Much like the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team (13-4, 3-2), the Northwestern Wildcats men’s basketball team (8-8, 0-5) stumbled out of the gates at the start of the Big Ten season, losing its first two conference games. But as the Badgers were able to right their ship, Bill Carmody and his team are still searching for their first conference win while currently sitting in last place in the Big Ten.
It’s been a tough stretch for the Wildcats, as five of their first seven games have been on the road, while having to face Iowa and red-hot Michigan on their home floor.
“It is always tough to go out on the road in conference, because everyone knows how important it is to defend your court,” Carmody said. “In fact, the thing that has disappointed me the most so far is that we did not defend ours in the two chances we had.”
Last season, the Wildcats were able to ride their home-court advantage to a 5-1 record in their Welsh-Ryan Arena down the stretch of the last few conference games. The Wildcats finished the 2002 Big Ten season with a 7-9 record with wins over Minnesota, Michigan State and Wisconsin.
However, the Wildcats will remain on the road for two more games, including tonight’s matchup against Wisconsin, where the Wildcats have not won since 1996. After the Badgers fell 69-60 last season in Evanston, the Badgers swarmed the Wildcats 73-44 at the Kohl Center for one of the Badgers’ six consecutive wins to end the regular season.
This year, the Wildcats are without the services of Tavaras Hardy and Collier Drayton, as both were lost to graduation.
“When I think about those two guys, I think they were our best competitors; they played hard and played to win,” Carmody said of Hardy and Drayton. “With so many young guys, you’re never sure how they’re going to jump from high school to the Big Ten. The loss of competitiveness will be harder to replace than the on-court stuff.”
The Wildcats, absent of all but five upperclassmen, have relied on the scoring of several younger players who have developed quite well for Carmody in 2003.
Freshman T.J. Parker has led the way for Northwestern, averaging 12.9 points on 54.9 percent shooting as well as 2.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists per contest.
Parker and junior Jitim Young have formed quite a backcourt duo for the Wildcats. Young is averaging 12.1 points per game along with 4.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists.
Underneath, senior Aaron Jennings, who is averaging 12.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per contest, aids the Wildcats. Freshman Jimmy Maley and senior Jason Burke round out the Wildcat starting five, with forward/guard Winston Blake providing versatility off the bench.
Much like UW, Northwestern doesn’t run more than eight deep, making the players depend on each other to get through bad stretches.
Now in his third season in Evanston, Carmody is still searching for the success he had in his four seasons as head coach at Princeton University. Carmody posted a 119-57 record at Princeton, while posting a 27-32 record in his past two seasons at Northwestern. While his numbers at Northwestern don’t seem much more than mediocre, Carmody has transformed the basketball program to much more than it was before.
As testament to his great coaching mind, Sports Illustrated named Carmody the best offensive coach in all of college basketball, and in 2001-02, he was voted by SI as one of the top 15 coaches in the game.
Carmody will try to find his first win at the Kohl Center tonight as the Wildcats square off against the Badgers.
