Ready for basketball season yet? Northwestern open up its basketball season Friday when the women’s team visits Chicago State. The Men start Sunday afternoon against Central Arkansas.

Get ready for the season with The Daily’s Tip Off coverage.

MEN’S BASKETBALL: SMALL LINEUP GETS AN UPGRADE

By Adam Fusfeld
The Daily Northwestern

Though coach Bill Carmody is known for teaching players his complex offense, he, like many coaches before him, have not been able to teach size in recent years. The Wildcats did not have a player taller than 6-foot-8 last year after the graduation of 6-foot-10 center Vince Scott, leading to struggles in the physical Big Ten.

So he went out and recruited size.

Joining a squad that remains mostly intact from last season are five freshmen, four of whom are at least 6-foot-8 or taller, something the team did not even have last season. Highly-touted centers Kyle Rowley (7-foot) and Luka Mirkovic (6-foot-11) are two of the tallest players NU has had since Evan Eschmeyer (6-foot-11) graduated and was drafted in the second round of the NBA Draft in 1999. They figure to help reshape a team that struggled last year, especially in the post.

“It will move everyone to more of their traditional position where they should be playing,” said junior Kevin Coble, a forward who was forced to defend bigger players at times last year. “I was playing down low last year, and a lot of our guys were playing out of position. So this will move them to where they should be, and I think it will help us a lot.”

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WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: MCKEOWN MAPPING COURSE FOR NU TO SUCCEED

By Danny Daly
The Daily Northwestern

Northwestern’s hiring of Joe McKeown to be its next women’s basketball coach this offseason was met with a lot of raised eyebrows from coaches and athletic directors across the country.

Their surprise had nothing to do with doubts about McKeown’s qualifications for the job – he is universally respected in the coaching community and holds the George Washington and Atlantic 10 records for career wins.

But why would McKeown, who has never suffered a losing season as a head coach, choose to leave the Colonials after back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances for a team that has gone 7-59 in Big Ten play during the past four seasons?

After all, he has had numerous other chances to bolt from George Washington. McKeown declined two opportunities to jump to the WNBA, in 1997 to become the first coach of the New York Liberty and two years later to lead the Washington Mystics.

He almost replaced current Ohio State coach Jim Foster at Vanderbilt in 2002 but decided to stay put, and the year before McKeown was a candidate to become the men’s coach for the Colonials when the university hired Karl Hobbs.

But out of all of those possibilities, the position he finally left for was the one at NU.

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More stories: New 3-point line, new opportunities by Matt Forman

Get ready for the most important season in NU history by Philip Rossman-Reich

Keys to success for the upcoming season by Matt Forman

Adjusting attitude is Cats’ challenge by Robbie Levin