaps, the famed system that once upset defending national champion UCLA would lead the Wildcats to the elusive Big Dance. (Watch that video, it features current NU assistant Mitch Henderson as a player, and you get a couple of brief glimpses of Carmody. It also was the game that made Gus Johnson famous.)

It's now been a decade for NU hoops under Carmody, and it hasn't been easy, that's for sure. His peers in the Big Ten respect and even admire him, but 'Cats fans everywhere are divided about whether or not he's been a success.

At any other school, the answer would be no, but this is Northwestern we're talking about here.

His first seven years were the most successful seven seasons in terms of total wins in NU hoops history.

Carmody was named Big Ten Coach of the Year thanks to his 2003-2004 campaign, which saw NU finish tied for 5th in the Big Ten with an 8-8 record.

That was the best Big Ten finish for NU since the Vietnam War.

But after a couple middling 6-10 years, Carmody's program seemed to hit rock bottom, as they won 3 combined Big Ten games during my freshman and sophomore years.

Two years ago, when NU won a lone Big Ten game, many were calling for his dismissal. I'll admit I once too thought his time in Evanston was up.

But my opinion has changed 180 degrees since 2007.

First of all, as a member of the student media, I've gotten the chance to take trips with the team to both Brown and Stanford.

I can tell you this, there is no coach out there these guys would rather play for than Carmody. Plus, Carmody is perhaps the most genuine, honest, and nice coach Northwestern has to offer. (Women's hoops coach Joe McKeown runs a close second.)

Of course, your employment in the world of big time college basketball is not based on how nice you are.

His struggles in Evanston are certainly not with the X's and O's or the relationships he has with his players; they've been centered on recruiting the right kind of talent to succeed here.

But even that has turned around, and a lot of credit there goes to former NU player and current assistant Tavaras Hardy.

Hardy has helped land John Shurna, and he recruited both of this year's freshmen: Alex Marcotullio and Drew Crawford.

He's also made in-roads into Georgia, of all places, as NU already has a rivals.com 4-star recruit in Jershon Cobb signed to a letter of intent for next season. Not only that, but word on the street (and by street I mean Wildcat Report ) is that even more top-tier talent from Georgia might be considering coming to Evanston to hoop it up.

In the past, Carmody's NU teams seemed to rely on stars such as Jitim Young and Vedran Vukusic to carry them to victory. Even last year's NIT team relied heavily on Kevin Coble and Craig Moore for their points.

That's why what they're doing this year is so impressive. Shurna and Thompson are the stars, that's for sure, but for the first time in recent memory...this is a true TEAM.

Last year the offense was basically Kevin Coble hoisting up wild, amazing shots that somehow went in, or Craig Moore bailing them out as the shot clock ticked towards zero with a huge three. Yes, the occasional back-door cut would take the opposing team off-guard, but it was a team that relied heavily on two players, with limited scoring from others.

This year, we're finally seeing the Princeton Offense run like it's supposed to be run.

The two freshmen, Alex Marcotullio and Drew Crawford have adjusted surprisingly quickly, and in recent games we've seen sophomore center Luka Mirkovic finally look comfortable on the floor. Jeremy Nash has finally developed a three-point shot, and continues to be perhaps the best defender NU has ever seen.

Meanwhile, the rebounding, which NU has been borderline incompetent at in recent years, has seen a HUGE leap in improvement as well. Shurna is pulling down boards like a maniac, averaging 7.2 per game, and others are chipping in as well.

All this adds up to is their best start since that 1931 national championship.

So now the question is, can they finish off the decade on a high note December 30th at Illinois?

The Fighting Illini have struggled this year, recently losing to un-ranked Missouri, so it's definitely a winnable game. A win there would also set the pace nicely for a good Big Ten season, and a run to the Big Dance.

It might have taken 10 years, but Bill Carmody and the Wildcats are finally relevant...and headed towards making some long-awaited history.