by Kevin Trahan (@k_trahan)
Non-Conference Basketball Schedule
Northwestern released its 2012-2013 non-conference basketball schedule Thursday, and along with the typical random Texas school(s) and a school called Farleigh Dickinson, there are actually some intriguing match-ups to look forward to. The Wildcats travel to Baylor and host Butler, Stanford and Maryland (the latter in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge).
Obviously NU needs to avoid losing to a cupcake, but beyond that it's a little blurry regarding what the Cats will need to put themselves in good position heading into Big Ten play. I wrote an article breaking it down and I see 2-2 as a solid goal for Bill Carmody's squad:
The three biggest games, by far, are the match-ups against Maryland, Butler and Stanford, and realistically, NU will have to go 2-1 in those games. If the frontcourt gets itself together, there’s a possibility of 3-0, but 2-1 seems like the most realistic goal.
I break down each game individually in the article, so check it out if you're interested. And while football is the main sport on the radar right now, basketball season is just four months away.
New Recruit
Northwestern picked up two football commitments Thursday, the first coming from Matt Harris, a two-star cornerback from Lyons Township, Illinois. Harris had scholarship offers from NU, Wisconsin, Boston College, Illinois, Miami and Toledo, but his final two were the Wildcats and the Badgers.
He apparently was planning on committing to NU before visiting campus Thursday and made his decision official on the visit. Here's more from PurpleWildcats.com:
"I just felt like it was the best fit for me," Harris said of Northwestern. "All the other schools that I got offers from, they were all great schools, and I feel like any one would have been good, but Northwestern was the perfect fit for me and my family."
Harris is NU's 12th commitment for the class of 2013.
Another Recruit
The second NU commitment on Thursday came from Jayme Taylor, a two-star H-back/tight end from The Woodlands, Texas. He chose NU over scholarship offers from Wake Forest and Air Force.
PurpleWildcats will have more coverage later, but here's one quote from Taylor's high school coach:
"It's a great fit for Jayme for so many reasons," The Woodlands coach Mark told Vype High School Sports Magazine. "It has great academics, a great coaching staff and their offense fits what he can do."
Taylor is NU's 13th commitment of the class of 2013.
Colter "Disrespected"
The new NCAA Football '13 video game came out Tuesday, and while most reviews of the game have been positive, Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter has a problem with it. Here's his tweet:
https://twitter.com/kaincolter_2/status/222791747951017986
Here's a picture of it as well.
Technically, by NCAA rules, that isn't Kain Colter, and "QB #2" could be anyone, but we all know who it is and it's pretty funny that EA Sports would mess up the likeness of a Big Ten starting quarterback that badly. However, that's only the second biggest mistake the creators made, as they left out South Alabama entirely.