Ohio State barely escapes at Northwestern

[Da Coach]

In a game that could have ramifications for Bradley's 2012 recruiting class, Ohio State played at Northwestern tonight. Northwestern is "on the bubble" and many think they needed to win both of their remaining games at home tonight against Ohio State and Saturday at Iowa.

Ohio State maintained about a 10 point lead for most of the game, but then in the last few minutes, some hot shooting but the Wildcats and turnovers by the Buckeyes allowed Northwestern to close within 3 points inside the last minute. Then another OSU turnover game Northwestern the ball with about 40 second to go. They missed their shot, but they stole the ball to get another chance around 10 seconds to go and trailing by 3. Instead of fouling, they allowed Northwestern to tie the game with a long three with 7.7 seconds left. But OSU managed to go the length of the court, pass the ball inside to jared Sullinger and he made a short shot to win the game. What a great game! Northwestern is now 17-12, and 7-10 in the Big Ten. Their NCAA chances are fading.

[FlyingSpaghettiMonster]

I think they are out baring a spectacular finish. They were really close this year. It's amazing that they have never made the tourney.

[Hello Newman]

I would guess Saturday is do or die for them. If they win they are alive still---but lose at Iowa and probably no chance.

I would be surprised if they fired Carmody. He has done as well as anyone else there. Northwestern is at least competitive under Carmody and hard to beat at home.

[tornado]

who would have thunk it....
we had MVC teams that had RPI's of 21 and 22 wins that were denied at-large bids, yet here we are in 2012 talking about a bid going to an 8th-9th place team with 7-10 and even 6-10 conference records!
If this doesn't show the ridiculous tilt towards the BCS-bias, I doubt anything ever will...

[Hello Newman]

who would have thunk it....
we had MVC teams that had RPI's of 21 and 22 wins that were denied at-large bids, yet here we are in 2012 talking about a bid going to an 8th-9th place team with 7-10 and even 6-10 conference records!
If this doesn't show the ridiculous tilt towards the BCS-bias, I doubt anything ever will...

Amen. I'm always a believer that shouldn't you at least be .500 in your own league to be an NCAA team? Come on. All that requires you to do is win at home.

[Da Coach]

...
I would be surprised if they fired Carmody. He has done as well as anyone else there. Northwestern is at least competitive under Carmody and hard to beat at home.

Wow, how standards have changed. Just being competetive is good enough? Jim Les got fired for not finishing higher than #4 seed, with a winning record, with four 20+ win seasons in a row, and an NCAA Sweet 16.
I have nothing against Northwestern, and as much as anyone, I'd like to see them succeed. But, this is Bill Carmody's 12th season and he has never finished higher than a 6th seed, and he has only done that once (Seeds: 11, 7, 10, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 9, 7, 8, and this year cannot be higher than 7, and is likely to be 8 or 9).
He has never won an NCAA game, in fact he has never made the NCAA a single time.
In 12 seasons at Northwestern, Carmody's overall winning percentage is 0.484 (177-189). He has had 7 losing seasons out of 12, and he has never won more than 20 games in a season.
He has never had a winning conference record in any of his 12 seasons in the Big Ten. His overall Big Ten record is- 65-136 (an amazingly bad 0.323). He does have a winning overall home record, though he has a losing home record in conference. But his road record is atrocious. In 12 seasons, his overall road record is 35-104 (0.245). And though his RPI this season is 44, that is the highest it's ever been and is attributable mostly to playing in the Big Ten which guarantees one of the highest SOS's every year. However, other than this season, he has never had an RPI better than 75, and only twice has it even been better than 100.
In all 12 seasons, Carmody's Nothwestern team has played in the play-in round of the Big Ten Tournament, and they are 5-11 overall in the tournament. They have never won a conference tournament game, other than in the play-in round. And they have never gotten past the quarterfinals.

Postseason- as mentioned, Northwestern has never made the NCAA tournament. In fact, Carmody made no postseason tournament appearances his first 8 years, but then has made the NIT each of the last 3 seasons. In 2009 and 2010 they lost their first games and were quickly eliminated. In 2011 they won their first 2 games, before losing. So Carmody's NIT record in 3 appearances is 2-3. They look like they are headed to the NIT again this year.

