March 11, 2004
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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -
It has been a heady season for followers of Northwestern men's basketball, but there is still much work to be done.
The Wildcats were unable to break over the .500 mark in their regular-season finale, dropping a 63-56 decision to Michigan in front of a raucous Welsh-Ryan Arena crowd last Saturday. With the loss, Northwestern finished the campaign with an 8-8 Big Ten record and landed in the sixth spot for this weekend's Big Ten Tournament; however, the crusher was that the 'Cats finished with a 13-14 overall mark, dimming hopes of a postseason bid that would have provided tangible evidence this program is headed in the right direction.
There is plenty on the table to support the argument already, not the least of which was the fact that a win Saturday would have locked Northwestern in as the fourth seed for this weekend's event. That would have been the loftiest seeding the 'Cats have had in the seven years of the Big Ten Tournament (sixth is still NU's best; the previous high was seventh, in 2002). The leaps in the four years since Bill Carmody arrived as head coach have been quantum, with perhaps this fact being the most telling: when he got to Northwestern, the Wildcats were mired in a 15-game home losing streak against conference opponents. Since that streak was broken (late in Carmody's first season), NU is 16-11 in Big Ten home games. This season, only two Big Ten teams-Michigan State and the Wolverines-emerged from Welsh-Ryan with a victory, and the list of Northwestern's vanquished foes includes the top two seeds in this weekend's tournament, No. 1 Illinois and No. 2 Wisconsin.
Northwestern's success has not been limited to Welsh-Ryan Arena. Teams have rolled the red carpet out for the Wildcats in the past, but this season they found their guests to be less-than-hospitable. NU won at Iowa and Purdue, and gave several other teams all they could handle before falling in the end.
Northwestern enters this weekend knowing that the task ahead is daunting. To win the championship and earn an NCAA bid, the 'Cats have to win four games in four days. To even gain postseason eligibility (read: NIT), they need to knock off Penn State Thursday and then follow it up with a win against a Michigan State team that will have had 10 days of rest by the time they tip off Friday (also a Spartan squad that swept NU during the regular season). And they have to do this with essentially five players (Evan Seacat is still questionable several weeks after his concussion against Penn State on Feb. 14, and Ivan Tolic and Vince Scott play limited minutes).
But it is March and it is the Madness, so anything can happen. To borrow a line from the folks here in Indy: Gentlemen, start your engines!
