Jitim Young views his former teammates Jason Burke and Tavaras Hardy as older brothers. But right now, he’s giving them the silent treatment.

“They tried to call me today and I’m like, ‘No, I can’t talk to the enemy before the game,'” Young said.

They’re the enemy only for a few days, as the Wildcats prepare to take on Burke and Hardy’s new basketball team, CAPS Sports Academy. Both former Northwestern basketball players are working at real jobs now, but they still have time to play a little basketball. Their team, full of former Division I basketball talent, is trying to knock off the Cats in the season’s second exhibition game.

“I’m going to have to put a few wrinkles in there to fool them right off the bat,” said NU coach Bill Carmody, who scheduled the game so he could bring a couple of his former players back to Evanston. “I know they’ll be knocking around some of these younger guys.”

Hardy, a 6-foot-8 forward and center, graduated in 2002 after leading the team in rebounds and blocked shots his senior year. Burke, who graduated last year, served as the team’s sixth man, averaging nearly 7 points a game in 2002-2003.

Young, a senior, is curious to see whether his old friends have remained in playing shape.

“I’m going to tell the referee before the game, ‘Watch Hardy, watch him grab me,'” Young said. “He can’t guard me.”

Although Hardy and Burke will help make the game a lighthearted affair, Carmody wants his team to remain focused on improving. In the last exhibition game, an 85-67 victory over the Coaches vs. Cancer All-Stars, Carmody noted his team looked a little rusty on defense.

NU has spent time in practice installing the defense, but Carmody’s not sure the message has reached his players.

“I’m not really helping our guys much,” he said. “When I don’t know what to do, I just say, ‘You guys figure it out,’ and I’ve