Nov. 14, 2007
NU Men's Basketball Game Notes vs. Stanford 
EVANSTON, Ill. -
Northwestern opens its 2007-08 men's basketball season at home Thursday as it takes on No. 20 Stanford at 8 p.m. at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The contest will be televised live by the Big Ten Network with Dave Revsine and Shon Morris on the call.
The contest can also be heard on WGN Radio (720 AM) with Dave Eanet and David Kaplan.
Northwestern is 5-2 in home openers and 4-3 in season openers under head coach Bill Carmody. Last year, the Wildcats dropped a 64-61 home decison to Cornell in the first game of the season.
Carmody enters his eighth season at the helm of the Wildcats, having posted 95 wins over his first seven campaigns. The total ranks as the winningest seven-season stretch in school history. This year's squad will be out to earn double-digit wins for the eighth straight year, an accomplishment that has been achieved only once before in the history of the program (1931-38).
This year's young Northwestern squad features just one senior to go along with five juniors, four sophomores and four freshmen. In fact, the Wildcats' starting lineup in their exhibition game against the University of Chicago last Wednesday featured three freshmen (Nikola Baran, Mike Capocci and Michael Thompson).
Last Time Out
Northwestern opened and closed the books on its preseason schedule last Wednesday with an 84-76 victory over the University of Chicago at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Freshman Mike Capocci led the way for NU in scoring and rebounding with 18 points, on 7-of-14 shooting, to go along with his nine boards. Sterling Williams also nearly missed a double-double, chipping in 16 points, on 7-of-10 shooting from the free throw line with eight rebounds. NU dominated Chicago in the paint, outscoring the Maroons 42-21, while grabbing 37 boards. Their scrappy play inside earned the 'Cats 17 second-chance points. In the first half, the Wildcats buried Chicago from beyond the arc, shooting 46.2 percent, while making 48.3 percent overall from the floor. The 'Cats also turned up the heat on the defensive end of the court, forcing 11 Maroon turnovers, while coughing it up just four times themselves. Northwestern led by as many as 19 with nine minutes to go before Chicago chipped away to make the final score more respectable. Jason Okrzesik finished with 15 points and freshman point guard Michael Thompson contributed 14 points and five assists.
Scouting Stanford
Stanford is 3-0 for the first time since starting the 2003-04 campaign 26-0. The Cardinal is averaging 91.7 points per game so far this season.
The Cardinal is coming off a 67-48 win over UC Santa Barbara Sunday, the team's third game in as many days. Anthony Goods led Stanford with 23 points en route to being named MVP of the Basketball Travelers Classic.
Brook Lopez, a 7-0 sophomore forward who was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team and was an honorable mention All-Pac-10 selection last season, is academically ineligible for the fall quarter.
Trent Johnson is in his fourth season as the head coach at Stanford. He enters Thursday's game with a 55-40 record with the Cardinal. Prior to coming to The Farm, Johnson spent five years as the head coach at Nevada where he led the Wolf Pack to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament in 2004. He also had Division I assistant coaching stints at Stanford, Rice, Washington and Utah.
Home is Where the Start is
Northwestern will be playing its season opener at Welsh-Ryan Arena for the 27th time in the last 31 seasons. The Wildcats started out at home 18 straight seasons from 1977-94. The only time NU has started out with a true road game to start the season during the stretch was at San Diego State Nov. 24, 1995. Northwestern opened up at a neutral site with the BCA Invitational in 2001 and 2005 and the Top of the World Classic in 2004.
Big Ten's Big Start
The Big Ten Conference has gotten the 2007-08 season off to a hot start. Through games played Tuesday, the Big Ten was the last remaining undefeated conference in the nation. The conference's schools have combined to win each of their first 11 games. Michigan and Ohio State have won their first two contests, while Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota and Penn State have each been victorious once.
League Slate Expands to 18 Games
Fans of Big Ten Conference schools will have more league games to look forward to this season as the schedule expands from 16 games to 18. The only two games Northwestern will now miss out on this season will be against Illinois at home and at Penn State. NU will play all eight of the other schools both home and away. Because of the added conference games, the Wildcats have just 11 non-conference matchups on its schedule, the team's fewest since it also had 11 in the 2003-04 season.
Coble Takes Leave From Program
Northwestern sophomore forward Kevin Coble, a Big Ten All-Freshman Team selection a year ago, is currently taking a break from the men's basketball program to be with his mother in his hometown of Phoenix while she undergoes cancer treatments. Coble remains enrolled in classes and is eligible to return to the team when he feels the time is appropriate. He led the Wildcats in both scoring and rebounding last season, making him the first freshman in school history to accomplish the feat.
Wildcats Return Solid Nucleus
The Wildcats welcome back three starters and nine letterwinners from last year's team which went 13-18 overall. With Kevin Coble currently out of the lineup, Craig Moore is NU's top returning scorer at 8.1 points per game. Northwestern started three freshmen in its exhibition contest, as guard Michael Thompson was joined by forwards Mike Capocci and Nikola Baran.
Northwestern On the Small Screen
The Wildcats will get plenty of national exposure this season with the advent of the Big Ten Network. For the first time ever, all of Northwestern's home games will be available for viewing. A total of 18 NU games will be shown on the BTN, while four more will be seen on BigTenNetwork.com. The Wildcats' game at Virginia is slated to be televised by ESPNU, the home game against Penn State is on ESPN2 and the contest against Michigan State at home will be on either ESPN or ESPN2. The home game against Iowa will be shown on a network to be determined. In all, 26 of the 29 regular season games will be produced for broadcast.
Up Next...
Northwestern faces its biggest nonconference rival Saturday as it takes on intra-city foe DePaul at Allstate Arena. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. Last season, the Wildcats topped the Blue Demons 49-39 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Craig Moore led a balanced NU scoring effort with 10 points.