Who would have thought that the Northwestern men’s basketball team would turn out to be better than Duke this year?
NU topped Florida State earlier this season in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. On Sunday, Florida State turned around its season and stunned the college basketball world by beating then-unbeaten, then-No. 1 Duke in a thriller.
“In college basketball, anything can happen,” NU forward Winston Blake said. “It shows that we can do a little something.”
So crack open your math book to the chapter on the transitive property and let your mind wander …
A game between Duke and NU might not be as one-sided as it formerly seemed. Consider a few of the marquee matchups:
Point guard: Jason Williams vs. Jitim Young. Duke’s leader is the most talented player in the country and has pretty much wrapped up the national player of the year award. But he also has Shaquille O’Neill syndrome — he couldn’t make a clutch free throw to save his life, let alone his team. Young’s tight defense would slow Williams, and Young is a better rebounder. And if the Cats were losing at the end of the game, they could just foul Williams every time he got the ball.
Small forward: Mike Dunleavy vs. Blake. This pair would probably set an all-time record for combined three-point attempts in a game. Dunleavy has a commanding presence on the court, he shoots, he rebounds, he passes well and he’s tall. NU coach Bill Carmody would rotate Blake, Jason Burke, and Tavaras Hardy against Dunleavy on defense, and Collier Drayton would help double-team. The Cats’ team defense, as they’ve shown, can be suffocating. If all else fails, insult Dunleavy’s father, and tell him that coach Mike Krzyzewski is only training him to be another Blue Devils assistant coach.
Center: Carlos Boozer vs. Tavaras Hardy/Aaron Jennings. Again, the Cats would need to double-down on Boozer, especially with Jennings in the game. Like the Seminoles’ 340-pound Nigel Dixon, Boozer, whose ball handling can be suspect at times, would crumble under triple- and quadrouple-team defense. And he wouldn’t have a chance against Jennings’ jump-hook.
Coaching: Krzyzewski vs. Carmody. The NU coach doesn’t pull any of these five-man substitutions when he’s upset with his starters. Plus, Carmody is wittier and better looking.
Bench: The Cats don’t exactly go 12-deep. But it’s not as if Duke has any more All-Americans coming off its bench. We can’t forget the Vedran Vukusic factor. The freshman from Croatia is third in the nation in three-point shooting, and Duke would be mesmerized by the beauty of his finger roll, which is reminiscent of Dr. J (or, at least, of fellow Croation Toni Kukoc of the Atlanta Hawks). Second, there’s fan-favorite Michael Jenkins, the Cats’ secret weapon off the bench. The 5-foot-9 point guard’s flashy cuts and drives would bring the crowd into the game.
Intangibles: Duke probably wouldn’t take the Cats seriously, so NU would undoubtedly run up a huge lead by halftime, when Krzyzewski would finally realize that the Cats are for real. NU would have nothing to lose in this game. And the mental game is half the battle.
