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The Daily Northwestern's annual basketball issue.TRANSCRIPT
TIP OFFTIP OFFTHE DAILY NORTHWESTERN
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2008
BIG CHANGES FOR NU FIVE NEW RECRUITS ARE OUT TO CHANGE WILDCATS BASKETBALL
BY ADAM FUSFELD, PAGE 4
Northwestern basketball was for-ever changed in the spring.
Coach Bill Carmody finished signing a recruiting class that
would significantly change the complexion of the Wildcats’ roster. After going 1-17 in the conference with a team that had a player no taller than 6-foot-8, there was nowhere to look but up.
Now, some of the conference’s smaller players might be looking up at some of NU’s players with the addition of four big men, in-cluding 7-foot-2 Kyle Rowley and 6-foot-11 Luka Mirkovic.
And those two might be coming off the bench.
The women too added a big player to their program. Except this one is on the sideline.
The hiring of Joe McKeown, who has won more than 500 games in his coaching career and had only one losing season in 19 years at George Washington, gave the program an air of confidence it has not had in a while.
Under Beth Combs, NU went 24-95. The program seemed lifeless as the team com-pleted an injury-riddled season that ended with, like the men, only one Big Ten victory.
McKeown has already breathed life into the program, bringing his winning experi-ence and an aggressive defensive style of play. No one can argue with his track record.
He missed a postseason tournament only once at George Washington and took his team to the round of 16 four times, including the past two years.
Expectations for both teams have risen with the new arrivals. Not meeting those ex-pectations could be disastrous.
This is truly the most important season in Northwestern basketball history. This is the season where both the men’s and women’s teams either begin their climb to decency or continue to wallow in the basement of the Big Ten.
There is no getting around it at this point.After years of struggles — the men’s team
has not reached the postseason since the 1999 NIT and the women have not played postseason basketball since the 1997 NCAA tournament — there is a strong belief that both teams can turn it around in the next couple of seasons.
Postseason success is not going to come this year. But a step in that direction is cer-tainly within reach for both teams.
It is not a stretch for anyone to think Car-
mody is on the hot seat after winning only three conference games the last two years.
He has had only one winning season in nine years at NU. This year’s team must make significant progress toward the .500 mark this season for him to save his job with a new athletic director and a new school president on his way.
But adding some depth to the front court and returning some experienced players in junior Kevin Coble and senior Craig Moore (not to mention the other three starters from last year’s team) creates some sort of perfect storm that points in a positive direction.
It is probably wishful thinking to say McKeown will immediately turn the Cats into one of the best teams in the Big Ten.
But it is certainly believable that, with the return of junior Kristin Cartwright, who red-shirted last season with a knee injury, and the continued maturity and development of soph-omore Amy Jaeschke, that this team could finish above last place in the conference.
This season will be a baseline for future years. How the team does this season will set the tone for the next four years and far beyond that.
Otherwise they could both fall into the depths of the Big Ten for a very long time.
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Get ready for the most important season in NU history
Daily SportS
rossman-reichPhiliP
INSIDE TIP OFF TiP OFF ROSTER
NEW SEASON AT A GLANCEWhat do players from around the Big Ten think of NU? Playing the Cats is much more a challenge than their record indicates.
THREE’S COMPANYThe 3-point line was moved back a foot this year. What effect will the change have on the Cats this season and on college basketball?
WOMEN’S PREVIEWAfter struggling through a season full of injuries, a change of attitude has things looking up.
BIG TEN BREAKDOWNWhat will the conference look like at the end of the year? Can Wisconsin repeat or will Purdue win? The Daily has your answers.
TiPOFF EdiTORPhiliP Rossman-Reich
aSSiSTanT EdiTORSchRis Gentilviso, BRian ReGan,
andRew simon
dESignERtRevoR seela
REPORTERSdanny daly
matt foRmanadam fusfeldRoBBie levin
RodGeR sheRman
PhOTOgRaPhERStalia alBeRts
stePhen Blackman
Stephen Blackman/the daily northweStern
Both men’s coach Bill Carmody, in his 10th season, and new women’s coach Joe McKeown need to show progress this season.
Tip Off editor Philip Rossman-Reich is a Medill junior. He can be reached at [email protected].
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TIP OFF2 wednesday, november 12, 2008
45
68
By Danny Dalythe daily northwestern
Northwestern’s hiring of Joe McKeown to be its next women’s basketball coach this off-season was met with a lot of raised eyebrows from coaches and athletic directors across the country.
Their surprise had nothing to do with doubts about McKeown’s qualifications for the job — he is universally respected in the coach-ing community and holds the George Wash-ington and Atlantic 10 records for career wins.
But why would McKeown, who has never suffered a losing season as a head coach, choose to leave the Colonials after back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances for a team that has gone 7-59 in Big Ten play during the past four seasons?
After all, he has had numerous other chances to bolt from George Washington. McKeown declined two opportunities to jump to the WNBA, in 1997 to become the first coach of the New York Liberty and two years later to lead the Washington Mystics.
He almost replaced current Ohio State coach Jim Foster at Vanderbilt in 2002 but de-cided to stay put, and the year before McKe-own was a candidate to become the men’s coach for the Colonials when the university hired Karl Hobbs.
But out of all of those possibilities, the po-sition he finally left for was the one at NU.
