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This is breaking my heart. As an Ivy Leaguer I wanted Bill Carmody to win at NU so badly to prove the value of Ivy hoops or at least Ivy methodology. Call me John Murtha but after years of unflagging support for Carmody, I am coming to believe Mark Murphy may have to engineer an immediate withdrawl of Carmody from the program.
The recruiting problems -- not just the quality but the quantity as well (hasn't it seemed the Cats have been playing shorthanded since Carmody arrived with never more than eight guys being good enough to see the floor?) -- already have been discussed.
That's not what has made me question my support for Carmody.
I am changing my position on Operation NU to NCAA because I'm beginning to think Carmody had no idea how to do the job when he got to NU.
He just thought he would approach kids with a scholarship in hand and he would be greated as NU's great liberator and recruits to whom he could not offer scholarships in the past would throw flowers at him now when he arrived at their homes armed with free rides.
He had no idea how tough it would be to recruit kids to come to the worst major conference Division I program in NCAA history.
He had no idea that his dry, sarcastic manner, which works well with smart kids who win a lot of games against inferior competition, doesn't work so well with kids who lose all the time to kids who are better than they are.
Carmody has remained loyal to his advisors despite the fact they obviously can't recruit. He has not changed his personsal style. So he is stuck with a bad team that will only get worse when VV leaves.
Is there any reason to believe that after yet another disappointing season Carmody will have any more success recruiting kids this summer than they've had these past six years?
And if he's not going to be able bring in better players, is there any point in staying the course?
I feel so bad for the families of the coaching staff. I feel so bad for the kids who signed this fall to play for Carmody next fall. But I also feel that it is getting more and more apparent with each game that Carmody is stuck is a quagmire with no plan on how to get out.
Mark Murphy might just have to act for the good of the program. We'll see. Maybe Carmody will turn it around.

Sad. Is 2 for 21 from the 3 point arch is not gonna beat Virginia Commonwealth let alone an ACC school such as Virginia. What about Illinois, MSU, or Indiana. It won't beat them either. But please wait to call on our coahes head. Give him a chance to turn it around. When was the last time this program was respected at all much less a 12-4 record at home. Just wait for his head.

A terrible game -- I was there in person to see it. I'd like to type more now but have been on the road for the past two hours. Some quick thoughts:

* The all-freshman backcourt resembled, well, an all-freshman backcourt. Open looks were routinely passed up.

* The three-point shooting was beyond pathetic. Virginia was sagging off the Cats and daring them to shoot from beyond the arc.

* Far too many possessions where the Cats passed the ball around for 32 seconds then took a bad shot with the 35-second clock winding down. When that wasn't happening, the team seemed intent on waiting for VV to make a play to bail out the offense.

More later...

It is quite apparent that NU’s slow it down, Princeton style offense is not working. The question remains: why hasn't Carmody tried to do anything differently?

If Carmody hasn’t opened up the offense because we don’t have the players/athletes then I understand. But, if Carmody hasn’t opened it up because this is the only way he knows how to coach, then it may be time for him to go.

We have given this coach a few seasons with his own recruits playing his own brand of basketball. Unfortunately, it looks like that style simply won’t take us to where we want to be: The NCAA Tournament.

As far as recruiting goes, I’m not shocked that we are not bringing in the best athletes. Playing for Carmody doesn’t exactly look exciting to a 16 year old kid. Add to that the prospect of visiting Evanston in the winter, and you don’t exactly have the greatest draws.

I’m at a loss for what to do next. But, at this point I wouldn’t mind hiring a coach that would shake things up a little. Maybe take a chance on a coach from a mid-major that’s looking for some more exposure.

Although the Cats are in no way media darlings, we do play in the Big 10, have a few games on ESPN and get some coverage in the Chicago Tribune (3rd largest media market). That has to appeal to at least a few MAC or MVC coaches. I wouldn’t even mind making a run at a coach that needs a fresh start….

Bob Huggins anyone?

Wow having Bob Huggins here would do exactly what you said we wanted for this program. National exposure, a famous head coach, maybe even some decent recruits. I highly doubt Mark Murphy would take a chance on Huggins though. Come on here were talking about Northwestern, they are not exactly known for taking risks.