Evanston, IL - Heading into the game, facing off against a team ranked #8 in the USA Today poll, and who has the 6th best winning percentage in the entire country over the past two season according to STATS, Inc., the Cats had to play an absolutely perfect game.

And not just perfect for ten minutes here, five minutes there, like they've been doing all year, usually followed by a period of a dozen minutes or so where they don't get a bucket. If they played perfect for all 40 minutes, and the Badgers had a bad game, the 'Cats had a chance to be within three or four points at the end.

Then anything could happen.

Badger fans showed up to support their team that had just clinched a share of the Big Ten title with a win over the cowardly Lions of Penn State on Thursday. It was not as if the game meant nothing to them though, NCAA tournament seedings aside, with a win they could lock up sole ownership of the 2007-08 Conference Title. Their fans came out to support them, and the South side of Welsh Ryan was a sea of Red, fitting even enoguh for Moses to part.

It didn't help that the NU pep band was mysteriously absent, but the entire stadium was awash in chants of “Let's go Badgers” at the opening tip off.

Following a layup by senior leading scorer Brian Butch at 17:43, the Badgers had taken an early 6-0 lead to start the game. It was an ominous beginning and the type of start Northwestern absolutely had to avoid if they wanted any prayer of a late season upset.

Northwestern fans are loyal to a fault, and were not to be deterred simply because they were outnumbered on their home court. It's not like this was the first time that'd happened or anything. Cheering “Let's Go Cats,” freshman Michael “Juice” Thompson who has gotten better with each minute of Big Ten experience answered their call, cooly draining a three to cut the Badger lead in half.

It was important for the 'Cats to keep the game close, within ten at most, because if the margin got much bigger than that, their .001% chance of winning would be zero.

A minute later fouling a foul by Michael Flowers, Northwestern had the ball out of bounds. Running their offense with its cuts, screens and whizzes to perfection, Kevin Coble disappeared for a second before teleporting back into reality under the hoop just in time for a pass from Juice for an easy layup to bring his team within two.

They were playing hard on both ends of the floor, pressuring Wisconsin from the moment they inbounded the ball all the way down the court. At the fifteen minute mark, Craig Moore and defensive assassin Jeremy Nash smothered Wisconsin guard Tim Jarmusz. Gasping for air he darted to the only opening available, unfortunately that happened to be just past half court and resulted in a Badger turnover, for going over and back.

A few possessions later, Butch had the ball down low against Northwestern backup big man Nikola Baran. Not impressed by Butch, Baran played him tough, blocking his shot and grabbing the rebound right in his fat face. Igniting the fast break with a quick outlet pass, Moore put the icing on the cake, making an easy layup.

One of the best coaches in the Big Ten, Bo Ryan, was furious with his team, his face as red as their jerseys as he stormed onto the court and called a timeout. Only leading Northwestern by four can be a sobering experience, and it certainly was early Saturday as Moore had silenced the Wisconsin faithful.

Two minutes later, the 'Cats were set to tie it up. Fouling another excellent out of bounds play, Juice found Moore running to the hoop with no in between him and the basket set to make a layup. I don't know if it was a case of getting too excited, or maybe he thought he was playing in the NBA or something where traveling isn't called, but Craig forgot to dribble, and instead of evening the score, it was another 'Cats turnover.

This was the type of unfortunate, silly mental mistake which could deflate the 'Cats and lead to a long cold stretch which where their hpes of winning, or even just keeping the game interesting deep into the second could instantly evaporate.

Thankfully, Kevin Coble's not that mentally weak, and stole the ball right back for the Wildcats.

Just past the ten minute mark, the slick passing big man, Ivan Peljusic saw Coble make a smooth backdoor cut and fed him the ball for one of his five assists, bringing the 'Cats within four.