[tornado]

heck - with that kind of record he'd have never lasted 4 years in many BU fans' opinions...

[Hello Newman]

It is foolish to compare basketball success at Northwestern to those at Bradley or any other school for that matter. History is often times the standard for how programs and coaches are judged. Always has been, always will be.

Standards at Kansas arent the same as WIU which arent the same as Creighton which arent the same as Columbia which arent the same as Murray State. You get the point.

If Bradley had the same non winning and dreadful history as Northwestern then the head coaching position would be judged differently. Fortunately for Bradley there is a history of success and the expectations of the fan base and administration reflect that. The basketball history at Northwestern is not a winning one. Bottom line its not an apples to apples comparison.

[tornado]

so whenever your comparison doesn't fit - it's because the situations are different...

but whenever the situations are exactly the same - it doesn't matter because the expectations and standards differ???

Then is there ever a case where another coach who never makes it above 4th place deserves to be fired?/

[Hello Newman]

Situations between two different schools arent ever the same. Thats the point. No two programs have the same history, resources, etc. Thays why its best to look at the history of the program in question when talking about standards of success, failure, etc.

I dont judge the Bradley head coaches success based on what the coach at Northwestern or EIU is doing. I judge it based on the history of the program and the coaches that came before.

Everyone is open to judging success or failure however they wish. I choose to keep it simple and focus on Bradley. Its the most fair way to do it, IMO.

[TheAsianSensation]

who would have thunk it....
we had MVC teams that had RPI's of 21 and 22 wins that were denied at-large bids, yet here we are in 2012 talking about a bid going to an 8th-9th place team with 7-10 and even 6-10 conference records!
If this doesn't show the ridiculous tilt towards the BCS-bias, I doubt anything ever will...

If you transported 2006 Missouri St into this year, they're probably on the 7 line.

The further separated we get from the 2006 and 2007 seasons, the more and more it seems like those were the 2 strongest bubbles in the 64-team era.

[TheAsianSensation]

And Carmody should probably be gone by now.

[FlyingSpaghettiMonster]

so whenever your comparison doesn't fit - it's because the situations are different...

but whenever the situations are exactly the same - it doesn't matter because the expectations and standards differ???

Then is there ever a case where another coach who never makes it above 4th place deserves to be fired?/

If you don't ever finish above 4th at Kansas, the coach would be long gone.

You said that Mo could be coach of the year in his conference. Should the coach of the year come from a last/near last place team? Program expectations make a big difference. Northwestern shouldn't be compared to Bradley basketball.

[Hello Newman]

If you don't ever finish above 4th at Kansas, the coach would be long gone.

You said that Mo could be coach of the year in his conference. Should the coach of the year come from a last/near last place team? Program expectations make a big difference. Northwestern shouldn't be compared to Bradley basketball.

Agreed. You made my point but simpler and with less words

[tornado]

I personally believe Mo should be COY in the Summit - he has done an incredible job with a barebones roster hit by injuries and losses and finished among the top four in the league.

WIU was picked DEAD LAST by some and in every preseason poll either 9th or 10th in the preseason polls...

All of the three team that currently sit ahead of WIU in today's standings (ORU, SDSU, and Oakland) all were picked 1-2-3 in the preseason.

So just how good of a coaching job does it take for a guy to lead his team to exactly where everyone unanimously expected them to be...

BUT -- it takes a HECK of a job to take the team picked LAST, then lost 3 key players unexpectedly to injury and ineligibilty - and yet finish 4th SIX spots higher than expected - and higher than ANYONE even imagined.

http://www.thesummitleague.org/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3900&ATCLID=205314393

Program expectations make a big difference. Northwestern shouldn't be compared to Bradley basketball.

BUT -- the expectations at Northwestern HAVE NOT been met - so why are we even having this irrelevant discussion with people comparing to BU??
Plenty of people picked Northwestern to be in the upper Big Ten - or to have one of their BETTER - maybe their BEST YEAR ever..
with high hopes of getting an NCAA bid...in fact that was one of the arguments to keep Carmody past LAST YEAR - that he was ON THE VERGE and was going to hit that breakthough this year and be in the dance...
But where Indiana and maybe some other Big Ten teams have exceeded expectations, Northwestern HAS NOT.