NU gets another huge commit
Northwestern's recruiting class for next year is continuing to shape up nicely. The Cats inked 6-8 Arizona forward Kevin Coble as the next recruit in the key 2005 recruiting class.
NU loses five scholarship players to graduation after next season. If you factor in the possibilities of losing scholarship players like the suspended Brandon Lee or the academically ineligible Gary Lee, it's a major, major recruiting class. The kind of class that will make or break the program for years to come.
So far, it looks to be a winner.
Coble joins Jeremy Nash from Chicago Marist as the first two recruits in the class. Coble was named the Arizona Republic's small school player of the year twice. Coble was also recruited by Pepperdine, Santa Clara, Lehigh, Davidson, New Mexico and Ivy League schools, the Arizona Republic reported.
"It provides the best combination of solid academics and basketball," Coble told the Republic. "I feel like I really fit it. I enjoy the program."
Coble averaged 19.8 points and 10.2 rebounds per game last season for Scottsdale Christian Academy. More importantly, he shot 61 percent from the field.
Coble took an official visit to Northwestern in May and has connections to Vince Scott, playing against the Northwestern center in high school.
Coble's coach at Scottsdale Chrisitan described him as a versatile scorer.
"He is not definable by a position on offense," coach Bob Fredericks told the Albuquerque Tribune. "He is probably our best 3-point shooter. He has the most refined post moves on our team. He has a lot of midrange floaters and other various shots. In the course of a game, he'll play every position for us on offense."
Rivals.com ranked him as No. 149 in the 2006 recruiting rankings. Coach Bill Carmody has recruited Coble since his freshman year.
Comments
Many years ago, an article discussing NU recruiting mentioned a guard out of the state of Michigan who had signed with NU after not being recruited by either Michigan or MSU. A nameless Big Ten assistant coach was quoted as saying, "He's a good player but it's hard to beat Big Ten teams with players that other Big Ten schools don't want."
Isn't that how we should feel about all of Bill Carmody's USA-born high school recruits? They have all been kids who the top schools in the major conferences didn't want.
These latest two are no exception.
Carmody and his top assistant Paul Lee (who played and coached at Columbia) seem to think they are still recruiting to compete against Ivy League teams.
Sure, Carmody's Northwestern teams almost certainly would have beaten out Penn and Princeton for the past three Ivy League titles.
But Northwestern is playing in the Big Ten.
So, as a result, NU has finished with a record one would expect Penn or Princeton to have if either had to face Big Ten opponents every week.
Coble looks like the perfect Carmody player in terms of his style of play. It remains to be seen, however, if this thin young man is just another Vince Scott -- a kid who wasn't recruited by any major conference schools and will not be able to play consistently well against Big Ten opponents until his junior or senior years, if at all -- the jury is still out on whether Scott has the ability to average eight points and five rebounds a game in conference play as an upper classman. So far Scott has just shown flashes.
Nash sounds like another mid-major level recruit in the Seacat/Maley/Lee/Moore mold. Nash is ranked as the 16th best player in Illinois, not the nation.
Carmody likes projects he can coach and develop as players but a legendary coach once said, "You only coach well and I'll only recruit well and my team will beat yours every time."
Carmody can outcoach most but he sure can't outrecruit them.
NU fans will be able to get excited about Carmody's recruiting when he signs kids who have been recruited heavily by the top teams in the top conferences.
And, hey, did you ever get the feeling Randy Walker also has built his team around recruiting over-achieving kids who were not recruited by the superpowers but who are good enough, if they play together, to win the MAC championship? Sadly, Walker also finds himself in the Big Ten.
Posted by: IvyLeaguer | July 25, 2005 08:32 PM
I agree with you. Sadly, it's going to take a breakthough year to get past the losing tradition. I believe the Princeton-style and the type of kids Carmody is recruiting is the best bet right now.
My problem has been that if he's recruiting Princeton-style players, why do they shoot so poorly? The problem isn't so much the guys he's recruiting because I think he has an approach that can work. It's that the guys he is recruiting aren't playing the way we thought they would yet.
Overall, I agree on the comparison to Walker, but I disagree that NU needs better athletes. They need better shooters to play this style.
Posted by: Greg Shea | July 27, 2005 11:25 AM