Point guard Juice Thompson is the clear leader of Northwestern's backcourt this season
Photo: NU Athletic Communications
There was a time that basketball season could not come soon enough as NU’s football team flailed against the likes of Syracuse and Minnesota. Saturday’s victory over Iowa has made football relevant again, but that doesn’t mean we here at The Post aren’t fired up for Friday night when the Wildcats’ men’s basketball team begins their 2009-2010 campaign against the Northern Illinois Huskies at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
This week, we will preview different aspects of the season to get you ready for what could be a historic run for the historically-bad basketball program. Today we start with the Wildcats’ backcourt.
STARTERS
Michael “Juice” Thompson, 5’10″, Junior
Juice is the catalyst of the offense. When he came to Evanston as a freshman, the Princeton offense was pretty slow, but head coach Bill Carmody let Juice use his speed and ability to pick up the pace and penetrate the lane. Last season, Thompson led the team from behind the arc, averaging just over 43% . Without Craig Moore, he’ll be expected to take more three pointers and be a bigger leader on the court. Juice was fourth in the Big Ten with a 2.19 assist-to-turnover ratio last season and averaged over 35 minutes a game. Without Moore, though, Thompson needs to stay out of foul trouble this season as the backups are young and no one on the team can match his ball-handling abilities.
Drew Crawford, 6’5″, Freshman
Crawford is supposed to be the program savior this season—the guy who people will remember as propelling NU to its first ever NCAA tournament berth. Drew is a three-star recruit out of Naperville whose father, Danny Crawford, is an NBA referee. He is 6’5″ and well-built with more muscle than anyone else on the Lankycats. But the biggest thing fans are looking forward to is his leaping ability. You see, NU isn’t known for its dunks. You could count the number of dunks NU had my freshman year on one hand. Crawford has hops and had a dunk in the exhibition game last week to prove he can do it. (Supposedly some alley-oops should be expected, too). Crawford is a freshman, though, and will be prone to mistakes. He needs to improve his outside shot to truly excel in the Princeton Offense.
BENCH
Jeremy Nash, 6’4″, Senior
Nash is the best defender on the team and one of the best in the Big Ten. When he enters the game, he is on the top of Carmody’s 1-3-1 defense and wreaks havoc. There were times last year we would expect him to start, but he provides so much energy coming off the bench that Carmody maintained his sixth man role. Nash can get to the basket, although his finishing skills are shaky (this is a common problem with the ‘Cats—making lay-ups). His shot supposedly has improved, so don’t be surprised if he banks home a three pointer once in a while. Nash will need to stabilize his ball-handling skills since the ‘Cats don’t have a reliable backup point guard at this time.
Jeff Ryan, 6’7″, Senior
As a freshman, Ryan dropped 18 points as NU nearly upset #4 Wisconsin at home. We haven’t seen much offense from him since then, we have mostly seen missed lay-ups and air-balled free throws (to be fair, he has probably only air-balled one free throw in his time here). Ryan is a superb defender, and he usually steps in to bring the ball up court and set up the offense when Juice is out. The problem with Ryan is he is an offensive liability. He never looks to shoot or drive to the basket, which is weird because, if you remember, I just said he scored 18 points his freshman year against Wisconsin. But, he brings a lot of experience to the team and doesn’t turn the ball over.
Nick Fruendt, 6’5″, Sophomore
Believe it or not, Fruendt (rhymes with fluent) received more press than star forward John Shurna when the two came to Evanston last year. But Fruendt’s lack of size and strength moved him backwards when he got to the Big Ten as he rarely plays. With Moore gone, Fruendt could see the court a little more, especially if his three point shot is as good as it was in high school.
Alex Marcotullio, 6’3″, Freshman
Marcotullio is the other, less-heralded newcomer for the ‘Cats (he can’t dunk like Crawford). There’s hope in the program that he can shoot the lights out the way Moore did for four years. Marcotullio wasn’t recruited heavily (chose NU over Western Michigan and Oakland) but was supposedly one of the best three-point shooters in the state of Michigan with extremely deep range from behind the arc. Judging by the exhibition game, Marcotulio won’t play very much, but if Crawford doesn’t develop an outside shot and the ‘Cats start to miss the threat they had with Moore, expect about 15-20 minutes a game from Marcotullio off the bench.
