The Daily Northwestern
Maybe Jitim Young should have dislocated his finger earlier in the season.
Playing with a heavily taped hand after injuring his left middle finger Feb. 1 at Ohio State, Young put up back-to-back double-doubles and earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors.
The award is the second in Young’s career and the first for a Northwestern player this season. He first earned the honor last season for the week of Dec. 3, 2001.
Just four days after the injury to his non-shooting hand, Young played his best all-around game of the season in the Cats’ upset of Indiana on Feb. 5. The junior guard scored 23 points on 9-for-11 shooting from the field, and he pulled down a team-leading 12 rebounds — including five on the offensive glass.
Young also catalyzed NU’s most passionate defensive effort of the season in the team’s first win over the Hoosiers since 1988.
Although the end result wasn’t the same Saturday against Wisconsin, Young was one of the only Cats who matched his performance against Indiana.
Against the Badgers, Young scored 25 points and grabbed 10 boards in becoming the first NU player to post consecutive double-doubles since Evan Eschmeyer did it four years ago.
Young struggled at times during the Cats’ nonconference schedule, but he has rebounded to average 15.3 points per game in the Big Ten.
It’s a reversal of fortune from last season, when he scored 18 points per nonconference game and only 10.6 points per game in Big Ten contests.
NU coach Bill Carmody said moving Young to forward has allowed him to concentrate more on scoring without the burden of bringing the ball up the floor.
“That’s maybe something I should’ve done sooner,” Carmody said. “He’s shown for two years that he’s very effective on the baseline, and I probably should’ve had him there sooner. We need scoring, and he can do that. If he’s handling the ball a lot, it takes away from that.”
DIAPER DANDIES: While many are hailing this season as the “Year of the Freshmen” in the Big Ten and across the nation, the top teams in the conference have relied on a blend of newcomers and experienced upperclassmen.
Big Ten co-leader Michigan starts three freshman, including star guard Daniel Horton. The 6-foot-1 freshman is second among freshman in scoring at 15.7 points per game — good for eighth in the conference.
But Horton and his fellow freshmen have been aided by the veteran presence of senior forward LaVell Blanchard (16.4 points per game) and Bernard Robinson, Jr.
No. 14 Illinois — the Big Ten’s only ranked team — also starts three freshman in addition to senior forward Brian Cook, the conference’s leading scorer. The freshman backcourt duo of Dee Brown and Deron Williams rank first and fifth in the conference in steals.
Purdue senior guard Willie Deane, who led the Big Ten in scoring last year, has improved his overall game and put the Boilermakers in first place in the Big Ten with help from backcourt mate Brandon McKnight — you guessed it, a freshman.
“Usually that’s what happens in the conference — seniors are the guys,” Carmody said. “But there’s a lot of freshmen that have played vital roles in team’s successes this season.”
