Starting Over

It's official. Sophomore forward Kaitlin McInerney tore her ACL Wednesday night against Wake Forest. She will miss the rest of the season.

The Northwestern bench has become a hospital ward. There are now 6 players missing time due to injury. At the risk of hyperbole, all systems are breaking down.

Take a look at what the projected starting lineup looked like in June versus what it is tonight.

C - Amy Jaeschke // Ellen Jaeschke
F - Kaitlin McInerney // Melissa Miller
G/F - Sara Stutz // Sara Stutz
F/G - Kristin Cartwright // Nadia Bibbs
G - Beth Marshall // Jenny Eckhart

The only starter still healthy is ironically the one struggling the most (see "A Case of the Yips" below). Stutz is playing like she's injured while the rest of the team tries to fill roles they weren't expecting to.

Of those 4, Bibbs is the most prepared. She basically knew since Cartwright's season-ending ACL tear (yep, two on this team) that she'd be starting as a senior. Her defense has been fabulous and she' shown some life offensively.

Eckhart was competing for a starting job, but didn't think she could play until December because of transfer rules. Ellen Jaeschke was competing for the 4-spot, which she would have slid into for McInerney if her cousin hadn't gotten injured first. So she's been doing an admirable job in a position she wasn't primed for. And finally, Melissa Miller, who has struggled throughout her career, gets new life now as the temporary starting forward until both Jaeschkes are back in their element.

This team is being held together by scotch tape and toothpicks. Not sure what that means, but you get the idea. It's a rag-tag group of would-be reserves starting.

Which brings up what is now the weakest part of the team. Who comes in for Miller? Freshman Savannah Stedman. Freshman Shantina Boyd is Jaeschke's replacement. And that's where the rotation stops.

The guards are just as week. Erin Dickerson and Meshia Reed. That's it and that's all. Reed could do very well, as she led the team in points against Wake. And Dickerson has a nice stroke. But right now, they shouldn't be the first two off the bench.

Garth Brooks once wrote "a dream is like a river." Well, this river has run dry. A collection of crutches are stuck in the mud bank and these players are thirsting to travel down the stream to the post-season. But it's not going to happen this year.

I'm afraid to say this is bad as it could get. That's what I said before K-Mac went down.