You take the good…
Well, ladies and gentlemen, I think I know who I want sitting next to me at future Northwestern basketball games. No, it’s not former Wildcats great Jeremy Nash or alum David Schwimmer; instead, it’s College RPI guru Jerry Palm. The eternal optimist believes Northwestern is in fine shape for a NCAA Tournament appearance despite its 4-6 Big Ten record. I’m not sure I believe it, but you got to love it. Check out some of what he said in Monday’s Chicago Tribune article by Teddy Greenstein:
“If not Northwestern, who? Would you rather take teams that haven’t beaten anybody or teams that lose to bad teams? The thing you can say about Northwestern is, it takes a good team to beat ’em.”
It might sound like I’m making fun of him, but I completely agree with his logic. Northwestern has lost eight games this season, contests against Baylor, Creighton, Illinois, Ohio State, Michigan, Purdue, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The Bears and Buckeyes are clearly elite teams, the Badgers and Golden Gophers are tough on the road and the Golden Gophers are underrated in my opinion. The only bad loss in that bunch is the Wildcats’ home loss to the Boilermakers, and they will need to claim revenge at Mackey Arena this weekend. They also have a chance to get revenge against the Golden Gophers and Wolverines at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Those are key games that Northwestern ought to win, and if the Wildcats do win those games, that will erase some of the bad memories from earlier this season, and begin to restore that old sparkle to their NCAA Tournament resume.
Also, more credit has to be handed to Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney and Big Ten Administrators Council chairman Jim Phillips for getting behind a playoff idea for NCAA football. Not like a four-team playoff would affect the Big Ten all that much, since the last time the conference landed a team in the top four was in 2007. It certainly will not affect Northwestern in the near future. But still, give credit to those two men for sensing the growing tide of the country. This year’s national championship game was boring as heck. No one wanted to tune in. That being said, I’m not sure the single championship game versus playoff system is the main issue. I think Delaney pinned the tail on the donkey when he told the Tribune:
There is a very strong sense that we have missed the boat and are playing games too late. Students are back in class, people are back at work.
Obviously, public fury has tended to center on the seemingly ridiculous bowl system, which allows pretty much every .500 team to participate in the postseason, but the bowl system does have its share of positives, and any changes would be difficult to achieve. While most people agree a playoff system makes sense, it’s difficult to negotiate, and involves elongating an already lengthy schedule. Rather than engage in that rancor right away, why not start with Delaney’s common-sense solution and push bowl games back into December. In my opinion, the last bowl game of the year should be on January 1st, when everyone is still off of work and in a celebratory mood. What better way to start the new year? Start the day with the Rose Bowl, then build up tension until you get to the BCS Championship Game at night’s end. Either way, get it out of the way in those first few days of January, so then everyone can focus their attention on basketball. The current system makes no sense. Delaney is right, the college football season has lost all momentum by the time that championship game occurs. Of course, the LSU and Alabama fans will watch their teams compete on any day, but if you want to draw in the casual fan, you got to catch people while they’re on vacation and in the mood for college football, and you definitely need to get all of those bowl games out of the way before the monolith that is the NFL Playoffs begins.
In other news, how does a basketball team overcome getting absolutely dominated by an opposing post player? Score more and score often. Northwestern may not have been able to stop Meyers Leonard Sunday afternoon, but they did everything else right, including hitting a blistering 60 percent of its shots from the field, turning the ball over just 12 times and out-rebounding Illinois. Wait, one second, did I just say out-rebound? Why yes, I did. It appears that for the first time since the Ice Age, Northwestern has out-rebounded an opponent, and this despite Luka Mirkovic’s absence, or as I might say, because of his absence. Still, the Wildcats were limited to one big man, and got just four rebounds from center Davide Curletti, so the fact that they out-rebounded the Fighting Illini comes as an absolute stunner. I guess that’s the one good thing about a game in which both teams shoot over 50 percent, it puts the importance of rebounding at a minimum, which obviously works to Northwestern’s advantage. Still, Leonard should have to walk around with his underwear pulled over his head or something for allowing the Wildcats to snag more rebounds in the post. That’s just embarrassing. And Reggie Hearn should be given a day off of practice for his valuable work on the offensive boards. Who said the season of miracles was over? Well done, Wildcats!
Also, from Teddy Greenstein’s Monday article, our quote of the day, and really another gem from Bill Carmody:
In the past sometime he has been like a Raggedy Ann doll when he drives, with his arms flying all over the place. Now he seems more controlled. There was no question he was going to finish those drives.
Who would have thought we would be comparing John Shurna with Raggedy Ann? Well done, Carmody, well done. Now let’s just hope opponents don’t catch on to this quote, and begin waving Raggedy Ann dolls every time Shurna shoots a free throw. That would be the last thing a guy who has struggled a bit from the charity stripe in recent weeks needs.
You take the bad…
On a more tragic side, OK, perhaps tragic is a slightly dramatic word, but as I was watching the Giants’ Super Bowl festivities on Tuesday, I couldn’t figure out what made the moment so poignant. A Super Bowl parade is, of course, a celebration, but then I realized that it’s also a farewell, a farewell to football season, and a farewell to a team that will live forever in our hearts, but will never again take the field as one piece. Personnel changes are inevitable and the Giants are facing a turbulent off-season full of difficult decisions. Twenty-four members of the team, a significant chunk of the Super Bowl champions, are eligible for free agency this off-season. It includes Super Bowl heroes, like Chase Blackburn and Mario Manningham, and longtime mainstays, like Kareem McKenzie and Aaron Ross. Loads of crucial players are up for free agency, and the blight of champions has the potential to strike at every position. Deon Grant would be a big loss to the secondary, Mario Manningham to the wide receivers corp, Steve Weatherford to the special teams unit and Jake Ballard and Bear Pascoe to the tight ends unit.
The stars are all signed. Eli Manning, Victor Cruz, Jason Pierre-Paul and Justin Tuck will all be back, but so many role players are liable to depart. So, it’s a nerve-wracking off-season for the Giants, and with one of the higher payrolls in the NFL, New York will not have much spare room to work with. What I would love to see, and I know will never happen, is for some of these players to accept lower contracts to stay in New York. Every time after the Super Bowl, you hear players declare how much they love their team and their city, but when it comes time to put their money where their mouth is, they flee faster than an Ahmad Bradshaw burst through the middle. This Giants team can be great once again, but if you want all the cogs to come back, that means some people might have to accept less than they feel they deserve. Are you willing to take the cut, Big Blue?
Also, one last note, I was seriously happy to see Northwestern take down Illinois, particularly after that cocky little Rockettes-style dance the Fighting Illini players pulled early in the game. I didn’t like their cockiness, particularly after some of the losses they have suffered thus far this season. They have no right to be grinning like that. You contrast that with the adorably linked arms of an understandably nervous Wildcats team in the final minutes of Sunday’s game, and you can see why I was particularly hungry for Northwestern to win that intra-state rivalry.
The Facts of Life 