By Anthony Tao
The Daily Northwestern
The 100th season of Northwestern basketball was supposed to be a celebration of a program headed in the right direction, but a slow start, off-court distractions and an inability to win on the road left the team mired in mediocrity.
Like the year before, the Wildcats finished the 2004-05 season one game under .500 (15-16) and once again ineligible for the postseason. The team finished eighth in the Big Ten with a 6-10 record, two games worse than the 2003-04 team that posted an 8-8 conference mark.
It wasn’t supposed to be that way, especially not with four returning starters — T.J. Parker, Mohamed Hachad, Vedran Vukusic and Davor Duvancic — and the addition of transfers Tim Doyle and Mike Thompson.
“I don’t think we got what we thought we were going to get from Timmy and Mike. I thought those guys would have contributed more,” coach Bill Carmody said. “And then we had some more guys that didn’t play as well as we expected.”
Hachad wasn’t able to find his groove until late in the season, Duvancic’s long-range shot abandoned him (as did 3-point specialist Evan Seacat’s) and the transfers never quite settled into comfortable roles. As a result, it was “a disappointing and trying year, not just for the coaches but for the players as well,” Carmody said.
Then there was the bombshell Parker dropped at the end of the season. After losing 68-51 to No. 1 Illinois in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament, the junior guard — who averaged 9.7 points and 2.3 assists — told Carmody he was leaving the team to play professional basketball, either in the NBA or overseas.
Parker’s departure will impact the team, but Carmody, while he praised his former point guard, said Parker’s early exit could give others a chance to shine.
“It gives somebody else an opportunity, just like when he went down and Mike (Jenkins) came in,” Carmody said.
Jenkins, along with sophomore center Vince Scott and junior forward Vedran Vukusic, were bright spots on a team that lacked consistent performers. Scott became a legitimate outside threat and made noticeable improvements on defense, while Vukusic averaged 16.8 points and was named a Third-Team All-Big Ten selection.
Jenkins — who has said he will likely return as a fifth-year senior next season — started 14 games and provided some of the year’s most memorable moments. The best came on a Jan. 26 home game against No. 23 Iowa, in which he sank a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give NU a stunning 75-74 win.
But late-game heroics meant little in the larger scheme of things, which saw the Cats underachieve. The team stumbled out of the gates with a 1-4 record, with its only win coming in the season-opener against Portland at the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Still, the Cats entered Big Ten play with a 7-5 record. They beat Indiana on Jan. 5 convincingly fashion, then dropped four in a row, including winnable games at Michigan and at Penn State.
The team struggled to mesh as a unit and often played without passion, especially on the road. NU notched just one road win all season — at Minnesota on a last-second Parker jumper. Carmody attributed the team’s lack of chemistry to a lack of leadership.
“That was a major part of my talk with each player,” said Carmody, who has been meeting with players individually since Monday. “We were missing that — we needed a vocal leader, especially this year.”
Carmody said Vukusic and Jenkins could fill the role next year, though he said that will depend on the willingness of the individuals.
Several off-court incidents added to the frustration of a season that fell short of expectations. Freshman Gary Lee was declared academically ineligible after fall quarter, and freshman guard Brandon Lee was suspended twice for unspecified violations of team rules.
Then there was Thompson, who was suspended before a Jan. 22 game at Penn State for breaking a team rule on class attendance. As a team, NU got outrebounded 21-17 by forward Aaron Johnson that afternoon and suffered a devastating 65-62 loss. Carmody suggested Thompson’s presence may have made the difference.
The 6-10, 250-pound McDonald’s All-American, who fans hoped would propel NU to just its fourth postseason appearance in school history, trailed off after a good performance in the conference opener and largely became a non-factor. He missed the final 11 games due to a foot injury sustained on Feb. 3.
“He’s got to work on his offense — any offense,” Carmody said. “Right now he has a lot to work on, and he has to get down to it.”
Expectations will be high again next year. The Cats will lose Parker and Duvancic, but they’ll add Bernard Cot