“The potential of Northwestern and the energy Jim Phillips brings as athletic director intrigued me,” McKeown said. “And obviously being in the Big Ten, a great conference, and the Big Ten Network and getting that type of exposure, and being able to recruit the stu-dent-athlete like I had at GW.”
He said timing was also a big part of his
decision. He was looking to move his family to an area that had better schools for his son. Plus, considering his age, the 52-year-old coach figured he might not get another chance to switch jobs that was this ideal.
The challenge of rebuilding an NU pro-gram that has not finished higher than ninth in the Big Ten since the 1996-1997 season is a daunting one. But coaches around the confer-ence expect the Wildcats to show significant improvement as early as this year.
“He will make an incredibly fast impact at Northwestern,” Wisconsin coach Lisa Stone said. “He’s been successful, he has a way of getting his philosophy across to his players and he’s just a proven winner.”
One of McKeown’s first orders of business has been to implement his system on the court.
He said the team would try to open up the floor on offense and be more fast-paced. Defensively, he is encouraging a more physi-cal style of play and said the players need to improve their rebounding. The Cats should bring more full-court pressure than in years past as well.
According to senior guard Erin Dickerson, McKeown’s philosophy is completely different from that of his predecessor, Beth Combs.
“Pretty much he’s changed everything,” Dickerson said. “He wants us to attack. Last year it was more, ‘Let’s get back in a zone, let’s slow it down.’ He wants to pick the tempo up.”
The team atmosphere is also completely different from last winter.
McKeown said the most important thing was for the players to put last season behind them and start fresh. Dickerson and sopho-more center Amy Jaeschke both sense a more relaxed and exciting environment.
“He’s a really funny guy,” Jaeschke said of her new coach. “Our practices are really seri-
ous, but sometimes he’ll crack jokes just to loosen everyone up. That’s something kind of different — we’re allowed to have fun. There’s a lot more optimism.”
There are many challenges that a first-year coach faces in any league, and despite his ex-perience, McKeown is no exception.
As with any new hire, he inherits a group of players he did not recruit and who might not fit his style. It takes time for
them to learn new schemes and for the coach to get a feel for his players’ strengths and weaknesses.
Another issue is the competitiveness of the Big Ten. Although McKeown’s teams at George Washington were among the best in the country, the team did not play in as tough a conference as NU will.
McKeown mapping course for NU to succeedCoach brings experience of 500-plus wins to turn around struggling program
Stephen Blackman/Daily northweStern
Coach Joe McKeown, who only had one losing season in 19 years at George Washington, knows it will be a long road to bring NU to the top. But it starts with laying a foundation in this year’s team.
See mckeown, page 7
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TIP OFF wednesday, november 12, 2008 3
Back to the weight roomThe Cats won just one Big Ten game a season
ago. After a season-ending 55-52 loss to Minne-sota, the team set out to improve upon last year’s disappointing campaign.
“We focused on a lot of lifting, weight train-ing,” Coble said. “That’s something that’s been a deficiency for us, and I think we really improved upon that.”
Senior guard Craig Moore said that every-one, including himself, eats healthier. Nutrition helped aid his marked turnaround last season from his sluggish sophomore season.
Moore added that the team played an in-creased number of pickup games, helping
the team bond. With its increased dedication and
preparation, the team can improve upon last year’s 8-22 record.
“Absolutely, this is the most confident I’ve been heading into a season,” Coble said. “Hopefully things come to-
gether how we’re envisioning, and if it does, it’s something that could be pretty special.”
on the reBoundA season ago, Northwestern was killed on
the glass. The Wildcats finished with a re-bounding margin of minus-10.8, one of only two teams with a negative margin in the Big Ten. They averaged 24 rebounds per game, whereas the next closest team averaged 33.7 per contest.
“Last year, I’d go down the bench, and I’d look at my assistants and go, ‘Get him the heck out of there,’“ coach Bill Carmody said, shaking his head. “Now I think I can look down and get somebody else in there.”
Junior Kevin Coble averaged 5.4 boards per game to lead the Cats. Carmody said Coble was the team’s third-best rebounder, but the team’s lack of size led to his increased produc-tion. With that in mind, Carmody recruited four freshmen standing at 6-foot-8 or taller.
“It will be good,” Coble said of the team’s in-crease in size. “It will move everybody to more of their traditional positions, where they should be playing. It was hard on us last year, but this should help us a lot.”
TIP OFF4 wednesday, november 12, 2008 TIP OFF wednesday, november 12, 2008 5
By Matt ForManthe daily northwestern
One minute left in regulation. Northwest-ern down by one. Sterling Williams takes the ball at the top of the key and passes to the right wing. Craig Moore accepts the pass and lines up a 3-pointer.
It’s good. The Wildcats would hold onto the 62-60
lead against Michigan and win their only Big Ten game of last season.
This season, Moore’s game-winning shot would have to be a foot longer.
Twenty years ago, the NCAA made one of the most significant rule changes in college basketball history by implementing the three-point line. Now, the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Committee decided the line needed to be pushed back. The line was pushed back exactly one foot to 20 feet, 9 inches. The com-mittee did not widen the size of the lane, how-ever.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo put it plainly: Anytime there is a rule change, coaches want to do two things — offensively, exploit and take advantage of it and defen-sively, make sure it doesn’t hurt the team.
