The Big Ten Tournament is today, and that means there probably won't be any Northwestern Wildcats revenue sports to write about for a long, long time.
That doesn't mean we aren't excited for what should be an awesome wire-to-wire day of college hoops, and that doesn't mean there isn't a hell of a lot of stuff to link to today. Let's do it!
Carmo Carmo Carmo Carmo Carmo Carmeleon: It's time for today's wrap-up of Bill Carmody talk!
- Teddy Greenstein discusses Bill Carmody's future for the Trib. He also chronicled the swift, violent departure of Northwestern's hypothetical depth.
- Neil Hayes of the Sun-Times writes that Jaren Sina might reconsider his commitment if Northwestern fires Bill Carmody. We knew this was an issue, but let's go ahead and not leverage the future of Northwestern's basketball program over the desires of the father of a high school point guard. Bill Carmody's future depends on Bill Carmody, not on a 17-year-old none of us have ever seen play.
- From the fanposts, we have Lightning McQueen doing a pretty thorough job of breaking down all the pros and cons of Carmody, which is a pretty important thing to wrap your head around.
- And perhaps the most important, the return of Northwestern internet celebrity Fire Bill Carmody, with a banger on his eponymous subject.
The Swop sign: With Jared Swopshire's Northwestern career over, Inside NU sat down with the senior forward to discuss his injury and his future. Really nice read.
La bibliothèque est très grand: We have an update on John Shurna, from the French basketball league's official website!
Le pigiste surprise
John Shurna (2,04 m, 22 ans, Strasbourg)
Avec son air de ne pas y toucher et son shoot « en trompe d’éléphant » (dixit Vincent Collet), l’intérieur sorti de la petite fac de Northwestern a fait le plus grand bien à la SIG depuis qu’il y est venu piger en l’absence de Nicolas de Jong. Pas bien physique ni athlétique, ce 4-3 s’est remarquablement bien fondu dans le collectif strasbourgeois. Adroit en diable à 3-points (19 sur 39 !), très rentable offensivement, Shurna risque de laisser un grand vide à l’issue de sa pige. Qui l’eut cru en novembre dernier après un premier match sans relief à Paris ?
Luckily, I took eight years of French, so I can translate quite effectively, as we discovered here.
The biggest surprise!
John Shurna (8-foot-11, 22 years old, Paris)
Oh la la! John Shurna touched and shot an elephant trunk. The interior is sort of like the little face of Northwestern and he made a big good with the cigarette. Have you been to the library? It's very big. Shurna makes remarkably good fondue with the Strasbourg collective. My name is Rodger Sherman, and I am from New York. I like very much rap music and I think that grapefruits are delicious. What a disgrace! I like slippers a lot.
(Here's what it actually says:)
The surprise free agent
With an air of not wanting to touch the ball and a shot that looks like "an elephant trunk" (says Shurna's coach/French national team coach Vincent Collet), the forward came from a small college in Northwestern and made a big difference for SIG since he signed to fill the absence of Nicolas De Jong. Not very phyiscal or athletic, the 4-3 has melted remarkably well in the team from Strasbourg. Skillful as hell at three-pointers (19 for 39!), very efficient offensively, Shurna will leave a big hole at the end of his contract. Who would have thought after a lackluster debut in Paris?
That's a pretty awesome writeup. Although yo, Ligue National de Basket, calling Northwestern a small college is NOT COOL.
I also like that they used "fondu" to refer to his meshing with the team, because everything in France has to be related to cheese somehow.
FRESHMEEEEEEEEEENNNN: Liked this video on Dan Vitale, Dean Lowry, and Traveon Henry, who are now sophomores, I guess:
Highlight of the video: Vitale playing air guitar. I also like the fact that now that Northwestern has two helmets - the ones they wear always, and the ones they wore vs. Nebraska and in the bowl - they can have the offense wear one and the defense wear the other. It's also noteworthy that voiceover guy says Traveon Henry is going to start. I still have him listed as a backup on my Northwestern depth chart guess, but there's no reason to believe he wouldn't start over Davion Fleming.
More Mark: There's also this interview with Venric Mark by Adam Rittenberg, which is great because all interviews/things Venric Mark are great. It's also funny that Adam Rittenberg is, like, noticably taller than Venric.
Need a March Madness pool? Join mine! It's fun, trust me. (That's a video, by the way..)