What are some of yaâlls thoughts about this game? The only thing i know about them is they have Michael Thompson former Duke player.
i think the princeton will give us a few troubles, unless lutz learned from last years mistake and figured how to play defense against it.
we are 7.5 pt favorites
[URL=http://www.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/nw/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/0506mbkprospectus][B]Northwestern prospectus[/B][/URL]
And recap from last nightâŠ
[B]Wildcats Rally For 61-59 Win Over Mountain Hawks
Northwestern to face Charlotte Monday at 7 p.m. CT [/B]
Nov. 14, 2005
By Dan Lewerenz, Associated Press Writer
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) - Vedran Vukusic scored 25 points, including the go-ahead basket with 12.8 seconds left, as Northwestern came back from a double-digit deficit to beat Lehigh 61-59 Sunday night in the first round of the Black Coaches Association Invitational.
After Vukusicâs jumper from the corner, Evan Seacat recovered a loose ball on Lehighâs end of the court and was intentionally fouled by Mitch Gilfillan with 5.6 seconds left. Seacat made one free throw, and Vukusic, fouled on the inbound play, hit two more to put the game out of reach.
Northwestern (1-0) will face Charlotte in Mondayâs semifinals; Lehigh (0-1) will play Coppin State in the consolation bracket.
After trailing the entire first half, the Wildcats tied the game at 37 on a pair of Vince Scott free throws, then took their first lead, 40-38, on Scottâs 3-pointer with 13:12 left.
After that, the lead changed 10 times before Vukusicâs go-ahead shot, with neither team leading by more than three points until the final seconds.
Tim Doyle added a career-high 14 points for Northwestern.
Jose Olivero scored 16 of his 19 for Lehigh in the first half; his only second-half basket was a 3-pointer with 0.1 seconds left. Kyle Neptune added 16 for the Mountain Hawks, but fouled out with 2:18 left in the game. Bryan White had 11 rebounds.
Olivero scored the first eight points in a 10-2 Lehigh run in the first half, first hitting a pair of free throws, then sinking a pair of 3-pointers. Jason Mgebroffâs layup with 11:12 left gave the Mountain Hawks an 18-7 lead.
Doyle had a steal and a fast break basket, then scored on another break off a Mohamed Hachad steal, during a 10-0 run that brought the Wildcats within 20-18. But Lehigh closed the half with an 8-3 run and led 28-21 at halftime.
Postgame Notes:
The game was played with three NCAA experimental rules:
- With the three-point line moved one foot behind the current mark to 20-feet, 9 inches.
- With the free throw line widened one foot on each side.
- With a restricted arc placed three feet from the center of the basket ring.
Attendance: 4,682
[QUOTE=finalfourtyniners;139257]we are 7.5 pt favorites[/QUOTE]
Only 7.5? 
NORTHWESTERN
COACH AND PROGRAM
Considering how far the program has come in such a short time, itâs difficult to imagine any Northwestern basketball season that featured double-digit victories and a win at the Big Ten Conference Tournament a failure. But looking back at 2004-05, thatâs pretty much the conclusion head coach Bill Carmody is left with.
Considering that the Wildcats finished the previous season 8-8 and tied for fifth in the Big Ten, leading to league coach-of-the-year honors for Carmody, last yearâs squad spent much of the year spinning its wheels instead of maintaining the positive momentum the program had built under the former Princeton coach.
âIt was not the stepping stone we thought it would be,â Carmody said of last season. âInstead, we stagnated and maybe even backslid a little bit. Now you look at this year â we have lost some key guys, but we have a lot of veteran players coming back and we need them to step up more than they did last year.â
The positives last year included a fourth straight year with 10 or more home victories and the fifth consecutive season with 11 or more wins overall, the first time in school history each of those feats had been accomplished. The Wildcats also won a Big Ten Tournament game for the third straight year, and led the nation with an assist-to-field goal ratio of .703. But they fell short of postseason play when a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal loss to Illinois left them one game below .500 for the second straight season.
âWe are competitive, but I think we still have a long way to go,â Carmody said. âFor all the numbers that you can throw out showing our success, the fact is until we get a postseason bid, nothing has been gained. It is time for us to come through; we cannot be content being in the middle of the pack of the Big Ten. We want to be like the other elite teams out therewe want to play well every game, amass some wins, and get to the NCAA Tournament.â
After opening the season with a win over Portland at the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, the 'Cats dropped four straight non-conference games, including a four-point home loss to Virginia in which they shot just 37 percent from the field and scored a season-low 44 points. But they finished the pre-Big Ten schedule with six wins in their final seven games, including home victories over DePaul and Seton Hall, and thumped Indiana by 21 in the Big Ten opener.
