Hoopraker

1st Person Game Dispatch:

November 10, 2006
Evanston, Illinois
Cornell 64 Northwestern 61

As I suggested in my preseason remarks, Northwestern’s current roster is better suited to Ivy League competition. Middling Ivy League competition. Their home opening performance against Cornell is Exhibit A. This was a nip and tuck affair from tip to buzzer.

The Wildcats debuted a starting lineup of Craig Moore, Sterling Williams, Vince Scott, Tim Doyle, and frosh Kevin Coble. Let’s start with the positives. Kevin Coble is the best basketball player Bill Carmody has lured to Evanston. If he sticks around he has a chance to be an all-time Wildcat. It isn’t hard to see why he was a 27 point scorer in high school. He has the kind of scorer’s mentality and confidence that is desperately needed at NU. Will he remain patient with the program or will he be yet another difference making player to grow impatient and jettison to greener pastures? Jeff Ryan is another frosh of impact. His steal and coast to coast layup was a display of athleticism and basket attacking moxie that has been in dire supply under Carmody. The Rice transfer Jason Okrzesik is another gamer who should make some nice contributions. These three are the kind of recruits that should be the rule at NU. Carmody should’ve been bringing in this caliber of ballplayer from the beginning. Why has it taken so long? Hopefully his 2007 commits Mike Capocci and Michael Thompson will continue the trend.

It’s an imperative because Carmody’s upperclass holdovers on display tonight ranged from developmentally frozen to simply not Big Ten caliber. While it is early to apply blanket indictments, the performances of his returnees were inauspicious. It leads me to a nagging question. What exactly do Carmody’s players do in the offseason? Do they stick around Evanston for workouts, team oriented development? Does Carmody expect enough of them? It strikes me as a prerequisite to success in D1 that teams use springs and summers to develop both individual skills and team cohesion, chemistry. Looking at his key returnees tonight failed to provide much evidence of transformative summers. NU is a program that depends on maximization of limited basketball capital. This has to be a program where the players outwork, outsmart, outdedicate the competition. This is simply the price of doing business at NU. It’s not clear Carmody fully understands this burden.

Props to Cornell’s strong road effort. Sophomore Adam Gore is a fantastic college basketball player. He plays with the passion and tireless enthusiasm of someone who loves the game for all the right reasons. Add to that he is a pure shooter with unlimited range and a quick release. The Monrovia, IN schoolboy is probably no more than 5′7″ in his high-tops and was reportedly recruited only by Cornell and Yale. Carmody would be lucky to have eleven guys with Gore’s work ethic, gamesmanship and productivity. He was the best player on the floor tonight and he was an inspiration to watch.

Posted by DJ Elsass on Sunday, November 12th, 2006 at 6:04 am.