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| I know John Shurna looks like he should be starring for his high school J.V. team but the guy can really ball. Too bad he plays defense like there's no foul limit. You get five, man. Just five. |
Head Coach: Bill Carmody – 160-176
(.476)
Lost: G Michael Thompson, G Mike
Capocci
Returning: F John Shurna (Sr), G Drew Crawford (Jr), C
Luka Mirkovic (Sr), G JerShon Cobb (So), G Alex Marcotullio (Jr), F Davide
Curletti (Sr)
New faces:
SG Tre Demps, PG
David Sobolewski, PF Mike Turner
Preview: Will this be the year the
Wildcats finally make the Big Dance? Losing Michael Thompson is really going to
hurt but the good news is the rest of their core is returning. Northwestern’s strengths are good strengths:
low turnover rate, excellent 3-point shooting, and a top-notch overall
offensive efficiency which stems from their distinct style of play that can be
difficult to prepare for. Unfortunately, their flaws are glaring and often
debilitating. The team was opportunistic in forcing turnovers but simply could
not stop their opponents from scoring. Last season the NCAA average FG% was
47.8 but when playing Northwestern, opponents shot 52.6%. Furthermore, their
post players have a tendency to pick up lots of cheap fouls. A deep team can
overcome this. Northwestern, however, is
not a deep team. Fixing one of these two
would flaws would seem to be enough to push Northwestern into the upper half of
the conference but it doesn’t seem Carmody or this group players are able to
improve on the defensive side of the ball. The starting five (Shurna, Crawfrod,
Mirkovic, Cobb, and one player to bedetermined) should at least continue last
season’s offensive fireworks. And as
long as Northwestern stays efficient on the offensive end they’ll have a chance
for upsets. Alas, it seems the NCAA
window has passed this team by without them making an appearance.
Shot in the dark at the starting 5:
G Drew
Crawford
G JerShon
Cobb
G Alex
Marcotullio
F John
Shurna
C Luka
Mirkovic
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