again is going to bring back so many memories. Not necessarily good memories, but memories nonetheless.

The good thing about the Modified Princeton Offense is that it will beat a lot of teams if you execute it well. The bad thing about it is that it will not consistently beat the BEST teams out there. That’s why Herb won enough games to get invited to the big dance, but faltered once he got there and faced good teams. It’s also why he never beat Duke and Carolina with any consistency.

The bad news for us is that we’re not one of those “BEST” teams yet. We might struggle with this offense tonight. I think we struggled and lost in that controlled scrimmage we had before our exhibition game.

I have a bad feeling about tonight’s game.

that herb got derided by the national media for using that offense while he was at ncsu, with them saying pretty much what you are. Now he is coaching legend destined for greatness.

I believe tonight the game will be close, played at a very deliberate pace. I am hoping for a cold night from behind the arc for NW.

1) Nash is not a 3-point specialist at all. He’s a defensive specialist (he takes the top point when we play in the 1-3-1 zone) who can be EXTREMELY disruptive at that position. I know little about NC State (sorry, it’s still football season in Evanston until the Cats win their bowl game), but you’ll need solid guard play to keep Nash (and to a lesser extent, Thompson) from stealing a lot of balls.

2) That being said, Nash can score. He’s probably our best player at dribble penetration other than Juice Thompson, and does occasionally hoist up a 3 (but he’s much more likely to drive). He’s also a pretty solid FT shooter, meaning he’s great for late game defensive purposes should NU get the lead.

3) Crawford is a freshman, and thus an enigma — he’s had some really impressive games, and is probably destined for greatness at NU, but he’s still learning the Princeton offense and getting used to the college game. Marcotullio has arguably been a much bigger weapon offensively as a freshman, which was surprising to fans (Crawford was pretty highly ranked for a NU recruit), but can be attributed to his ice-water-in-his-veins propensity for drilling 3-pointers when the pressure is on. Both of these guys are getting valuable minutes they probably wouldn’t have seen with Coble and senior Jeff Ryan around (Ryan tore his ACL in our first game).

4) The “early season wackiness” in the 3-point numbers is mainly attributable to the fact that we were behind against Butler (and thus had to force up 3s), and the fact that our last two wins came against Notre Dame and Iowa State, who boast All-American PFs in Harangody and Brackins, respectively. No sense forcing it down low against those guys — it made a lot more sense to kick it out and try to open up the court with 3s.

5) Rowley continues to disappoint — the guy is huge and should be better, but he was clearly hampered in working on his offensive game by an offseason broken foot. Cats fans still hope he figures it out (he left high school a year early to play, so he’s still developing, as this would have been his freshmen year if he had not jumped to college so quickly).

6) I’m hoping for a good game tonight from both sides. Being a Northwestern basketball fan is pretty much the toughest gig in all of sports — we have NEVER made the NCAA Tournament. That’s right — never. Then, this year, when we FINALLY look capable, our All-Big Ten senior Kevin Coble gets a Lisfranc fracture in his foot before our first game, and our backup senior guard/forward Jeff Ryan tears his ACL in his first game — two big contributors, gone before we knew it, and in the year we were FINALLY going to be pushing to the NCAAs.

Which is why the recent play of Shurna/Thompson and the rest of the team has been so promising — winning the Chicago Invitational (and defeating unbeaten Notre Dame and Iowa State to do it) was a huge boost for our team — a sign that this year may be THE YEAR after all. You’ll be the third straight undefeated team we’ve faced, so the task is daunting, but we need to rack up these non-conference wins before hitting the really rough Big Ten stretch, where there will quite literally be no easy games (okay, some against Iowa).

But if this year isn’t THE YEAR for the Cats, next year is shaping up pretty nicely. Fortunately, Coble has a red-shirt year and will almost definitely be back next year, which might mean that we’re REALLY good next year, when you combine him with all the young players getting time this year (Nash is our only other senior), and our 4-star PG recruit Jershonn Cobb.

Anyways, good luck to the Pack….but GO CATS!

Thanks for the info and perspective from a Northwestern fan. I hope you guys make it to the NCAA’s (along with us!), but I hope you stumble tonight. GO PACK!!!