But Northwestern lost six of the next seven, with the only win coming at home against Iowa on Michael Jenkinsâ buzzer-beating three-pointer in overtime. The 'Cats rallied with four wins in their next five games, beating hapless Purdue and Penn State and knocking off NCAA tourney-bound Minnesota on the road. But that surge was followed by another cold streak, with three losses in their final four regular-season games, including a 22-point thumping at Indiana in the season finale.
Needing two wins to get past the magic break-even point and qualify for the NIT, the Wildcats beat Michigan, 58-56, in the 8-9 game, but No. 1 Illinois proved to be too tough, snuffing Northwesternâs postseason dreams with a 68-51 win.
Looking back, Carmody said the slow start ended up costing the 'Cats at the end of the season.
âWe got off to a bad start last year, and I felt like we never shook our inconsistent play all season,â Carmody said. âWhat we need to emphasize is that those early-season games are important. We have a lot of guys who have played a lot of basketball at this level, and so we should be ahead of a lot of the teams we play early on. We cannot use those games to see where we are as a team; we need to use the November and December games to set the tone for success.â
This year, those early-season games kick off even earlier, as the Wildcats will play in the BCA Invitational in Laramie, Wyo. Their bracket includes first-round opponent Lehigh, along with Charlotte and Coppin State.
PLAYERS
The Wildcats have already hit the first bump in the road this season when senior T.J. Parker declared himself eligible for the NBA draft. Parker, who averaged 10.0 points and 2.8 assists in his three years at Northwestern, started 29 games last year, finishing third on the team at 9.7 points per game and leading the 'Cats with 45 steals. Adding injury to insult, Parker sprained his ankle while working out for the Washington Wizards and pulled out of the draft. But because heâd already signed with an agent, he couldnât come back to Northwestern, so heâll spend this year playing professional ball in Europe and plans to re-enter the draft next summer.
âWe will miss T.J.'s speed and the way he was able to initiate the offense,â Carmody said. âHe did a good job running the team for three years.â
The 'Cats also lost forward Davor Duvancic to graduation. The 6-8 Duvancic blossomed into a full-time starter last year and averaged 6.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and a team-leading 2.7 assists.
The only other letter-winner who wonât return is 6-9 center Ivan Tolic, who played just four minutes last season as he battled through knee problems. His roster status was changed to medical non-counter this summer and he likely wonât return to the program.
Among the three starters returning, senior forward Vedran Vukusic (16.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.3 apg) should have the biggest impact. Last season the 6-8 Vukusic finished fourth in the Big Ten in scoring average and was a third-team all-conference selection. He led the team with 67 three-point baskets and moved to third on the schoolâs career list in that category, just 51 shy of pacesetter Winston Blake.
âI am looking for Vedran to improve his leadership on the court â he needs to be the guy who makes this team win,â Carmody said. âHe has been through it for three years now, and he is ready to have a banner year.â
Joining Vukusic in the frontcourt will be 6-10 junior center Vince Scott (3.7 ppg, 2.1 rpg), who came on strong at the end of the year, starting 13 of the last 15 games and posting career highs of 14 points, six boards and five assists against Michigan on Feb. 27. On the season, he jacked up 47 three-pointers, hitting 17 of them (36 percent), but wasnât much of a defensive presence, blocking just nine shots on the year.
âVince was thrust into the lineup and ended up getting a lot of minutes,â Carmody said. âHe did fine offensively, which I expected, but defensively he still has a way to go, especially rebounding and getting after the ball. Another thing we have been working on is his stamina. He is good on the blocks and he can shoot the ball, but we need him to be better getting up and down the court between the keys.â
Scott slid into the lineup when the 'Cats lost Michael Thompson (10.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.0 bpg) to a season-ending ankle injury in January. The 6-10 senior, playing his first season at Northwestern after transferring from Duke, should return at 100 percent this fall, ready to fulfill the potential he flashed in the first 13 games last season.
âHe has been working in the weight room and on his low-post game, and we are hopeful he stays healthy, because if he does he will help us win some games,â Carmody said. âHe was able to neutralize some of the big guys we faced last year, and he matches up well with the other big guys in the conference. If he can stay out of foul trouble, he should be one of the leading rebounders in the conference.â
If Carmody doesnât want to start two 6-10 guys, newcomer Bernard CotĂ© could fill the other frontcourt spot. The 6-8 CotĂ© played two years at Kentucky, averaging about five minutes a game, and never really got a chance to show his skills. Now the versatile forward will get his shot at minutes at Northwestern, where he should become a strong inside-outside threat.