The rule change came in an effort to make a three-point shot more difficult and free up open space in the lane, where there was jammed-up, physical play.
“I don’t think a three-point shot that could determine the outcome of a game should be
of little risk and great reward,” Izzo said. “I think it should be great risk, great reward.”
In the 2003-04 season, the Big Ten had five players shoot over 40 percent from 3-point range, and the team that had the best against 3-point shots allowed 29.5 per-cent of long-range shots to fall. Last year, 11 players shot over 40 percent, and the best defense allowed 31.1 percent.
Now, each level of play has its own line. Women’s basketball will keep the 19-foot-
9-inch line, international basketball will play with a line three inches shorter than the men’s college line and the NBA will keep its line at 23 feet, 9 inches.
“It’s almost like we all want our own iden-tity,” Izzo said. “Pretty soon, we’re going to have 63 lines on the court.”
Regardless of the line placement on the Welsh-Ryan Arena floor, the Cats will have to familiarize themselves with the new distance.
Last season, then-junior Craig Moore took 242 3-point shots, third most in the Big Ten, and made 97 of them, second most in the conference. But NU coach Bill Carmody does not think the extra foot will impact his sharp-shooter’s 40 percent success rate.
“Craig shoots from way out,” Carmody said. “He doesn’t worry about a foot, but maybe some guys do.”
A season ago, then-freshman Michael Thompson shot 43.3 percent from long dis-tance, and then-sophomore Kevin Coble went 38.9 percent on treys, rounding out the Cats’ plethora of long-range options.
In Thursday’s exhibition game loss to Rob-ert Morris (Ill.) College, NU shot 5-for-22 from beyond the new arc.
Fellow Big Ten coaches and players echoed Carmody’s opinion at Big Ten Media Day that shooters will continue to shoot.
“Shooting percentages will stay the same,” said Purdue forward Robbie Hummel, the conference’s pre-season player of the year. “But you will be able to tell who the real shooters are.”
The added spacing should help NU’s Princeton offense, which relies on constant motion and back-door cuts. As defenders ex-tend out to the 3-point line, a player on the wing can move toward the basket and receive a bounce pass, leading to an easy layup. If teams clog the lane to block passes into the post, players like Moore will have increased space and time to take a 3-point shot.
But the biggest impact may come on de-fense where the added spacing means more ground to cover. Players will be less inclined to support in the post.
“We’re going to play more zone,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said. “I think you will see more experimentation with zones and things like that, if I were guessing.”
NU runs a 1-3-1 zone defense, which
helps apply pressure on the outside and al-lows for trapping. With the extended 3-point arc, the Cats may more easily induce turn-overs along the sideline.
Teams will have added difficulty covering legitimate forwards and centers with prolific post moves. Gifted post players will have added room to work because the lane width has not been adjusted accordingly. The mid-range jump shot should have more impact, as well, where defenses will have to focus more attention than in years past.
Only time will tell what the real impact the lengthened 3-point line will have on col-lege basketball and NU. But several Cats pro-vided their insights on the topic.
“The muscle memory when you shoot for 10 years at the same 3-point line, you’re not thinking about it. You just shoot,” Moore said. “You’ve trained your body to shoot the same way,” Moore said. “I don’t think it’s going to impact my game too much, I try to (extend my range). I’m not going to be thinking about it at all. I just got in the gym and shot and shot and shot so that it’s natural.”
Moore added that he knows missed shots will fall short or hit the front of the rim this year. And Coble said he thinks the new line should help the team’s unique styles of play offensively and defensively.
“It will help us because people are spread out,” We can cut a little bit better. It’ll keep the middle and the lane open. Defensively, we will make some adjustments and not give teams any open looks.”
By adaM FusFeldthe daily northwestern
Though coach Bill Carmody is known for teaching players his complex offense, he, like many coaches before him, have not been able to teach size in recent years. The Wildcats did not have a player taller than 6-foot-8 last year after the graduation of 6-foot-10 center Vince Scott, leading to struggles in the physical Big Ten.
So he went out and recruited size.Joining a squad that remains mostly in-
tact from last season are five freshmen, four of whom are at least 6-foot-8 or taller, something the team did not even have last season. Highly-touted centers Kyle Rowley (7-foot) and Luka Mirkovic (6-foot-11) are two of the tallest players NU has had since Evan Eschmeyer (6-foot-11) graduated and was drafted in the second round of the NBA Draft in 1999. They figure to help re-shape a team that struggled last year, es-pecially in the post.
“It will move everyone to more of their traditional position where they should be
playing,” said junior Kevin Coble, a for-ward who was forced to defend bigger players at times last year. “I was playing down low last year, and a lot of our guys were playing out of position. So this will move them to where they should be, and I think it will help us a lot.”
FiLLing the needThe Cats can use all the help they can
get after a dismal season last year in which they finished at the bottom of the Big Ten with just one win in 18 conference games, and an 8-22 overall record.
This year the big men will add a new el-ement to the Princeton offense that NU has run since Carmody began his tenure nine seasons ago.
“The big guys give us a presence down low in the paint,” sophomore guard Mi-chael Thompson said. “That gives the guards a lot of options when we go to the basket we have someone to drop it off to or if the defense collapses on the paint we can kick it out to our shooters.”
