Fred Hill returns for his second year as assistant coach of the Wildcats, bringing with him head-coaching experience at Rutgers from 2006-2010. He has already made his presence felt as a recruiter by gaining a commitment from Jaren Sina, a highly-ranked point guard in the class of 2013, but he is currently focused on helping lead the team to heights never before seen in Northwestern basketball history. North by Northwestern caught up with Hill to get his thoughts on both the Big Ten and Northwestern's chances this coming season.
With Indiana being the No. 1 team in the nation, and Ohio State and Michigan joining them in the top five, what are your thoughts on the strength of the Big Ten and what do you have to do to keep up in this conference?
Well, the Big Ten has traditionally been one of the best conferences in the country, so to have three [teams] in the top five is phenomenal. It’s a great challenge for everyone else in the league, but the Big Ten is so balanced from top to bottom. You see that every year, really. You might not have the No. 1 team, but there’s not that much of a difference between a No. 1 team and a No. 4 team, and there’s not that much difference between a No. 4 team and a No. 8 team. So, it certainly speaks well to the coaches in the league, the players in the league, and it’s a great challenge for everybody to go out and compete. That’s what you love doing; you love to go out and compete against the best. It’s going to give us our opportunity to knock off some of the best teams in the country.
Do you have any idea of which teams you might match up best against?
We played extremely well with Indiana last year, so if you look at that you say, “Oh, maybe we’ve got a chance to knock off the No. 1 team in the country,” but it’s a new year and we have a new team. [Indiana brings] back a lot of pieces, but they had a lot of pieces, so you can’t really speculate yet. Once the season starts, you get a chance to watch some film, look at match-ups, see who’s playing well, see what our strengths are, see if there’s another team’s weakness and then you kind of get a little bit of a feel for, “Okay, where do we think we have a pretty good shot to maybe knock off one of those guys that are ranked very high in the country?”
From practice so far, what would you say the team’s strengths are?
One of the strengths is going to be our depth. The guys have done a phenomenal job of competing against each other. We’ve got a very unique team in that we’ve got some veterans, but we’ve got a lot of new guys, even though they’re not all freshmen. We’ve got a couple redshirt freshmen, we’ve got two transfers, so in terms of experience and playing in our system and playing for Coach Carmody, they don’t have that game experience. Yet they have other experiences that we hope will help them learn our stuff, bring their experiences to the table, like [Louisville transfer] Jared Swopshire played in a Final Four, so you hope some of that experience, even though it’s not experience at Northwestern, will bode well for him when he gets on the floor. And of course, you’ve got the three seniors that are mainstays, that are our leaders and guys that you hope step up and have great senior years. So it’s been kind of interesting; the dynamic of some veterans, some new guys. But what we do have is great depth and that makes for very competitive practices – which they’ve been so far, which is exciting to see.
Speaking of transfers, how do you expect Swopshire and [TCU transfer Nikola] Cerina to come in and contribute?
Well, that’s the million dollar question, and I wish I had an answer for you. As guys that have played before at a high level, you expect them to bring some experiences with them that they’ve had. They’ve got to learn our system, they’ve got to learn how to play with guys here, so that’s all the challenge of coaching and putting it all together. They’re both great guys; they both work extremely hard. As they continue to get more comfortable and figure things out, we’ll get better and better and better.
What other areas of improvement have you noticed through the first practices?
Well, the first practices are always very interesting. Usually, the offense is ahead of the defense, and that’s no different now. We can put a group of somewhat veterans out there; you’ve still got Sobo, who started last year, so you put the three seniors and Sobo out there. That’s four guys with a new center, so they’re going to run their offense very efficiently. You throw some new guys in, it’s not quite the same, so you’ve got to kind of mesh them in together. Defensively, I think our intensity level has been very good, so those are the little things that come day-by-day. You’re not going to see it right away; you’re going to see little, incremental things each and every day that get better and better and make you a better team.
How are you looking to fill the void left by [suspended junior] JerShon Cobb’s absence?
We’ve got two big holes to fill. Obviously, Johnny Shurna graduated, and certainly you thought JerShon could come in and be that second scorer. We bring [senior forward] Drew Crawford back, one of the leading returning scorers in the Big Ten, and we thought JerShon would be that guy that could fill that consistent second scoring role. I think it's going to be interesting to see who – and someone will – is going to emerge as that consistent second scorer for us.
How important is Sobolewski’s role as the consistent floor leader of the team, having gained experience by starting every game as a freshman?
It’s huge. He was phenomenal last year as a freshman, to come into this league and do what he’s done in terms of being solid: running the show, getting guys in the right spot and making things flow. You know what you’re getting: You’re getting a solid floor general that comes every night and gives it 110 percent. Hopefully, his game will start to expand and develop a little bit and give us more of that scoring that we’re lacking from losing Johnny and JerShon.
It’s been repeatedly stated by the coaching staff, but how important is Reggie Hearn to this team?
You don’t get a real opportunity to play a whole lot as a walk on. [Reggie’s] a guy that earned a scholarship, steps in last year when we’re banged up, and just really blossomed as a player. It’s not too surprising because he’s that type of young man. He’s obviously listening and learning and improving. Coaches always talk about how you never know when your opportunity’s going to come. Reggie got an opportunity last year, stepped into that role and was terrific at it. Reggie’s done a phenomenal job. I’m really happy for him, and I think he’s going to have a heck of a senior year.
How do you think Drew Crawford’s going to step in right away and adapt to being the primary scoring option?
I think it’ll be an easy transition. He’s always been a scorer. Certainly, he had Johnny. The second guy usually gets the second-best defender; that’ll be a little different, more game-planning to stop Drew. But in our offense, it’s very hard to game plan and stop a particular person. Drew’s in phenomenal shape. He worked very hard on his game over the summer, and I think he’ll slide into that role very easily.
Which of the newcomers are going to be capable of stepping in and contributing right away?
I think there’s a need at the center position, so [true freshmen] Alex Olah and Chier [Ajou] both have a great opportunity, but [redshirt freshman] Mike Turner’s done a terrific job. Alex has been very, very good for a freshman and has shown that he can step into that role, and I think he’s got a heck of a chance to be the starting center.
Lastly, what do you think is the ceiling for this team? Not in terms of the Tournament, because that’s asked every year, but how good are the Wildcats capable of being?
I think we’ve got a very good team, and you’ve got to see every day, do you get better? I came in on the tail end, just being here for a year, but it’s four straight years of unbelievable success, the best four years in the program’s history. Hopefully, we stay healthy. Hopefully, you get a couple breaks and bounces to go your way. Hopefully, you play really good basketball. If you do those things, sooner than later things are going to go your way. Moving forward, I see nothing but great things down the road. We’re not just going to get to the tournament. We’re going to get in there and make some noise and win some games when we get there. Coach has put this team in a position to do that. It’s really an exciting time for me to be part of this program.