âI expect him to step in and contribute immediately,â Carmody said. âHe proved to be one of our best long-range shooters in practice, but he also has some nice post moves and has a knack for getting to the line. He has been working hard on his dribbling and his shot. Plus he has experience from playing two years at Kentucky, so he will not be in awe when he steps on the floor this season â he understands what it takes to play at the highest level in college and succeed.â
In the backcourt, the âCats return 6-4 senior guard Mohamed Hachad (8.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.4 spg), who started 21 games last year and finished the season strong, averaging 14.4 points over the Wildcatsâ last seven games. Hachad, who played high school ball with CotĂ© in Montreal, started all of his sophomore year and most of last season, but he came off the bench to play his best basketball at the end of the year, including a career-high 23-point, nine-rebound effort in the season-ending loss to Illinois. This year, he could take on some of the ball-handling duties with Parkerâs departure, or slide into a swingman role, but donât expect him to be much of a three-point threat â he hit just 15 of 64 from behind the arc last season and is a career 25 percent shooter from long distance.
âMohamed started slowly last year, but his statistics during the Big Ten season showed how far he came along, and he really raised his game during the last month,â Carmody said. âHe has been working hard during the off-season, and like Vedran he needs to take ownership for the success of this team.â
Last yearâs feel-good story was guard Michael Jenkins (4.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 1.9 apg), who started 14 games as a junior walk-on. The 5-9 Jenkins hit 44 percent of his three-pointers, none bigger than the game winner against Iowa, and finished seventh in the Big Ten with 1.5 steals per game. The fifth-year senior could have elected to graduate and head out into the real world, but he decided to come back for one more year, and Carmody rewarded him with a full scholarship.
âHe is a real gym rat, and what I am hoping is that he is not content with last yearâs successes,â Carmody said. âHe can still raise his game and be an important contributor this season. I feel confident when he has the ball. He does a good job of getting us into our offense, and he understands the game.â
Other candidates for backcourt time include 6-2 senior Evan Seacat (1.7 ppg, 0.5 rpg), whose three-point shooting could earn him some minutes this year; 6-5 junior Tim Doyle (4.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.4 apg), a transfer from St. Johnâs who was a solid contributor in his first year with the 'Cats; and 5-10 junior Joe Kennedy (0.5 ppg, 0.1 rpg), a walk-on who had ankle surgery in the offseason.
A pair of 6-4 freshmen also could make their mark on the program this year. Sterling Williams, the first Northwestern recruit from the Chicago public school system in 25 years, red-shirted last year after starring at Whitney Young High School, while 6-4 Craig Moore joins the program after averaging 15 points, eight boards and eight assists as a senior at Lawrenceville (N.J.) Prep.
âFrom mid-January on last year, [Williams] played as well as anyone on our team in practice,â Carmody said. âHe is a good scorer, he can get to the hoop and he has been working hard on his outside shooting. I think he can be a very good man-to-man defender. Craig is another gym rat kind of guy â he really understand the game, is a good passer and can shoot the ball.â
One player to watch in practice this year will be 6-1 guard Jason Okrzesik, who helped Rice reach the NIT the past two years before transferring to Northwestern. Heâll sit out this year and have two years of eligibility remaining.
BLUE RIBBON ANALYSIS
BACKCOURT: C-
BENCH/DEPTH: C
FRONTCOURT: B+
INTANGIBLES: C
The Wildcats have slowly but surely moved toward legitimacy under Carmodyâs guidance. Last year might have been a slight step back, but the coach hopes the mixed bag of success and failure will help forge a tougher team one year older and one year wiser.
âWe talked a lot about competitiveness and hardness of play â I felt like we did not demonstrate enough toughness last year,â Carmody said. âWe want them to really get after it out there. We did not have the consistency we need to be successful and take this program to the next level. That starts with the coaching staff and continues right through to the players.â
If the Wildcats indeed have learned a valuable lesson from last yearâs early-season flop, this should be the year they crack .500 and play into mid-March.
can we win this one by 15?
[QUOTE]PLAYERS
The Wildcats have already hit the first bump in the road this season when senior T.J. Parker declared himself eligible for the NBA draft. Parker, who averaged 10.0 points and 2.8 assists in his three years at Northwestern, started 29 games last year, finishing third on the team at 9.7 points per game and leading the 'Cats with 45 steals. Adding injury to insult, Parker sprained his ankle while working out for the Washington Wizards and pulled out of the draft. But because heâd already signed with an agent, he couldnât come back to Northwestern, so heâll spend this year playing professional ball in Europe and plans to re-enter the draft next summer.