Carmody’s teams have not had a lot of stellar big men. Scott and current assistant coach Tavaras Hardy, who is 10th in school history for total rebounds, were two of the more successful post players since Car-mody became head coach in 2000.
But the Princeton offense does not re-quire a physical low post threat. It de-mands a more agile and versatile center.
The Princeton offense involves a com-plex system of perimeter passing and pre-cision cutting to give the historically un-dersized Cats a chance at easy points close to the basket. The system is completely different from the physical style that the rest of the Big Ten teams play. It forces op-ponents to play out of their comfort zone.
“I hate guarding their offense,” Michi-gan State center Goran Suton said. “It al-ways causes trouble with the backdoor (cuts), and a lot of guys can shoot the ball, so it’s always a tough game.”
Piecing it togetherCrucial to NU’s success this season is
fitting the big men into the Princeton of-fense.
Recent Cats centers used perimeter shooting and passing, rather than traditional interior play. Carmody believes that the 7-foot Rowley will surprise some people with his perimeter dexterity, but he still must work hard to integrate himself into the movement-oriented offense.
He and the other players have to find a way to integrate their skills into the com-plex offense.
“It’s a learning process,” Rowley said.
“I’m getting better at it every day spending time in practice. The coaches are doing a great job of helping me feel comfortable with it and just expanding my game.”
Defensively the size will help immedi-ately on the rebounding front.
Last season, the Cats averaged almost 11 fewer rebounds per game than their oppo-nents. Carmody knows that the improved size could be vital to lessening this margin.
“If they were no good (last year), then just the fact that they are all three inches taller would help,” he said. “But they are pretty good. I feel good about our possibili-ties on the backboards.”
NU showed its newfound rebounding skill at times in last Thursday’s exhibition loss to Robert Morris (Ill.) College. The Cats were outrebounded by five in that game, but grabbed 17 offensive boards. Freshman forward John Shurna grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the team. Fellow fresh-man Davide Curletti added seven in his first game.
“I like grabbing a lot of offensive re-bounds so I hope that will work well on the offensive end,” Curletti said.“Me and Johnny (Shurna) did pretty well against Robert Morris, we probably should have had even more (rebounds) on the offensive end.”
a growing strengthWith size down low, and an increased
propensity for grabbing loose rebounds,
the Cats could improve their 1-3-1 zone defense. Though the defense was inconsis-tent last season, it has always been effec-tive in frustrating opponents.
“1-3-1. I hate it,” Ohio State guard Da-vid Lighty said. “You’ve got to know what you’re doing with the ball before things happen, or else you’re going to end up turning the ball over (against NU) like me.”
In the past two seasons the Cats have won a combined three conference games so the squad can improve. The size of the newcomers and a new focus on weight-training this off-season will prepare the Cats to combine their mental game with the more physical brand of basketball that other teams play in the Big Ten.
Coble said the team focused on weight lifting during the offseason to improve the team’s strength, something he said has been one of the team’s weaknesses.
As a team that is now ready to play a more physical game and as a team that brings back its entire starting five from the end of last year, the Cats finally have ex-pectations, albeit tempered ones, to be competitive in conference play this year.
“We’ve got so many guys coming back,” Coble said. “Then this new blood of all the freshmen coming in, I think is going to be a big boost for us. Hopefully things come together how we’re all envisioning it.”
the PerFect (Big) man?In order for the Princeton offense to
work to perfection, a powerful big man needs to operate in the post. In 7-foot, 280-pound freshman Kyle Rowley, Car-mody found an interior presence who could be a centerpiece to the of-fense.
Rowley, an Arima, Trinidad na-tive, attended school at Lake Forest Academy (Ill.) for the last two sea-sons. He has displayed a strong work ethic, losing considerable weight since moving to the United States.
“He’s not baby Ewing,” Carmody said. “I don’t know what the nickname will be for that guy, but he’s big, strong and smart. He’s got a little Caribbean culture in there, so I’ve got to make sure the guy’s consistently a hard worker. But he’s getting bet-ter every day.”
shurna a sLam dunkFreshman forward John Shurna
looks strikingly similar to Coble on paper at 6-foot-8, 210-pounds. And, just like Coble, Shurna provides ver-
satility. As a senior in high school,
Shurna averaged nearly 23 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks per
game. He also won the Illinois large-school slam-dunk contest. In
the past, Carmody has been criticized for restricting players’ ability to dunk. Don’t expect the ninth-year head coach
to restrict Shurna’s dunking ability. “What is this,” Carmody asked rhe-
torically about allowing Shurna to dunk “You’re speaking in the pejora-
tive there. Of course I would. Who doesn’t like to see a guy slam the ball? We just haven’t had that many guys who
could. You want Vince Scott or Aaron Jennings to slam the ball? Please.”
