The Straight Hoop Express is back...

In honor of the first day of college hoops practice, I revved up the Toyota Camry (a.k.a. the Straight Hoop Express), conned the cute 3-year-old daughter into her car seat and headed to Northwestern and DePaul to check out the action.

(We intended to go to Loyola's Rambler Madness, too, but the Straight Hoop Express' dead battery in Lincoln Park cost us $45 as well as the time we budgeted to get to Rogers Park. And, no, we're not nearly hip enough or Onion-y enough to refer to the Camry as the Straight Hoopty Express).

Here are 11 things we saw (in no particular order):

1. DePaul had McGrath Arena mostly filled for its Blue Madness, which was an hour's worth of dances, games and even a few basketball-related things. The night ended with a sight most people won't soon forget: 7-foot-2 redshirt freshman Kene Obi doing the splits at the end of the team's "Soulja Boy" dance.

2. With high-flying Dar Tucker sitting out the dunk contest, Ohio State transfer Eric Wallace defeated freshmen Devin Hill and Krys Faber. Wallace brought down the house with a flying jam where he took off just one sneaker length inside the free-throw line. Dude has ridiculous ups...and several people also said he's the nicest guy ever. Wallace must sit out this year, but will have three years of eligibility remaining.

3. As DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright promised, his players look significantly stronger than last year. Sophomore PF/C Mac Koshwal and SG Will Walker are the ones who look like they made the biggest strength gains, but everyone clearly gained muscle.

4. DePaul's staff could probably kick most other teams' staffs in a game of 2-on-2. Dave Corzine is the Demons' new director of basketball operations while Tom Kleinschmidt is interning while he wraps up his degree. According to DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright, Kleinschmidt wants to be a college coach and spends much of his time helping Jerry.

5. Doug Bruno's women's team should be in the preseason Top 25...and they're not wasting time proving whether they belong there. Duke comes to town Nov. 21-22 for the DePaul Invitational. Hypothetically, the Blue Demons and Blue Devils will meet in the title game at 7:30 p.m. on the 22nd.

6. You think Northwestern president Henry Bienen likes basketball at all? The good Doctor, who's soon wrapping up his 10-plus year tenure, showed up at the Wildcats' first practice to catch about 30 minutes of action. When the games start, you can catch him at a midcourt seat whenever he's in town.

7. It's weird to see a bunch of big guys running around in Northwestern practice attire, particularly guys who can dunk easily at the end of their 3-on-0 fast-break drills. Freshmen Davide Curletti and John Shurna, in particular, have the bounce and athleticism to finish with either hand. A long-time observer on the sidelines guessed this was the best-looking NU group he has seen.

8. I never got to see Pete Carril run a practice, but I wonder if Bill Carmody doesn't have a little Carril in him when he operates his practices. Carmody, who coached with Carril for years at Princeton, started fuming not longer after things got underway about, of all things, a passing drill.
"Three minutes and already we're wasting time!" Carmody hollered to nobody in particular.

Carmody also doesn't tolerate mistakes, even from freshmen, when doing run-throughs of the team's Princeton-style offense with no defense on the floor. From the wing, Shurna tossed a pass into the post without feinting or otherwise trying to disguise the post pass. Carmody hates that. I forget what word he used (maybe deceptive?), but he wants guys to be clever. After all, in games there will be defenders they'll need to fool.

9. Former McDonald's All-American and Northwestern guard Walker Lambiotte came out for practice. So did former Wildcats forward Joe Branch (think Evan Eschmeyer era) as well as ex-linebacker great Barry Gardner.

10. Prediction: Northwestern senior guard Craig Moore will make one of the three all-Big Ten teams. He was the league's 3-point leader last year with more than 90 -- and he should have more room to operate this year since the Cats should have some actual post presence. Plus he's a clever (there's that word again) defender. Remember you read it here first.

11. Watched a little of the NU women's first practice under new coach Joe McKeown. I'm guessing the Wildcats are going to have a marked increase in toughness under the former George Washington boss. During one offensive drill, one of the smaller players (didn't catch her number) crossed the lane, set a screen and received a fierce elbow in the nose for her efforts. She stopped for just a split-second, then kept right on going like nothing happened. Gotta like to see that if you're McKeown.