Sep. 11, 2000 SportsLine.com Reports

Big Ten Conference report

SportsLine.com Report
Sept. 11, 2000

Carmody hired as new coach

Bill Carmody, who produced two Ivy League champions and a 35-game conference winning streak in four years at Princeton, will replace the departed Kevin O'Neill as Northwestern's new coach.

O'Neill departed the program last week to take an assistant's job with the NBA's New York Knicks.

"We are obviously very pleased to announce Bill Carmody as our head coach," Northwestern athletic director Rick Taylor said. "He is a highly respected coach and is well versed in the game of college basketball. Few teams take the court as prepared as his do."

Carmody produced a 92-25 record in four years with the Tigers.

"I am very grateful for the opportunity that Northwestern University has given me," Carmody said. "To be able to coach at a school with such a tremendous academic standing and in the top conference in Division I basketball was something that I could not turn down."

A Glance at 2001

With Carmody's system in place -- that of the back door cut and constant motion -- anything is possible in Tiger land.

The Tigers return much of their roster for next season, a young group that gives the Wildcats and their new coach some hope for the future.

This is not to say Northwestern will be appreciably better, just that it probably won't be quite as awful. Freshmen Ben Johnson (11.6 ppg), Aaron Jennings (6.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg), Jason Burke (2.4 ppg) and Winston Blake (3.9 ppg) all showed promise, while sophomore forward Tavaras Hardy (8.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg) was the team's most consistent player.

The Coach

Carmody was named Pete Carril's successor at Princeton on March 12, 1996 and produced a 92-25 record at the helm of the Tigers, who won back-to-back Ivy League titles in 1997 and 1998 after another conference crown in Carril's final season.

Princeton won its first 35 Ivy games under Carmody and had a school-record 20-game winning streak during the 1997-98 campaign.

Who'll Be Back

Four of five starters return, a unit that features Johnson and sophomore Collier Drayton (3.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg) in the backcourt, and Hardy and Jennings up front. Either Blake or Burke will be plugged into the starting lineup, with the other playing a sixth man role. Otherwise, there are no key returnees of note.

Who'll Be Gone

Northwestern was slated to return everyone, but watched a mass exodus after the Big Ten first round loss to Wisconsin. Sophomore guard David Newman (4.4 ppg), freshman swingman Steve LePore (9.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg), and freshmen forwards Brody Deren (3.5 ppg) and Adam Robinson (1.1 ppg) all decided they wanted out, stripping the rotation of experienced depth.

Key Newcomers

Because there are so many youngsters already in the program, O'Neill didn't have many scholarships to give during the fall. After four players left, he was back on the recruiting trail trying to find JUCOs and late-bloomers.

SG Jitim Young (6-3, 210, Fr.): He won the best defensive player award at the prestigious 5-Star Camp, which says a lot about him. Young also earned the MVP award in the camp's all-star game. Also a solid offensive player, he could supplant Drayton as the starting shooting guard easily next year.