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Big Changes for nU
2008-2009 sCHeduleDate OppOnent timeNov. 16 CENTRAL ARKANSAS 1 p.m.Nov. 19 TEXAS A&M COPRUS CHRISTI 7 p.m.Nov. 22 at Brown 6 p.m.Nov. 26 at Butler 6 p.m.Dec. 1 UC RIVERSIDE 8 p.m.Dec. 3 FLORIDA STATE 8:30 p.m.Dec. 6 DEPAUL 2:30 p.m.Dec. 15 UMKC 7 p.m.Dec. 20 at Stanford 9 p.m.Dec. 23 SMU 7 p.m.Dec. 31 at Penn State 11 a.m.Jan. 3 MICHIGAN STATE 6 p.m.Jan. 7 at Wisconsin 7:30 p.m.Jan. 15 PURDUE 6 p.m.Jan. 18 MINNESOTA 1 p.m.Jan. 21 at Michigan State 5:30 p.m.Jan. 24 at Michigan 7 p.m.Jan. 28 INDIANA 7:30 p.m.Jan. 31 WISCONSIN 7 p.m.Feb. 4 CHICAGO STATE 7 p.m.Feb. 7 at Iowa 5 p.m.Feb. 12 ILLINOIS 8 p.m.Feb. 15 MICHIGAN 2 p.m.Feb. 18 OHIO STATE 8 p.m.Feb. 22 at Minnesota TBAFeb. 25 at Indiana 5:30 p.m.Feb. 28 IOWA 1 p.m.Mar. 3/4/5 at Purdue TBAMar. 8 at Ohio State 3 p.m.
e’twaun MooreSophomore Guard,
purdue
“The first thing I think of: that backdoor, that Princeton offense they run. It’s definitely a good sys-tem they run. That’s kind of hard to guard. That’s definitely one of the hardest teams to guard in the
Big Ten.”
Kalin luCasSophomore Guard,
michiGan State
“They have the Princeton of-fense with all the passing and cut-ting, cutting and screening. When you play them, you just have to talk all the time when you’re on de-fense. It takes a lot of preparation. They will hit you with a lot of slips,
pick and rolls, back doors.”
JaMal aBu-sHaMala Senior Guard,
minneSota
“They have great shooters, so you have to know where your man is at. It’s a tought style to play against because you don’t play against it that much. It’s not the physical banging that you play against, it’s more mental and those
guys are real smart.”
MarCus landrySenior forward,
wiSconSin
“That offense, that’s the first thing that comes to mind. And the day before we play Northwest-ern, that practice is something I don’t really look forward to. It’s crazy. That offense is very diffi-cult, and coach (Bo Ryan) doesn’t
like to get beat.”
2008-09 Quick Facts by Matt ForMan
around the riMWhen you think Northwestern basketball, what comes to mind? Here are the reactions of several top players around the Big Ten…
Keys to success Free throws
New 3-point line, new opportunitiesSmall lineup gets an upgradeiLLustration BY treVor seeLa/the daiLY northwestern
the nCaa moved the
men’s college 3-point line to
20 feet, 9 inches start-ing this year.
the nCaa kept the women’s 3-point line at 19 feet, 9 inches, the distance the nCaa estab-lished as the 3-point line in 1986.
the nBa 3-point line was established at 23 feet, 9
inches in 1980.
SizinG up the new 3-pointer
stepHen BlaCKMan/tHe daily nortHwestern
Davide Curletti and the other freshmen, must find a way to integrate the skills they already have with the skill necessary to succeed in NU’s offense.
John shurnaKevin Coble
stepHen BlaCKMan/tHe daily nortHwestern
Northwestern’s new players, like 7-footer Kyle Rowley, give the team a legitimate rebounding and low post threat. The additions should open the floor more for shooters and cutters to score.
daily File pHoto
Big Ten coaches say defenses will have to adjust to the added foot beneath the 3-point line more than shooters like NU ’s Craig Moore.
Note: please do NOT move the green guide. Our designers use that!
last year’s All-Big Ten freshman team de-spite missing nine games due to a fractured hand, believes that the time she spent on the bench last year gave her new insight into the game.
“When you’re sitting out you get to watch practice and see what the coaches want,” Jaeschke said. “You can tell a lot by watching players and trying to learn from the mistakes that your teammates are making.”
Thus far, with the exception of Marshall who will again miss the season because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament, the Cats’ new approach has helped them avoid injuries.
In terms of age, the Cats have a relatively young team, with three seniors, two juniors, seven sophomores and three freshmen — Brittany Orban and twins Allison and Mag-gie Mocchi. While NU had several different starting lineups last year, the team returned three players who started at least 20 games.
McKeown has also brought a new defen-sive philosophy to help the team improve. Jaeschke said the team’s new pressing and swarming style of defense will be the biggest change this year.
“This year, we’re going to be a different team because we’re working so hard on de-fense,” Jaeschke said. “I think that’s going to be the biggest improvement from last year.”
According to senior Julie Bielawski, the new positive atmosphere has not only helped the Cats during conditioning, it has also heightened the team’s desire to win. Bie-lawski, who has been a part of three other teams, sees something special in this team.
“This team just wants it more,” Bielawski said.
“I think in a lower conference, you’ve al-ready got easy wins on your schedule,” Minne-sota coach Pam Borton said. “Especially with the level he had his program at George Wash-ington, you can look at the schedule and say, ‘OK, tonight’s going to be an easy game.’ But it’s a battle and it’s a fight every night in the Big Ten.”
Changing the culture of losing at NU also will be a difficult task. It has been 10 years since the Cats last managed to win 10 games or more in a season, and the team has won only one Big Ten regular season title in its history. Last sea-son 20 of NU’s 26 losses were by double digits. McKeown already has started to change the players’ mindsets.
The next step is to alter public perception by being more competitive on the floor.
