The upside of being the only freshman on an otherwise veteran squad is that there is never a dearth of experience.
Though for newcomer JerShon Cobb, one of the most highly touted recruits in program history, there was never any doubt as to whom he should look up to – figuratively at least.
Senior point guard Michael Thompson was the obvious choice.
“I really identify with Juice,” Cobb said, calling Thompson by his nickname. “He’s been here for four years and he’s been starting ever since day one. Whatever he tells me to do, I will probably do it – he’s the right guy to listen to. We’re kind of alike.”
It’s a comparison that is fairly intuitive – they are both guards with deft ball handling and a gritty sort of efficiency – as well as a telling one. When Thompson entered the program three seasons ago, he came in with the explicit intention of leading NU to its first NCAA Tournament appearance and changing the composition of a less-than-dynamic program. In his freshman year he started all 30 games and became the cog in coach Bill Carmody’s team-oriented Princeton offense, doling out a freshman-record 128 assists. With Thompson at the backcourt helm, NU combined for a back-to-back season high of 37 wins in its last two seasons and came dangerously close to notching its first-ever tournament bid with big wins over Purdue and Illinois last season.
“This is my last season so I definitely want to go out with a bang,” Thompson said. “I came to Northwestern to be a part of that history of making the tournament for the first time so it’s a lot of pressure obviously.”
Cue Cobb, whose goal of not just helping NU reach the tournament but also leading them deep into contention, sounds a lot less like a pipe dream than when Thompson entered the program in 2007 with similar designs.
Thanks to that shared ambitious drive, Thompson has assumed the role of mentoring Cobb.
“Both on and off the court I’m trying take him under my wing and teach him everything I’ve learned in the Princeton offense,” Thompson said. “Off the court I’m just trying to stay on top of him and make sure that he’s focused on the entire season and on staying on top of his academics.”
Cobb, who will replace graduated Jeremy Nash at the top of the 1-3-1 defense in the backcourt, fills out a squad that has more depth than in seasons past, even without forward Kevin Coble’s scoring prowess. Coble opted out of playing his final season of eligibility for NU.
In their 91-71 exhibition win against Robert Morris last week, the Wildcats exhibited team play – a factor that turned what could have been a disastrous year when they lost Coble to a foot injury last year into a program-high 20-win season.
It’s a performance that NU will look to build on against Northern Illinois Friday night as it begins its non-conference slate.
“It’s very important to get out to a good start in the non-conference season like we did last season, and we have to build on that,” Thompson said. “We can’t be content with where we were last year starting out 10-1, and after the non-conference we have to go into the Big Ten on a winning streak.”
The win over Robert Morris confirmed some of the talent that guided NU last season.
Junior John Shurna was in prime form, posting a team-high 19 points reminiscent of his strong 2009-10 campaign in which his 18.2 points-a-game average was enough to notch him a consensus second-team all Big Ten pick.
Fellow forward sophomore Drew Crawford showed no signs of reticence either, putting together the sort of complete performance that earned him his own accolades last season – most notably Big Ten freshman of the year – with 16 points, nine rebounds and six blocked shots on the night.
More importantly though, NU got some productivity from its bench with non-starters combining for 23 of its 91 points on the evening. After relying heavily on its starters last season, mainly Thompson, who was on the court 92.3 percent of the time, Carmody came under fire for not giving his big guns a break – something that may have contributed to NU’s underwhelming performance in last season’s final stretch.
But Carmody echoed Cobb’s sentiment when he said that NU will still look to Thompson to dictate not just the offense but also the tenor of the team.
“We should be confident and I sense that we are,” Carmody said. “It comes from Thompson, really. You know Shurna and Drew and Luka (Mirkovic), those guys have played a lot, but you always look to the guy with the ball who’s running the team.”
