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It's almost basketball season! (Never mind the fact that Northwestern has already played Texas-Pan American. I mean, you probably already weren't minding it, but whatever.) Sippin' on Purple attempts to figure out what will happen in a series of posts about NU's upcoming season.
After last year, Michael "Juice" Thompson graduated, and is now playing professionally in Germany. Big deal, you might say! The point guard isn't that big a deal in the Princeton Offense, plus, he's short, plus, he's just one player! Well, not so much: Thompson played 92.2 percent of our minutes - the 12th highest figure in the country. He drained a career-low - yup, career-low - 39.3 percent of his threes last year, and rarely turned the ball over while leading the team in assists. And arguably, his most important asset - being the team's leader - doesn't even show up on Kenpom.
So will Northwestern adapt to the loss of Juice successfully? SoP staff answers after the jump, have your say in the comments.
How effectively will Northwestern replace Juice Thompson?
MountainTiger
Inconsistently. I like that Demps and Sobolewski didn't look completely clueless against Robert Morris, but as freshmen they will have their moments. Hopefully not too many and not too costly.
Herman
I was encouraged by what I saw from Sobolewski and Demps in the exhibition, even if it wasn't against a high caliber team. Sobo, in particular, looked like he had a pretty firm grasp of the offense. Combined with Marcotullio, I think our nominal point guard position will be in good hands. Where NU will miss Thompson most is the bailout play with under five seconds on the shot clock. Juice has the poise and confidence that you would expect of a four-year starter who had the gumption to self-declare his jump shot "100% pure." But this is what the nonconference season is for, and if there's a silver lining to the soft schedule, it'll allow the younger guys lots of opportunities to get into the flow of college basketball and give the team a chance to find its identity.
Loretta8