Fortunately, McKeown thinks the recruiting potential is brighter in Evanston. He said it should be easier to sell top prospects on playing in a renowned conference like the Big Ten, opening up a pool of players he could not attract to George Washington despite the program’s success. McKeown cited the example of Jae-schke, who was a high school All-American and could have gone anywhere in the country but chose NU.
“I think here we do have the ability, because of the Big Ten, because of Northwestern, be-cause of the campus, to go after the top student athletes in the country,” he said. “At GW we could get that next-level kid and make her bet-ter.”
It is hard to predict what kind of a season the Cats will have this winter. They were picked to finish last in both the preseason conference media and coaches’ polls. On the other hand, McKeown has won fewer than 19 games just once in his 22-year career, when he went 14-14 in his first year with the Colonials.
But in his first season McKeown is not nearly as concerned with wins and losses as he
is in seeing improvement and laying the groundwork for the future.
“I really think we’re going to gauge our suc-cess by the foundation that we build, not so much numbers and tournament appearances,” he said. “All those things will take care of them-selves if we can just build a solid work ethic and recruiting efforts and foundation with the play-ers that we have here. You got to be a little bit lucky, you got to stay healthy, things have to go your way, but the potential is here.”
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Adjusting attitude is Cats’ challengeAfter years of losing, new coach brings positive atmosphere
#21Jenny eckhart
Junior guard5-foot-9Carmel H.S., Libertyville, Ill.’07-’08: 6.3 PPGThe Buzz: Only player to start every game on last season’s team.
#20Meshia reed
Sophomore guard5-foot-8Stockbridge (Ga.) H.S., Country Club Hills, Ill.’07-’08: 9.1 PPGThe Buzz: The pleasant surprise from last year.
#22aMy Jaeschke
Sophomore center6-foot-5New Trier H.S., Wilmette, Ill.’07-’08: 13.5 PPGThe Buzz: Centerpiece of team should improve even more with experience.
#42ellen Jaeschke
Senior forward6-foot-3Cary H.S., Cary, Ill.’07-’08: 8.1 PPGThe Buzz: Led the team in offensive rebounds, good complement to cousin.
#32kristin cartwright
Junior forward5-foot-11Lake Forest, Lake Forest, Ill.’07-’08: Did Not PlayThe Buzz: Coming off injury last year, but key player from two years ago.
ProjecTed lineuP
By RoBBie Levinthe daily northwestern
The last time Northwestern competed in the NCAA Tournament, the team lost in the first round to a George Washington team led by one of the most successful coaches in the history of women’s basketball.
Flash forward 12 years — and zero win-ning seasons later — the Wildcats may have found the answer to their basketball woes. And it comes in the form of Joe McKeown, the coach of that George Washington team that beat them 12 years ago.
While McKeown brings with him 17 NCAA tournament appearances, a .745 ca-reer winning percentage, and 19 career 20-win seasons, he also brings a new attitude to Evanston. And coming off a season in which the Cats won only one Big Ten game, this new mentality may be the key to their future success.
“I think the biggest thing is really chang-ing the attitude of the people at Northwestern and Evanston about women’s basketball by letting them see what great people we have in this program and how talented these young ladies are,” McKeown said.
His first step is getting the team to move forward and forget about the struggles the program has had the last 12 years. The coach said he has not looked at game film of last year’s team and, in wiping that slate clean, is trying to instill a foundation for a winning mindset with the players he has.
“I think as a group, they really just want somebody to have a little confidence in them,” McKeown said. “Their confidence got shat-tered, I think, more than anything else. So, the natural instinct for me would be to be very positive and upbeat.”
Losing is something that McKeown is not used to. He has never coached a losing team in
his 22-year career. On t he ot her
hand, the Cats have not had a winning season since 1997 when they finished 17-11 and qualified for the NCAA tourna-ment. Since then, they have gone 69-240 overall and 22-160 in the Big Ten.
“The most impor-tant thing we can do is change the attitude of the whole program from negative to pos-it ive,” McKeown said. “I’m not so con-cerned about how many games we win. It ’s more how we play, how we prepare and what goes into that. Then, I think that winning will take care of itself.”
In addition to a revamped mindset, NU has a lso re-formed its condition-ing habits in an effort to prevent the inju-ries that plagued the team last year.
Of the 12 return-ing players, half of them were injured at some point last year. Three of them, Kaitlin McIn-erny, Beth Marshall and Kristin Cartwright, sustained season-ending injuries early in the season.
The injuries to key players last season hurt the team in its 5-26 finish.
“This year, we challenged (the team) in the summer to come back in better shape, and I think they’ve taken that on as a challenge,” McKeown said. “More than anything else, it’s just them wanting to have a great year.”
Sophomore Amy Jaeschke, a member of
Stephen BLackman/DaiLy noRthweSteRn
Sophomore center Amy Jaeschke fractured her hand in her first collegiate game. A new conditioning program hopes to keep her off the injured list.
Team has new desire for victory
Wins and losses far off McKeown’s mind
Stephen BLackman/DaiLy noRthweSteRn
The return of forward Kristin Cartwright from a knee injury will help the Cats immediately improve last year’s 5-26 season.
2008-09 schedUle
date OPPOnent tiMe
Nov. 14 at Chicago State 6 p.m.
Nov. 17 KANSAS STATE 8 p.m.
Nov. 20 HOUSTON BAPTIST 7 p.m.
