After
Northwestern beat N.C. State on Tuesday, a reporter asked NU coach Bill Carmody
if this was one of his best NU teams.
"I
don't know," he replied. "I didn't think it was a week ago."
Not
after Butler crushed the Wildcats at home, and they needed a game-ending 12-1
run to beat Tennessee State by seven.
But
then came five days of nirvana - victories over Notre Dame, Iowa State and N.C.
State that pushed their record to 6-1. And now comes a breather: The athlete-students
revert to being student-athletes, cramming for papers and finals before
returning to the court Dec. 13 to face North Carolina A&T
at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Photo: Northwestern John Shurna battles Josh Davis of N.C. State for the ball Tuesday. (Ethan Hyman/AP)
A
few items to tide you over until then:
*Kevin
Coble underwent surgery Wednesday in Glenview for what the school described as ligament
damage (as opposed to a bone fracture) to his left foot. The rest/rehab period
is expected to be four months.
*Despite
beating three straight previously undefeated teams, the Wildcats rank a mere 75th
in the Pomeroy ratings at kenpom.com. Pomeroy isn't all that impressed with
Notre Dame (No. 113), Iowa State (74) and N.C. State (88). In case there's any
question about Pomeroy's legitimacy, last year NU's Pomeroy rank was 70th
and its RPI was 79th.
*While
players study and stop in for optional workouts, the coaches are on the road
recruiting.
*How's
this for defense? Notre Dame had been averaging 86.8 points per game, then
scored 58 against the Wildcats. Iowa State shot 40.4 percent, 10 points lower
than its season average. N.C State (44.3 percent for the season, 33.9 percent
vs. the Wildcats) suffered similarly against NU's 1-3-1 zone.
I wanted to thank you for this excellent read!! I definitely loved every little bit of it. I have you bookmarked your site to check out the latest stuff you post.
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By Teddy Grenstein
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I wanted to thank you for this excellent read!! I definitely loved every little bit of it. I have you bookmarked your site to check out the latest stuff you post.