There was still a lot of game left to be played, but more than halfway through the first half, one Big Ten win Northwestern was giving one of the best teams in the country a run for their money. Afterwards, Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan commented that, looking at game tape you could see a lot of games, where for thirty minutes, “Northwestern kicked the crap out of the other team”

At the 6:23 mark, with Jason Bohannon all over him, Craig Moore raised up and made a three, to bring his team within one.

Aside from his consecutive three pointers in the last minute against Iowa, Moore has been not his usual self in the past two home games against IU and Indiana. Both were very close losses, where if Moore had played at his best the 'Cats surely would've won. Those threes against the Hawkeyes came only a minute after he'd missed two out of three free throws.

If he was on, the 'Cats had a hopeless romantic's chance. Tragically, those guys usually don't get the girl. Especially with dudes named Butch around.

Seventy-one seconds later, he made a thunderous dunk to put the Badgers just up by three. He was yelling and brought the Wisconsin fans back to life as they roared down their approval. It was a tipping point, and I felt the 'Cats needed to respond, or else they were going to get blown out. Nobody scored for a few minutes, and I still had hope when Moore made a Dennis Rodman-esque play, falling out of bounds after grabbing an offensive rebound and keeping his head enough to throw it off a player in Red to keep the possession for the 'Cats.

But, after a bogus call on Nikola Baran, including an Oscar worthy performance by Trevon Hughes of the Badgers, writhing on the floor, Northwestern never got close again.

Jason Bohannon scored on a layup the next trip down the floor. Absolutley needing to respond, Jeremy Nash found himself with the ball under the hoop, but somehow missed the layup.

Brian Butch scored with just under a minute, and then on an obvious travel, Bohannon made a running jumper as the clock expired to put UW up by nine. It took all of my power to keep my brekfast from traveling any further than halfway up my throat. Second half was pretty painful to watch. Being an NU fan growing up my imgination is much more developed than most people. Watching loss after loss after loss, I'd come up with ways in my mind for the 'Cats to make a heroic comeback no matter how many points they were down.

“Well, if they can steal the ball on every inbound pass, then immediately make threes like Reggie Miller did that one year against the Knicks in the playoffs for the next fifteen minutes, then they can erase their 25 point deficit ... That's not so hard.” Watching the second half, I have never been so dejected at a 'Cat game. Nothing went their way, it was missed shot after missed shot and Wisconsin just stuck it to them. Even my deluded, twisted mind couldn't come up with a plan for a NU victory.

They kept it within ten for the first five minutes of the second period, until the dude in the glasses got the Widcats in his sights for the kill shot.

Marcus Landry who had a quiet first half with only four points and who's only averaging 11.7 PPG for the year erupted for eight straight points.

It was the equivalent of pumping bullets into the face of a cadaver so the body's mother can't have an open casket at the funeral. To his credit, Carmody didn't let the loss get in the way of being classy. It was senior day, and the last home game for the veteran Wildcats. Carmody played senior Jason Okreszik extended minutes in the half, and put reserves Tonjua Jones and Jean-Marc Melchior who will graduate this spring on the floor to close out the game.

Afterwards nobocy was smiling in the post game press conference, save coach Bo Ryan, basking in the championship glow. He credited the strong performance of his team, especially on the defensive end and looked confident heading into the Big Ten tournament. Later, I asked senior Craig Moore how, team aside, how he felt about his individual season. It was a good year for Craig, where he set a career high in PPG, and leads the Big Ten in three pointers made per contest.

Ignoring the chance for vanity, Moore answered like a true warrior, “We're 1-17, so that's all I can base it off.”

With a game against Minnesota in the first round of the Big Ten tourney, in theory anything can still happen. Mathematically, they still have a chance to win the NCAA Tournament.

In the unlikely event that doesn't happen, and despite Sunday's unsurprising loss, it was still a honorable season for the 'Cats. They have a solid core to build around, and if they take care of their business this off-season, they won't have to worry at all about having only one Big Ten win next year.

FINAL SCORE - Northestern 52 Wisconsin 62

NU Senior Day Video Recap

More Articles by Charlie Danoff

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