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Northwestern basketball has suffered enough. If not enough for this season, then certainly for its lengthy and futile history. The 2010-2011 Wildcat campaign was supposed to be the hallmark story of the Big Ten Conference, armed and loaded with the best talent and odds to break the omnipotent NCAA tourney curse that has loomed large over Welsh-Ryan Arena all these years.
A string of close misses against Michigan State and Ohio State have left the Wildcats feeling tantalizingly hopeful and wondering what-ifs, but the past two seasons have had enough of those moments. Enough opportunities have gone by that it is inexcusable to cite another close loss as a “learning experience.”
But John Shurna’s injury at the beginning of the season, and the first close loss to St. John’s let some steam out of the Wildcat Express train. And it’s this particular event of the season that should enrage the Wildcat masochist fan in us all. Because it was stupid to assume that anything less than full strength was good enough to make the Big Dance. In a way, the cavalry we all hoped would reinforce the corps from last year never came in Kevin Coble.
Enough has been made about what kind of impact we could have anticipated from Coble’s return, but make no mistake, we all knew having him back was better than not, and his absence was felt when superstar Shurna went down. The offensive creativity and experience could have made the difference between a few closes losses and a winning conference record at this moment. Don’t forget that the last time Northwestern defeated Michigan State, as weak of a team it may be this year, Coble crafted a masterpiece of an offensive performance.
Purdue’s Robbie Hummel, out with the same ACL injury that took him out last year, leaves the Boilermakers at less-than-full strength, but Coach Matt Painter’s men still stand pretty at a 18-5 record and a No. 14 ranking. The same cannot be expected from the ‘Cats, but it can’t be ignored, either. Nothing can be firmly said about Coble’s allegedly aloof, almost neglectful, nature to the team and the coaching staff, but you would expect the powers that be to do everything they can to inspire him to reverse direction, for the sake of the goal at hand.
What is so impossibly grating about his abrupt leave is that the details aren’t fully understood or known, but at the moment, Northwestern stands at 14-8, and 4-7 in conference, and backed up against a wall. The wheels just may fall apart on this ride, and for another season, if not longer, Wildcat fans will have to consider the what-ifs again.
Remember that seven-foot tall Trinidadian basketball player who used to play for Northwestern? The one who transferred to St. Mary’s College?
I do, and I wish he never left.
Besides being one of the most interesting players to watch on the basketball team, Kyle Rowley meant more to the program than most people thought. While his play was not MVP-caliber by any means, Rowley provided something that every team needs among its players: competition.
The reason Rowley left for St. Mary’s is because he couldn’t handle competing with Luka Mirkovic for playing time dating back to their freshman season. Still, the pressure that Rowley put on Mirkovic to succeed is what made him the center he is today. That year, Rowley was a starter for all but three games as the basketball team’s main “big man.” Luka only started two.
The very next year, however, Mirkovic started 29 out of 33 games and averaged 7.3 points per game, a significant jump from the 3.9 he averaged the year before. Why? Because Rowley competed with Luka for the starting job in the offseason and eventually, Luka won.
If Rowley were still around, he might have competed with Davide Curletti or Ivan Peljusic for playing time and made them better backups as well. In addition, Rowley might have matured into the perfect seven-foot tall center that everyone hoped he would to be.
At least I have seen Rowley dunk the ball. I can’t remember any instance when Mirkovic or any other big man did so much as attempt a slam during a game. Then again, Rowley is seven-feet tall, and Mirkovic is only 6-foot-11.
Big difference.
Rowley should have stayed to help with the big man duties when Mirkovic gets in foul trouble, which he so often does. And it would have been nice to have someone on the floor who’s taller than both the entire Ohio State team and Mirkovic when we lost by a margin that Rowley might have helped erase.
Rowley could hold his own in the post when he was on the court. While he didn’t make all of his shots from there, he got open more than any other big man on the team, including Mirkovic. His downfall, however, was that he didn’t make the most of his opportunities to score in the post when he was down there.
Still, his presence on the team created an atmosphere of competition that made Mirkovic, Curletti, and Peljusic the players that they are today, even though they’re not the best big men in the conference. Mirkovic’s improved play since his freshman year has given the men’s basketball team some post presence due to the hard work he put in between seasons against Rowley.
Recently, one of my friends expressed interest in buying a Rowley jersey to wear to basketball games. Sadly, he might never get the opportunity to get one, and I’ll never get the opportunity again to see Rowley stumble into Welsh-Ryan Arena wearing white and purple.