Hidden amongst the ivy-filled walls of the library, the luscious green landscape of the lakefill, and the glorious success of the women’s lacrosse team, is the travesty that is Northwestern’s Men’s Basketball. Or, the new "Mistake by the Lake" as we know them.
Over 100 years, no NCAA tournament appearances.
Do not get the wrong impression here, we are huge fans. Amongst the biggest from a pool that can be no more than several dozen real Northwestern basketball fans.
We have fond memories. We have stormed the court. Just ask Jitim Young about that backslap after his inspiring last second shot and victory over Joe Crispin, Titus Ivory and Giasi Cline Heard and the Nittany Lions that gave the Cats a momentous 3rd Big Ten win.
Something needs to happen. A school that plays in the Big Ten and has never made the tournament is a travesty. Schools like Illinois and Michigan State barely need a pulse to reach the Big Dance. When we go 7-9 in conference play we break records.
The weird part about it is, Northwestern has established itself as a middle-of-the-pack football school. In football you need dozens of high-level athletes to compete in the Big Ten. Basketball, one or two high level recruits should get the job done. Instead of going after Jon Scheyer, we go after Jeff Ryan (we love you JR). Even the high profile recruits that might be interested in coming we can't bring in. Case in point, why didn’t Northwestern make a run for Jeffrey Jordan? If we have room on the roster for Pat Kennedy’s kid, how can we not have room for MJ’s kid? Yeah, we guess having Michael show up half-a-dozen times at Welsh Ryan Arena would have been a bad recruiting move. We’d receive no national attention from that.
Not only has Bill Carmody failed to recruit anyone of note, but he hasn’t brought a level of excitement to the program. Nobody cares. The Welsh Ryan Rowdies, or whatever they are called these days, consist mostly of adolescent boys and creepy old men, hoping to get their mug on ESPNU 2 Plus or wherever the Cats are buried on TV.
The program needs some cache, baby. It needs some cache up the ying-yang.
There is only one way to turn this around as we see it. There is only one man who pack the Welsh and can bring the Cats to the Dance. We need to woo The General out of that West Texas outpost and bring him to the beauty of Lake Michigan. Bring Bobby Knight to Northwestern. Bring him back to the Big Ten. He is the best winner in college basketball history. 3 National Titles, the most wins of all time. When you’ve been so bad for so long, this is the visionary idea you need to have.
Join us on this endeavor. Shout loud and proud “Bring us Bobby!”