all cats sports here.

northwestern-indiana was another pretty darn entertaining college basketball game, perhaps as well as the cats have played this year, and its a shame they came up short. they'll win in bloomington before i'm dead. i swear.

tim doyle made more terrible plays than usual, seems to me. his throw into the double-team with nu down six inside of two minutes was huge. seemed that vukusic was open at the top of the key, and doyle tried to force it to the cutting moore late in the shot clock. also, he forced a horrible hook shot, awkward but exciting when it works, awkward and awful when it doesn't. it didn't, and it was a wasted late possession.

free throws are annoying. northwestern can't shoot free throws, which is inexcusable. it's inaccurate to say that free throws cost them the game, but missing four straight down the stretch when iu made five straight couldn't have helped.

i think michigan state is winnable, although not particularly winnable. but somewhat winnable. i hope shannon brown doesn't throw down a dunk like he did last saturday against penn state.

most interesting thing from carmody's post-game wgn interview, in response to the question about why bernard cote, who played very well in four first-half minutes [offensive board, three-pointer, bodying up killingsworth], didn't get off the bench in the second half.

"i wanted vukusic at the center position on offense. he was cutting to the middle a lot in the first half, and they kept knocking him, and didn't like the contact, and that slowed him down."

it would seem to me that cote would have been capable of moving to the wing in the offense, with vukusic as the guy at the top. but, of course, that's not the reason the cats lost.

he also said, regarding vukusic: "he's shooting really well when there's a play called for him. but, in the framework of the offense, he's just not that comfortable."

i only wish vukusic were more fiery, more emotional. the team has no emotional leader, and that's frustrating. it could be moore, could be jenkins if he still played. i guess you call hachad the team leader, but he sets too wild and out-of-control of a tempo. and he's not jitim. i miss jitim.

- - - - - -

got 52 minutes [or so] to spare and a high-speed internet connection. watch the national letter of intent press conference/highlight video here.

to me, NU always needs defensive backs, and always needs defensive lineman.

i really like the highlights shown of three defensive backs:
safety brad phillips
corners justan vaughn and [i think] sidney stewart.

the defensive lineman didn't particularly stand out to me. corbin bryant is the d-end who decommitted from niu and played one year of high school football. he seems slender and athletic and potential-ful. defensive tackles never stand out on video, and the two dts signed by the cats were no exception.

nate williams will be playing middle linebacker in two years, and quentin davie will be a starter on the outside as a sophomore. players.

i love recruiting videos. but not really. the first time i watched a recruiting video, i said "hard-hittin' herschel henderson is jesus."

best part of the video comes from randy walker, about 42:00 point:
"i challenge every recruit. i say, 'we're different. we're unique. i'm not saying we're different-better. i'm not saying we're unique-better. you can go to a lot of schools, and then you come to northwestern and you see a different picture. you gotta want that. and if you don't want that, you shouldn't come here.' and rather than make excuses about how we're different, i rejoice in it."

i say it a lot, but it's pretty neat to support northwestern. it really, really seems like they do it the right way, and that's something to be proud of.

done.