[/QUOTE]
Talk about bad luck.
We should blow them out, they needed a last second shot to beat Lehigh. We should run them up and down the court whenever possible, take advantage of our extra few hours of rest and our deeper bench. The Princeton style gives us fits as we all know, but when the talent gap is this big, it SHOULDNâT matter.
That being said, this seems like a game we could easily lose, because weâre Charlotte. We have to lose a stupid game early in the year. I think we come out and build a lead, but donât extend the lead to put them away, much like last night. If Northwestern can have another 2nd half like they did last night(shot 54%), we could be sweating by the end of this one. Coppin State shot much worse in the 2nd half last night than they did in the 1st, but still beat us on the scoreboard. Had they shot anywhere near 40% in the second half we would have had a real game.
Prediction: Charlotte by 6
This is interesting too. The first session UNC Wilmington/Butler, Wyoming/Alabama State) drew 5744 and the night session (Charlotte/Coppin State, Northwestern/Lehigh) had 4682 attendees.
Those numbers would work in the 49ersâ favor in the 15,000 seat âDome of Doom.â
interesting the oddsmaker must be getting information off our board, now were only a 6 pt favorite.
[QUOTE=CMack124;139268]We should blow them out, they needed a last second shot to beat Lehigh. We should run them up and down the court whenever possible, take advantage of our extra few hours of rest and our deeper bench. The Princeton style gives us fits as we all know, but when the talent gap is this big, it SHOULDNâT matter.
That being said, this seems like a game we could easily lose, because weâre Charlotte. We have to lose a stupid game early in the year. I think we come out and build a lead, but donât extend the lead to put them away, much like last night. If Northwestern can have another 2nd half like they did last night(shot 54%), we could be sweating by the end of this one. Coppin State shot much worse in the 2nd half last night than they did in the 1st, but still beat us on the scoreboard. Had they shot anywhere near 40% in the second half we would have had a real game.
Prediction: Charlotte by 6[/QUOTE]
Who knows, maybe slowing it down would be a good thing. With as many turnovers as we had, keeping the ball in Mitchâs hands as much as possible early in possessions probably isnât a bad thing.
There is simply no excuse for not beating this team by double digitsâŠI donât care what type of history we have!
We play 10 guys, they have 6. If we arenât careless with the ball (TOs and shooting ill advised shots), we win by 12+.
If they really play only 6, theyâll run out of gas 5 minutes into the second half.
If they really play only 6, they'll run out of gas 5 minutes into the second half.
Yup, especially with Vukusic playing 40 minutes last night. Also you have to factor in all the late-night partying at Laramie. :biggrin:
We always have trouble with teams like this. St. Louis in purple. Donât countcha chickens juz yet!
To me, this game is a test of whether Lutz is the coach that can take us to a national championship.
In the past Saint Louis and most memorably NC State has eaten us up using the style of play that Northwestern uses.
If we can come into this game and control the tempo, we could easily win by 20+ points. But its all about forcing our tempo as opposed to Northwestern forcing their style of play.
If we dominate Northwestern, clearly Lutz can coach at a level condusive to championship caliber, if we lose, then Lutz may keep us in the Top 40 every year, but we will probably never win the big one while he coaches.
[QUOTE=HappyCamper49;139295]
If we dominate Northwestern, clearly Lutz can coach at a level condusive to championship caliber, if we lose, then Lutz may keep us in the Top 40 every year, but we will probably never win the big one while he coaches.[/QUOTE]
Is this even still a question? I thought Lutz already proved this. He has for the past several years.
[QUOTE=HappyCamper49;139295]To me, this game is a test of whether Lutz is the coach that can take us to a national championship.
In the past Saint Louis and most memorably NC State has eaten us up using the style of play that Northwestern uses.
If we can come into this game and control the tempo, we could easily win by 20+ points. But its all about forcing our tempo as opposed to Northwestern forcing their style of play.
If we dominate Northwestern, clearly Lutz can coach at a level condusive to championship caliber, if we lose, then Lutz may keep us in the Top 40 every year, but we will probably never win the big one while he coaches.[/QUOTE]
Hear, hear! I remember what Princeton did to us a few years back in a tourney like this. WE LOST! Even though we clearly had the âbetter talentâ.