Northwestern recruiting

[Da Coach]

Bill Carmody of Northwestern is looking a a pretty good recruiting class for 2008 with the recent commitments of Illinois prep players Nick Freundt and John Shurna.
Now he could get a transfer player who could also be a big help to building his program. Casey Crawford, who was a highly rated player out of Overland Park, Kansas, left Wake Forest after his freshman season and looking to transfer. According to this article, he is down to Colorado or Northwestern, but I have heard from another source that he is leaning toward Northwestern. This could be a big acquisition for Carmody if he could land Crawford, a legitimate inside player.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/cs-070522nuhoop,1,6364010.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

[meth]

Doesn't matter, their offensive style will always help keep scores down and the margin close, and they may even surprise a few teams and win occasionally.
But no matter how talented a kid is, he's not going to excel with their deliberate offense.

[BradleyBrave]

Doesn't matter, their offensive style will always help keep scores down and the margin close, and they may even surprise a few teams and win occasionally.
But no matter how talented a kid is, he's not going to excel with their deliberate offense.

I agree 100%. While some very successful teams run versions of his offense, they don't run it to the extent that Northwestern does. Running Carmody's system will never allow for individual stars to take advantage of their abilities, and therefore won't be successful in leagues like the Big 10.

[Daniel Poneman]

Guys like Shurna, and Fruendt are perfect for Carmodys system, which is one ofthe best around.

[bert notorius]

Kevin Coble lead NU in scoring and rebounding last season, the first time in school history a freshman did such a thing.

[BradleyBrave]

Guys like Shurna, and Fruendt are perfect for Carmodys system, which is one ofthe best around.

What evidence is there that it's one of the 'best' around? There's none at NU. Teams like Arizona St and Georgetown that run versions of the offense run a very scaled-back version that doesn't hold back players' individual talent. But, it would be nice to see Carmody get some Big 10-caliber players to run his offense. Looks like he might have a couple coming in next year.

[Da Coach]

Kevin Coble lead NU in scoring and rebounding last season, the first time in school history a freshman did such a thing.

Kevin Coble was Northwestern's leading scorer (13.3) and rebounder (5.2), but here is evidence of how poor and boring the Carmody/Northwestern system is--
Coble's scoring and rebounding averages would not have been enough to lead any other team in the Big 10. Every one of the other 10 team in the league had one or more scorers and rebounders with higher averages. Despite leading Northwestern, Coble's scoring average ranked just 15th in the Big Ten, and his rebounding was tied for 17th.

Scoring-- Coble averaged 13.3 ppg, and Tim Doyle averaged 11.5 ppg. Other than those 2, nobody on the team averaged more than 8.1 ppg.
Coble averaged 5.2 rpg, and the next highest rebounder on the team was Doyle at 3.3 rpg. No other player averaged even 3 rebounds per game.

Just for comparison sake- Bradley had 3 players with higher scoring averages than Coble. Northwestern had nobody with a 3-point percentage over 40%, while Bradley had 4 regulars with 3-point percentages between 41.5-50%. Overall FG percentages also showed a significant difference.

Bert and Daniel, I like and have supported Nothwestern, and watched most of their games. And I will be as happy as anyone when and if they ever make the NCAA. But nobody can watch their games and not be bored stiff with Carmody's system. They pass up numerous better shot opportunities to kill time, then frequently take lower percentage shots. Their "Princeton" system might work in conferences like the Ivy League where the opponents are not as skilled or athletic, but it is doomed to perpetual failure in the Big Ten, regardless of the talent Carmody recruits.

[bert notorius]

College ball should remain a "big tent" that welcomes all styles of play from NU's maddening ball control to Grinnell's Mr. Toad's wild ride. The shot clock runs the same speed at both ends of the floor.

If you were to put any faith in such a thing, Scout has Freundt and Shurna at 3 stars between them. It is my opinion based on the type of recruit that can NU can attract & accept, Carmody's system keeps them from losing even more miserably. Coble on the other hand will end up being a very nice little player.