NU takes the 'Roos in a single bound

Finals are over at Northwestern. Now the world (and the Wildcats) can devote our full energies to projecting NU's seed and regional assignment in the NCAA Tournament three months hence.

Think I'm crazy? If the regular season ended after Northwestern's 77-62 home win over UMKC on Monday night, it would be next-to-impossible for the Tournament committee to keep the Wildcats out of the 65-team field.

They're No. 40 in the AP poll (though receiving no votes from the coaches). They're No. 11 in the RPI and No. 40 according to Sagarin's Predictor rating, which still has some bias from last year's results in it. Considering NU finished last in the Big Ten and won just 8 games all of last year, then it should really rank higher in the Sagarins.

But enough about that stuff. Let's get into the Good and the Bad from the Wildcats' victory on a sub-zero wind-chill night on Lake Michigan's shore.

The GOOD:
--The Lake Zurich High School band rocked. Filling in for NU's pep band since, well, the students are on break, about 50 Lake Zurich students filled the void in style. Wearing purple T-shirts with "COLLEGE" stamped on the front in white letters, the young'uns had an extended repertoire that included NU's fight song and "Hey Baby."

And, proving again that they were ahead of the curve, they spent a few moments of the first half screaming every time Spencer Johnson, UMKC's No. 5, touched the ball. They did it for no reason, which is usually the best reason of all.

--Freshman John Shurna rolled. The 6-foot-8 Glenbard West graduate scored NU's first 7 points and finished with a career-high 20 points along with 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks in 28 minutes.

Shurna also hit 2 of 4 3-pointers with his line-drive stroke, which makes him 7 of 17 from long range on the season. Considering I don't believe he took 17 3-pointers in his entire prep career, that's a good sign he's developing the perimeter game that NU believes he can play.

Afterward, though, Shurna spent most of his time talking about how he needs to improve on the defensive end of the floor. That's another sign that he gets it far sooner than most freshmen.

--Juice Thompson resumed being the Juice Thompson he was last year. In other words, he's back to scoring and creating equally well. The sophomore point guard contributed a season-high 17 points as well as 6 assists with just 1 turnover. He now owns a 32-to-10 assist-to-turnover ratio this season.

The BAD:
--Thompson, Kevin Coble and senior guard Craig Moore had to play a combined 113 of a possible 120 minutes. That shouldn't have happened against UMKC, which kept battling and turned a 17-point deficit midway through the second half into a 64-55 game with 5:23 to go.

--UMKC used many of the same sets as the "Beilein Offense" that Michigan runs and piled up 62 points despite going scoreless in the first five minutes. Only Brown, which posted 64 points on Nov. 22, had a better scoring day against NU this season.

Considering Northwestern entered the night as the nation's No. 2 scoring defense at 49.4 points per game -- and the fact that Michigan has far, far better athletes than the Kangaroos -- that's a warning sign for NU's games with the Wolverines (on Jan. 24 and Feb. 15).

--Kevin Coble had to bail out his teammates again. After Kyle Rowley converted a 3-point play with 11:28 to go to give NU a 54-38 lead, nobody but Coble scored for NU until the 3:55 mark. He hit 5 shots in a row and scored 13 straight points, which didn't quite keep pace with UMKC's run.

That's not the first time this year that Coble has done all the damage for an extended second-half stretch, but it needs to be the last if the Wildcats intend to knock off teams like Stanford...and Penn State...and Michigan State...

The Quote:
What does Northwestern coach Bill Carmody think about his team receiving votes in the AP poll?
"I definitely don't think about it."

LW