Carmody cites loss of Young's leadership
Bill Carmody expressed a common sentiment this year; the Cats miss Jitim Young.
Carmody told the Sun-Times that no leaders ever stepped up for Northwestern this year and that he expected more out of T.J. Parker, Mohammed Hachad and Davor Duvancic as leaders.
"Mohamed, T.J. and Davor Duvancic were three guys I thought were important players and were ready to go," Carmody told the Sun-Times. "They didn't do as well as I thought they could or should have done. Did you play them in the wrong positions? I don't know. I tried all sorts of different stuff."
Hachad received the most scathing criticism when Carmody said his slow starts to the season will be a factor in playing time next year.
"I know next year I'm not even counting on Mohamed until January because he just has too much of a track record [of starting slow]," Carmody said. "So I'm thinking about someone else, maybe Sterling Williams."
Sterling Williams, a player an NU team manager described as "very athletic", could start next season as a redshirt freshman. The Whitney Young product is 6-4 and would project as a shooting guard with Kentucky transfer Bernard Coté at small forward.
Is Carmody's media comments merely a ploy to motivate Hachad for the offseason? Quite possibly, but there is reason to believe that Carmody has lost his patience with several players on the squad.
T.J. Parker didn't get the message after losing playing time to walk-on Michael Jenkins, so Carmody didn't start Parker in the Big Ten opener against Michigan. Tim Doyle's playing time has been greatly reduced late in the season and Carmody hasn't seemed in a rush to bring Mike Thompson back from his foot injury. Evan Seacat? He'll be a strict garbage-time player next season.
But the coach summed it up best.
"It just never worked out. It never clicked. We didn't mesh as a team for whatever reason."