After three seasons, 1,203 career points and one nasty foot injury, Northwestern basketball star Kevin Coble is calling it quits.
Coble, NU’s star player for his first three seasons, has elected to graduate in December and forgo his senior season, according to a release from the University’s athletic department.Coble sat out the 2009-10 season after he hurt his foot prior to the team’s first game. He sat behind the NU bench for most games, looking on as the Wildcats played to a 20-14 record overall and a first-round loss in the NIT at Rhode Island.”I just felt a pop in my foot when I went up,” Coble said at a press conference in November shortly after his injury. “It was really something I’d never felt before.”The Scottsdale, Ariz., native also sat out the non-conference slate of the 2007-08 season when he went home to be with his mother, Carlys Coble, while she underwent treatment for breast cancer.This is Coble’s fifth year at NU, staying an extra year after he earned a medical redshirt after his injury last season. He’ll finish 14th all-time at NU in career points, and he led the team in scoring and rebounding in each of his three seasons.He averaged 14.9 points and 5.1 per game in 81 games and was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team in 2006-07, honorable mention All-Big Ten his sophomore year and second team All-Big Ten his junior year.Coble said in the release that the “the recovery of my foot is most important and extends far beyond my basketball career.” His surgeon told him he’ll recover fully, he said.The Cats now lose Coble and Jeremy Nash from last year’s team. Stars Michael Thompson, John Shurna and Drew Crawford return for the 2010-11 campaign, among others, and incoming freshman JerShon Cobb will look to make an immediate impact.
