The spirit of the night was pretty well captured during one particular timeout late in the game. The score was 56-51 Northwestern, 1:20 showed on the clock and Wisconsin was rolling on the crest of a 9-2 run.
The sizable Wisconsin contingent on the visitors’ side of the court, which had been relatively quiet most of the game, suddenly came alive with chants of “Let’s go Badgers.” Of course, it was more like LET’S!!!! GO!!!! BADGERS!!!!, as if these 2,000 people had rehearsed beforehand and conspired to unleash their fury at just this moment.
The chant drowned out pretty much everything, though the WildSide responded valiantly with “Let’s go Cats.” Some of the Evanston faithful in the section behind press row stood and clapped in what I thought were rather random shows of support. The band blared “Land of One Thousand Dances,” better known as “that song that goes, ‘daaaaaa, da-da-da-daaa, da-da-da-daaa, da-da da da.” It was chaotic, these clashing sounds and fan furies. It was fun.
This is a slice of what college is supposed to be about, isn’t it? Turning a sleepy Thursday into one heck of a trip.
The WildSide has lived up to its name before – it does more often than it’s given credit for, actually – but rarely has it been as vocal, exuberant and unified as it was Thursday night. For that you can thank the TV cameras. The Deuce was in ‘da house, and it made a point to announce itself. From the ESPN banner hanging from the WildSide railing to play-by-play man Dave Revsine, an NU alum, the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” had quite the effect.
Just take this sampling of signs: “#00: Best hair in the Big 10!”; “Mo- Rockin’ it!”; “SEACAT? Don’t you mean 3-CAT?”; and a short paean linking Dickie V and NU’s V-V. The looniest was a scribbling on a dry-erase board that loped Wisconsin into an axis of evil that included Syria, Iran and North Korea. Then there were the three fans who arrived fashionably late dressed as Tigger, Pooh and Mickey Mouse. At least they had the sense to throw on purple shirts.
It was lighthearted and endearing, TV-perfect. In short, TV brought out the best in the students.
The same can be said about the players.
Don’t buy the old bromide that cameras don’t energize players. The fact is they’re not too full of themselves and not yet too professional to be unaffected by the eyes of a nation (even if those eyes weren’t so numerous last night, owing to a certain winter sporting event larger than anything happening around these parts). These guys sure as heck didn’t want to lose on national TV.
To the fan-at-large, NU is somewhat of an oddity. Let’s face it, the Wildcats, to the national audience, is like some exotic dish that isn’t even that good, like jellyfish. The Cats run an offense that has about as much street cred as an Indiana farmhand, a weird zone defense that isn’t quite Syracuse’s 2-3 or Arizona’s 1-1-3, a do-it-all Croatian that’s leading the Big Ten in scoring (What?), a slashing Moroccan and a grinnin’ Long Islander whose game is a holdover from a different era. What is this purple goulash?
Well, I’d like to think the national non-figure-skating-watching TV audience learned something about NU last night:
1. The Cats are more than scrappy on defense. They’re good.
NU ranks second in the Big Ten in steals, averaging eight per game (the team had nine against the Badgers), and it’s easy to see why. The 1-3-1 zone is used to mitigate size mismatches by creating a set in which defenders are constantly active. The team essentially trades rebounds for steals (it’s hard to rebound when the center is at the free throw line, the man underneath the basket is usually the shortest and the most athletic guy is out top).
The point man – usually Mohamed Hachad – reminds me of a time when Carmelo Anthony wrecked havoc on offenses in Jim Boeheim’s legendary 2-3 zone. (Yes, I just compared Hachad to Anthony.) It’s nice to watch.
2. The Princeton Offense may emphasize crisp cuts and shot selection, but it doesn’t imply “boring.” The Cats like to run – they like to throw the home run pass, drain 3s and demoralize defenses by cutting every which way. There was one play with 12 minutes left in the second half in which Hachad received a pass from Michael Jenkins, elevated and threw down a two-handed dunk. The crowd liked that.
3. That Michael Jenkins is one popular fella.
The Cats had to win this game, otherwise that “hump” they couldn’t get over would’ve seemed like a summit. For the past three weeks, they had played close with the best of the Big Ten. They just had to close the deal.
Last night, NU turned in its best 40-minute effort of the season. The team can learn something from this. If the guys can rebound – a special point of emphasis for coach Bill Carmody and his staff – and if they can learn to master the endgame, which includes inbounding the frickin’ ball – “My assistant coaches were in charge of that,” Carmody joked afterwards – then they can win every one of their next three games and waltz into the NIT. Basically, they need to play like national TV cameras were following them every minute.
Speaking of NIT – in the closing seconds, peeved by students jingling their keys and chanting in scary unison, “Just like football,” the Wisconsin fans began chanting “N-I-T” at the Cats, presumably as an insult.
The students laughed. They shouted right back, quite delightedly, “N-I-T, N-I-T,” since such a berth would be heavenly. They waved and pointed, cheering and laughing.
It rarely gets better than this.
Sports editor Anthony Tao is a Medill senior. He can be reached at [email protected].
