Illinois 70 Northwestern 37- Northwestern in last place at 0-7

[Da Coach]

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/boxscore?gid=200801270267

Illinois embarrassed Northwestern 70-37 tonight in Champaign.
Northwestern is now 6-11 and 0-7 in the Big Ten, and their RPI is 209.
Their only wins are over Illinois Benedictine (Div III), Savannah State (RPI 249), Arkansas State (RPI 272), Western Michigan (RPI 184), Howard (RPI 322), and Chicago State (RPI 201).

Northwestern does have their next game against extremely weak nonconference foe Texas-Pan American (RPI 284), but after that, they may not win another game.
Schedule and results-- http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_191_Men.html

This is Bill Carmody's 8th season at Northwestern. He was hailed as a great coach and innovator, and a great offensive mind. But his teams struggle to score points. Last year he won only 2 games in the Big Ten, and this season he is headed for his worst season this year, and he could easily go 0-18.

He has had only 1 season with a winning record when he went 16-13 in his second season, 2001-2002 with leftovers from the previous coach. He hasn't had a winning season since then, and has yet to make a postseason tournament. He is 101-124 in his 8 1/2 seasons there.

Bill Carmody Bio and cumulative record--

http://nusports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/carmody_bill00.html

The reason for dragging up all this depressing information about Northwestern, is to wonder if Bill Carmody may be in trouble at Northwestern? There aren't many coaches, let alone one in the highly competetive Big Ten, that can have 6 straight losing seasons, and be headed for an 0-18 conference season, and not be on the hot seat.
Doesn't Northwestern deserve better? Will they ever make it to the NCAA tournament? (they are the only Big Ten school to never be in the NCAA)

BTW, Northwestern has several players on their roster that were reportedly recruited by Bradley--
6'6" freshman forward Mike Capocci
5'10" freshman guard Michael Thompson
6'4" sophomore guard Jeremy Nash
6'7" sophomore forward Jeff Ryan

Also, a couple 2008 recruits that may have had interest in Bradley--
6'5" guard Nick Freundt
6'8" forward John Shurna

[IlliBraves]

I like Carmody, but his teams are often over matched for the Big Ten, and I'd wager to say they wouldn't do any better in the Valley. This happens when you're talking about a school that puts more weight on academics than athletics (that's the way it should be) and you have terrible facilities. Northwestern struggles to find athletes who can compete with the best in the B10 and keep up in the classroom. It shows, as NW has NEVER made the NCAA tournament. I don't even know if they've ever made the NIT.

[Scouter]

I like Carmody, but his teams are often over matched for the Big Ten, and I'd wager to say they wouldn't do any better in the Valley. This happens when you're talking about a school that puts more weight on academics than athletics (that's the way it should be) and you have terrible facilities. Northwestern struggles to find athletes who can compete with the best in the B10 and keep up in the classroom. It shows, as NW has NEVER made the NCAA tournament. I don't even know if they've ever made the NIT.

I think the closest they've ever come was eight or nine years ago with Evan Eschmeyer. I'm sure they made the NIT during that stretch when he was there.

[Da Coach]

Northwestern made the postseason NIT 3 times in their history--in 1983, 1994 and 1999.

http://www.nit.org/history/nit-postseason-all-time-participants.html

[BradleyBrave]

I was on board with Carmody early on, but he has been unable to replace the loss of J'tim Young, and has done a very poor job of recruiting. I don't think he has the right mindset recruiting-wise to win in the Big 10. Some say it's impossible to win at NU because of the academic requirements. I think that's a lame excuse, and simply point to the football program. The right coach could make them a winner. The right coach is not Bill Carmody. They have a new AD coming in, and I have a feeling that Carmody may be on his way out.

[IlliBraves]

I was on board with Carmody early on, but he has been unable to replace the loss of J'tim Young, and has done a very poor job of recruiting. I don't think he has the right mindset recruiting-wise to win in the Big 10. Some say it's impossible to win at NU because of the academic requirements. I think that's a lame excuse, and simply point to the football program. The right coach could make them a winner. The right coach is not Bill Carmody. They have a new AD coming in, and I have a feeling that Carmody may be on his way out.

Northwestern football is also often near the bottom of the Big Ten. Don't let this year's 6-6 mark fool you, the Wildcats still lost to Duke, a team that won 2 games all season. Yes, they've had some decent years in the recent past, I believe even won a B10 title? But, for the most part they're usually near the bottom of the conference. Also, as an extra factoid, NW has won 2 national titles, both in fencing.

[BradleyBrave]

Northwestern football is also often near the bottom of the Big Ten. Don't let this year's 6-6 mark fool you, the Wildcats still lost to Duke, a team that won 2 games all season. Yes, they've had some decent years in the recent past, I believe even won a B10 title? But, for the most part they're usually near the bottom of the conference. Also, as an extra factoid, NW has won 2 national titles, both in fencing.

Michigan lost to Appalachian St, and there are countless other programs that lost to sub-par competition this season, so I am not sure what that has to do with anything.

NU has gone to several bowl games over the last 10+ years and won 2 Big 10 titles. With roughly 64 teams making bowl games nowadays, making a bowl game could be considered somewhat equivalent to making the NCAA Tournament. NU basketball has never come close to winning a Big 10 title or making the NCAA Tournament, which is what this discussion is essentially about. Does NU compare to the other football factories in the Big 10 that care little about academics or graduation? No. But they are able to field teams that make bowl games and compete for conference titles from time to time without sacrificing their academic integrity. That's far more than the basketball program has ever done, and I would say more difficult to do considering how many players make up a football team relative to a basketball team.

[MacabreMob]

Northwestern made the postseason NIT 3 times in their history--in 1983, 1994 and 1999.

http://www.nit.org/history/nit-posts...ticipants.html

Depaul beat NW'rn in the 1st round in '99. I recall there was some buzz that NW'rn mighta been in the NCAA (though IMO, they weren't even close to getting in). Evan Eschmeyer was on that team (like a 6yr player that year). Depaul had a lot of great young talent on that team.

That year, Bradley lost at home to Butler 51-50 in the NIT... remember leaving that game so disgusted because we couldn't get the ball inbounds late in the game which woulda won it for us.