While most of the country is caught up in March Madness, Northeastern’s campus remains relatively sane as the Huskies are forced to watch the NCAA Tournament on television for the 17th straight season.
That’s right, the last time NU qualified for the Big Dance was during the 1990-91 season, when the Huskies were steamrolled by the top-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels 101-66. Just to put things in perspective, the Heels were led by Rick Fox and Hubert Davis that season, each of whom have since retired after successful NBA careers.
So it’s been awhile.
It’s been even longer since Northeastern’s glory days of the mid-1980s when Jim Calhoun and Reggie Lewis called Matthews Arena home. In fact, the Huskies used to be a local powerhouse, qualifying for six NCAA Tournaments in seven seasons, spanning from 1981 to 1987.
Back then, March Madness seemed like a rite of passage for Northeastern basketball fans, but times have changed on Huntington Avenue.
Anyone driving through the heart of Northeastern’s campus can see the obvious physical changes of the university, as NU continues to distance itself from the “commuter school” stigma that plagued us until the mid-1990s. Now, NU is a top-100 university, and its basketball team is hungry to become nationally relevant as well.
For those of you who don’t follow the Huskies on a day-to-day basis, it’s easy to look at the last two seasons and see little-to-no improvement. After all, Northeastern only went from 13-19 (9-9 Colonial Athletic Association) in 2006-07 to 14-17 (9-9 CAA) in 2007-08. On the surface, it doesn’t look like much, but there are reasons to believe the Huskies will challenge for a CAA crown as soon as next season.
For starters, Northeastern doesn’t lose much next season. The Huskies return all five starters and graduate just one senior in co-captain Mark Washington. While the Raceland, La. native played some of his best basketball down the stretch, his production can be replaced.
In fact, the Huskies return 98.4 percent of their scoring and 95.7 percent of their rebounding from a year ago. All this adds up to a stronger basketball team for 2008-09.
Which brings me to our next point: with age comes experience, and with experience comes maturity.
One of the most maddening qualities of a young roster is inconsistency, and the Huskies were as inconsistent as they come last season. For instance, Northeastern beat eventual CAA Tournament Champions George Mason 70-59 in the regular season finale at Matthews Arena. But NU also lost to the worst team in the conference, the Georgia State Panthers, 64-62 on a Trae Goldston buzzer beater-down in Atlanta.
With a more experienced roster, it is only natural to assume Bill Coen’s team will have more peaks and fewer valleys during the upcoming season.
In that same vein, coach Coen will enter his third season as a collegiate head coach. The former Al Skinner sidekick continued to tweak his system last year, and seemed more at ease on the sidelines after what must have been a whirlwind first season at Northeastern.
His assistant coaches are also expected to remain intact after changes each of the past two years (Dana Barros and Uka Agbai, we barely knew ye), which helps from a continuity standpoint heading into the offseason.
Coach Coen and company have reshaped the roster since taking responsibility in 2006, and proved beyond a doubt their ability to recruit CAA-caliber talent. Northeastern boasts back-to-back All-Rookie selections in Matt Janning and Chaisson Allen. Janning was selected as the CAA’s Rookie of the Year in 2007, and elevated his status to 2nd Team All-CAA in 2008.
Among returning players next season, Janning is the second highest scorer in the league at 16.1 points-per-game (PPG), trailing only VCU’s Eric Maynor (17.8 PPG). Meanwhile, Allen was named to the 2008 All-Rookie team after averaging 9.2 PPG, while finishing 2nd in the CAA with 2.0 steals per game during his freshman campaign.
The only incoming recruit for the Huskies next season is Erik Etherly, a 6-foot-6 forward out of Annandale, Va. Given the coaching staff’s track record during the last two seasons, it is reasonable to expect Etherly could be yet another All-Rookie type in 2008-09. We’ve seen grassroots turnarounds like this before in the conference, as 2008 CAA Coach of the Year Tony Shaver rebuilt William ‘ Mary into a contender with four straight All-Rookie selections from 2004 to 2007.
The Huskies made strides last year, stringing together a five game winning streak from late-January through mid-February. NU also improved defensively, allowing the fourth fewest points-per-game in the CAA (63.6 PPG).
All in all, the building blocks appear in place, for a jump in the standings next year, as the Huskies future looks as bright as it has in the past few seasons. While most seniors are looking forward to graduation at this time of year, I personally wish I could stick around for another season, because my money says the Huskies’ NCAA Tournament drought will end at 17.
Check out 104.9 FM or at www.wrbbradio.org to hear all the action of your Huskies. Baseball coverage begins Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. against Rhode Island, weather permitting.
– Adam Jones can be reached
