The Wildcats take Manhattan and other blurbs

Chatted with Bill Carmody today as the Northwestern coaching staff wraps up their itineraries for the mad dash that is July recruiting. With five seniors on their highly touted 2010-11 team and one scholarship already open, the Wildcats have a lot of targets and a lot of players to see next month.

But that’s not why we were chatting. Here’s a few of the high points we hit:

1) Northwestern hasn’t wrapped up its non-conference schedule, but one thing is set in stone: The Wildcats will travel to Madison Square Garden to play in the Holiday Festival on Dec. 20-21. St. John’s and Davidson are in the field, too, but the fourth team is TBA.

2) Fifth-year seniors Kevin Coble and Jeff Ryan are still recovering from their injuries. Coble, as you might have heard, suffered a Lisfranc fracture in his foot while Ryan tore his ACL. “Certainly they’re progressing,” Carmody said. “Neither is going full-tilt yet. That’s normal.”

3) When Northwestern takes its trip to Italy in late August, incoming freshman guard JerShon Cobb will be able to participate. The NCAA passed a rule in April allowing new players to go on foreign trips as long as they enrolled in summer school. Cobb is in school, so he’s good to go.

When I asked Carmody why the Cats chose Italy for their trip, he gave me one of those “pshaw” noises that tells me I’ve asked a question with an obvious answer. “Red wine,” he said.

Actually, the Cats get 10 practices state-side before they spend 10-11 days in Italy and get to play 4 or 5 games. Though, yeah, I’m thinking Carmody might find one glass of Pinot during the trip.

4) Sophomore guard Alex Marcotullio is spending seven weeks overseas playing for Great Britain’s U-20 national team. Per Carmody, it’s a great opportunity to play in several countries.

LW