Nov. 23 at Arkansas 3 p.m.
Nov. 29 WESTERN ILLINOIS 2 p.m.
Nov. 30 MISSOURI 3 p.m.
Dec. 2 MARQUETTE 8 p.m.
Dec. 4 at Clemson 6 p.m.
Dec. 14 at DePaul 2 p.m.
Dec. 16 TEXAS SOUTHERN 12 p.m.
Dec. 20 at Indiana 4 p.m.
Dec. 22 NORTH DAKOTA 1 p.m.
Dec. 28 at Michigan 1 p.m.
Dec. 31 OHIO STATE 1 p.m.
Jan. 4 WISCONSIN 5 p.m.
Jan. 8 at Michigan State 6 p.m.
Jan. 11 PURDUE 2 p.m.
Jan. 18 at Iowa 2 p.m.
Jan. 22 MICHIGAN STATE 7 p.m.
Jan. 25 at Minnesota 2 p.m.
Jan. 29 ILLINOIS 6 p.m.
Feb. 1 at Purdue 1 p.m.
Feb. 5 MICHIGAN 7 p.m.
Feb.12 at Illinois 7 p.m.
Feb. 15 at Ohio State 10 a.m.
Feb. 19 INDIANA 7 p.m.
Feb. 23 MINNESOTA 7 p.m.
Feb. 26 at Penn State TBA
March 1 IOWA TBASee women’S pReview, page 7
From women’S pReview, page 6
From mckeown, page 3
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Women's PrevieW
1. Michigan StateIf a team from this
conference is st i l l standing in April, ex-pect it to be Tom Izzo’s squad. Michigan State’s style will rely upon hustle, grit and de-fense. Junior forward Raymar Morgan, who averaged 16 points and six rebounds per game in Drew Neitzel’s shadow last year, will lead the team with his length and strength that most at his position lack. If opponents can stop him, they will have to deal with his ex-AAU teammate, freshman forward Delvon Roe, who is a great athlete. The last keys to their of-fense are sophomore guard Kalin Lucas, who is very quick and a great shooter, and double-double machine Goran Suton — but this team might not even need that much offense to win ball games.
2. PurdueT h e b e s t
3-point shooter in the conference is a Boilermaker. The question is, which one? The e a s y a n s w e r would be sophomore forward Robbie Hummel, who with a .447 percentage from behind the line last year has the highest percentage of a re-turning conference player. In addition to his skilled shooting, he has a pretty decent post game, and is definitely on the short list for best player in the conference. Junior guard Keaton Grant boasts the second highest returning per-centage, and sophomore E’Twaun Moore — like Hummel, a likely all-Big Ten first teamer — is third. With three guards, poor center play, and Hummel somewhat of a defensive liability at forward, teams will try to win with a big lineup — but this team’s 3-point barrage will be hard to beat.
3. OhiO StateT h e B u c k-
e y e s h a v e t ur ned into a haven for one-and-done seven f o ot er s . Gre g Oden and Kosta Koufos consecu-t i v e l y s p e n t their obligatory single years in Columbus, Ohio, and now, for the third straight year, an NBA-caliber center will bide his time
at Ohio State in B.J. Mullens. But Mullens won’t carry the team to much success by himself. The Buckeyes have a stacked l ineup featuring fel low highly-touted freshman in guard William Buford and returning wings David Lighty and Evan Turner, all of whom are talented. If the team banks too much on Mullens’ offen-sive talent, you can count on them finish-ing lower than Mullens’ position on the NBA Draft board come June.
4. WiScOnSinT he Badgers
will not reel off a t h i r d s t r a i g ht 3 0 -w i n se a son with center Brian Butch gone. But sen ior Ma rc u s Landr y — who possesses a similar body, but with much less brute force and a more passable jumper, as his brother, the Houston Rockets’ Carl Lan-dry — and junior guard Trevon Hughes are definitely among the class of the conference. They should keep this team from medioc-rity. This team has yet to have a bad year under Bo Ryan since he took over in 2001, and that is a streak that will continue.
5. MinneSOtaCoach Tubby
Smith turned an eight-win team two years ago into a 20-win team last year and revitalized the Golden Gophers’ pro-gram. They maintain a host of decent players from last year, but lost their top three scorers. Look for immediate contributions from two legit freshmen big men: Colton Iverson and Ralph Sampson III (the son of Houston Rock-ets legend Ralph Sampson).
6. illinOiSThe Illini had
somewhat of a down year last year, going 5-13 in the conference, and it will not get that much better this year. But in-creased roles for guards Demetri Mc Ca r ney a nd Trent Meacham will give the team a bit of a boost. They also added two decent recruits in center Stan Simpson and Kentucky trans-
fer Alex Legion. Legion will not play until December and is a bit of an unknown due to his limited minutes at Kentucky, and Simp-son is a bit of a project. How much impact they have will determine whether this team is bad or average.
7. MichiganThe Wolverines
basketball program as of right now is e s s e nt i a l l y o ne man: Manny Har-r i s . H a r r i s , a 6-foot-4 sophomore guard, is the leading re-turning scorer in the conference and a mor-tal lock for the All-Big Ten first team, but there is really not much else going on with this team.
