Monday sips, ft. BILL CARMODY TALK, Wrassling, and spring football

Back from vacay - I went a few days without some sips, and not surprisingly, there's a bunch, y'all!

Your morning Bill Carmody firing talk roundup: If you're in the NOBODY CAN REPLACE BILL CARMODY camp, Teddy Greenstein found about 15 people who are conceivable options, roughly 10 of whom would presumably take a job at Northwestern, and probably about five of whom would be good coaching hires. If you're in the FIRE CARMODY AT ALL COSTS camp, Neil Hayes of the Sun-Times reminds that there's a lot of other stuff at play, too, preventing Northwestern from doing well. Hey - at least we're not Wake Forest, where somebody took out an ad in the student paper calling for Jeff Bzdelik's head. Seriously, if anybody wants to take out a full-page ad in the Daily calling for Bill Carmody's head, they can always use the cash - I speak from experience.

Still got a chance: The Onion profiles the real reason Northwestern basketball can expect to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time.

Springball!: Say goodbye to spring points: Northwestern won't be having a spring game - instead, an open practice and clinic for youth. (At "historic" Ryan Field, no less - is that like regular Ryan Field?) I can't act like that's a bad thing: the spring game is pointless and somewhat lifeless, although it's a bold move to get rid of it altogether.

For what it's worth, Rittenblog tags Drew Smith as Northwestern's potential breakout player - not a bad choice, quite frankly, as there's an opening at linebacker and Smith has impressed in his time on the field. Here's Fitz talking about linebackers and safeties - Chi Chi Ariguzo is like Nick Roach, but faster! - and a piece on Jimmy Hall, who is both. I haven't made any changes to my hack at Northwestern's spring depth chart, but I'll be keeping an eye on stuff.

Refuting recruiting: I liked this Inside NU piece on recent NU top recruits - had some interesting tidbits on guys in the NFL now, and plus, it's a reminder to read this thing from the fanposts last month!

Fitz slobber!: This profile of Pat Fitzgerald at CBS isn't overly insightful, besides the fact that Fitz openly admits he wasn't very good at his job when he started, but I'm always good for some early morning apotheosis.

Welch-Ryan Arena: Northwestern has a Big Ten Champion! It's wrestler Jason Welch, who could be the No. 1 wrestler in the country at 157 pounds. We'll see how he does at the NCAA Championships.