The Northwestern Wildcats Are Neither Feline Nor From the Northwest. Discuss.

I have it on good word that this is Northwestern's mascot

Just a quick preview for you folks today. There will be a liveblog tonight so check in around game time! Hope to see you there!

This match-up tonight is going to be tough. This Northwestern team ain't DePaul. I'll tell you that right now. They're the reverse of the Retrievers at an undefeated 6-0 and ranked 51st in the country according to Ken Pomeroy's rankings. This will be a very, very tough matchup that everyone will have to step up to pull off.

Northwestern plays the Princeton-style offense and is led by forward John Shurna who shoots an astounding 65% from long range but is an inside threat as well. Not sure who they're going to put on Shurna, but I hope it's Troy or Charles and not Vlad. I don't see Vlad playing the kind of physical defense it's going to take to limit Shurna, lest we see the return of the dreaded "Voul."

Guards Drew Crawford and Michael Thompson will probably give our backcourt fits. Each averages 15 points a game and are experts at getting the ball inside on the backdoor. Likely the best we can hope for is that Danny and Steve are able to gut it out offensively again, as Crawford and Thompson will likely run circles around them on defense. If they double on Vlad again, it should leave our guards open, and unless Northwestern watched tape of the UMBC game (as if), hopefully our dynamic duo can repeat their sharpshooting ways.

In the frontcourt, Lumpkins will have a fair matchup with center Luka Mirkovic. Lump will have to bring his A game on defense and keep his eye on the bouncing ball. Luckily, Charles may help provide the extra defensive spark with his physicality  in the post that might help to break their size advantage.

This is an offense that AU doesn't have much experience playing against, so if our defense isn't up to par tonight, the possibility of that offense exacerbating the issue is high.

Let's just keep it close tonight, and if we can somehow pull off a win, it will be a huge one for this program. I know there will be quite a few AU alumni, friends, and fellow Eagles in attendance, so here's hoping they get to see some magic blow through the windy city.

Other thoughts? Someone who knows the Princeton offense better than I do want to talk about defensive keys to limiting its effectiveness?

There will be a liveblog tonight! Check in around gametime!




Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!