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Historically speaking, Northwestern has been the worst team in the Big-10. They have never been to the NCAA tournament, never won a league title, and never had a Big-10 player of the year. Last year's team went 8-26 (1-17 in the Big 10). Its season featured a 42 point loss to Virginia, a loss to Brown, a 70-37 loss to Illinois, and a conference slate in which they lost their first 12 conference games by double figures. Despite all of this, and only three Big Ten victories since 2005-06, Northwestern has high hopes for 08-09 and a big part of their newly discovered confidence is the best recruiting class in school history. With four players at 6-8 or taller, the team will be transformed from last year's undersized roster. Bill Carmody finally landed a true center in 7-footer Kyle Rowley. In addition, forward John Shurna and center/forward Luka Mirkovic could contend for minutes on a team that started a 6-7 center last year. Also, star forward Kevin Coble will be available from the onset after missing the first nine games last season when his mother underwent chemotherapy. Coble was the teams leading scorer at 16 a game and dropped 37 on Indiana. Sophomore point guard Michael Thompson who set a Northwestern record for assists as a freshman (128) forms a solid backcourt with senior Craig Moore (lead the Big-10 in 3's made per game). For years, Bill Carmody has used the 1-3-1 zone to make up for a lack of size on defense, and the Princeton offense to make up for a big lack in offensive fire power, but since the Wildcats finished 8-8 in the Big 10 in 2004, their conference win total has gone down each year and they have failed to make even the NIT year after year. Now there is increased pressure on Carmody and with the best recruiting class in school history, it might be time to live up to those expectations.
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