8. Penn StatePenn State lost
a great player in G e a r y C l a x t o n , who led the team to de c enc y l a s t year. But the Nit-tany L ions have someone who may be as good in senior forward Jamelle Cornley. Cornley is your classic faster-than-tall-guys, stronger-than-short-guys player who will wreak statistical havoc on teams, since he will be Penn State’s primary scorer. But he is not quite talented enough to be a primary scorer on a winning team.
9. iOWaLook for three
things from the Hawkeyes: scor-ing coming from senior for ward Cyrus Tate, soph-omore guard Jake Kelly and freshman guard Matt Gatens, a wholly undeserved amount of minutes for John Lickliter, son of head coach Todd Lickliter, and a healthy amount of losses.
10. nOrthWeSternNorthwestern
may have the best recruiting class in the school’s basket-ball history, but re-turns will not come immediately. After a l l , t he la rger schools in the con-ference would look at the Wildcats’ class as a down year for their programs. A few more classes like this one might leave NU with a decent core. Kevin Coble is the Cats’ best player by far, and a spot on an All-Big Ten team is unlikely, but is not out of the question either.
11. indianaT h e K e l v i n
Sampson contro-versy decimated the Indiana pro-gram. In addition to the four starters lost to transfers and graduat ion last year and Eric Gordon leaving af-ter his freshman year to the pros new head coach Tom Crean will have to replace the five players he dismissed due to academic or behavioral issues. He will also be without the four scholarships stripped from the Hoosiers due to Sampson’s transgressions. They will be without top recruit Devin Ebanks, who decommtted and signed with West Virginia after Sampson resigned. Crean will have to build with what’s left: two returning walk-ons who combined for 1.6 points per game last year, four undistinguished transfers and juco players, and a plethora of moderately talented and below freshmen, most of whom Crean did not recruit.
— cOMPiled by rOdger SherMan
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The Daily picks Spartans to win Big Ten Purdue looks to build off of surprise success last season, NU should improve
2007-2008 Big Ten STandingS
big ten OverallteaM recOrd recOrdWisconsin 16-2 31-5Purdue 15-3 25-9Indiana 14-4 25-8MichiganState 12-6 27-9OhioState 10-8 24-13Minnesota 8-10 20-14PennState 7-11 15-16Iowa 6-12 13-19Illinois 5-13 16-19Michigan 5-13 10-22northwestern 1-17 8-22
Michael ThoMpSonSophomoreguard
5-foot-10LincolnParkHighSchool,Chicago
’07-’08:11.6PPG
Thompsonhadoneofthebestfreshmanseasons in school history last year.Hewas third in the conference in assistswith 4.3 per game and set a schoolrecordfortotalassistsbyafreshman.TheCatswillneedThompsontobeasef-fectiveinhissophomoreyear.Hequicklygrasped the Princeton offense andbecame one of the team’s leaders. Heneeds to continue to improvehisgameandpilottheoffenseanddefenseforNUtobesuccessful.
craig MooreSeniorguard
6-foot-3LawrencevillePrep,Doylestown,Pa.
’07-’08:13.4PPG
Mooresteppeduplastyearandbecameamore consistent scoring option afteran uneven sophomore year. He led theteam while Kevin Coble was out at thebeginning of the season and shot acareer-high 40 percent from beyondthe arc last season. The Cats will ex-pect evenmore improvement from himinhisfinalyearinEvanston.Addingsomestronger post players should open thefloorforhimtoseeariseinhis3-pointshootingandoverallproduction.
davide curleTTiFreshmancenter
6-foot-9OrchardLakeSt.Mary’s,FarmingtonHills,Mich.
’07-’08:16.1PPG(H.S.)
Curletti was an honorable mention all-statepickbytheAssociatedPressandhelped his high school team to threeconsecutive Cathlotic League titles andaberthintheClassAquarterfinalslastyear.His sizewill be a keyaddition fortheCatsthisseason.InThursday’sexhi-bitiongame,hegrabbedsevenrebounds.NUwillneedhimtogrowupquicklyandlearn theoffense inaddition tobecom-ingasolidrebounderanddefenderforasuccessfulseason.
Kevin coBleJuniorforward
6-foot-8ScottsdaleChristianAcademy,Scottsdale,Ariz.
’07-’08:15.9PPG
Coble followed a fantastic freshmanyearwithastellarsophomoreyear,eventhough hemissed the first nine gamesof the season. He cemented his nameinNU lorewitha37-pointperformanceagainst Indiana, his second 30-pointgameoflastseason.Hegetsafullsea-sontoshowwhathecandothisyearastheCats’primaryscoringoption.Coblecanandshouldbecomeoneofthemostfearedplayers in theBigTen this yearbecauseofhisscoringability.
John ShurnaFreshmanforward
6-foot-8GlenbardWest,GlenEllyn,Ill.’07-’08:22.9PPG(H.S.)
Shurna was named to the 4A All-Statesecond team by the Associated Presslastyear.Hehadperhapsthebestgameof any player in Thursday’s exhibitiongame,recordingadouble-doublewith15pointsand10rebounds.Hisversatilityisa valued weapon within NU’s Princetonoffense.TheCatswillneedhimtogrowupquicklylikeMoore,CobleandThomp-sondidtheirfreshmanyears.Shurnaisgoing to be expected to be one of theteam’stoprebounders.
#22 #20 #30 #44 #24men’s projected starting lineup
Big Ten Breakdown
TIP OFF8 wednesday, november 12, 2008