Broken Record

The 'Cats keep it close in the first half. They make a run in the second half. And then things fall apart, and they lose.

Sounds familiar, eh?

It is a formula that breeds no success, a sure recipe for an 0-18 conference season. Northwestern simply cannot finish ballgames. They come out with plenty of intensity, especially defensively, in the first half. Teams cannot figure out their defense and miss shots. Meanwhile, they can never fully capitalize offensively.

So they go into the half fairly even with their opponent. They come out playing pretty well in the second half most of the time, before completely sputtering with 8-10 minutes to go. Tonight, that collapse was greater vs. Iowa because they took a 14 POINT LEAD IN THE SECOND HALF. And they still blew it. Surprised? Not at this point.

Look at the games that have followed the above formula: PSU, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, Iowa. That is 8 of the 11 big ten teams. And nobody should doubt that this formula will not play out a few more times this season.

So why can't they play well until the final buzzer? Well, to make a long story short, it is depth. For some reason, teams can rarely match Northwestern's intensity at first. Energy goes a long way, and for the first 20 minutes, the 'Cats have enough to make up for noticeable disparities in talent. But then the lack of a deep bench starts to show. They cannot keep the intensity up for a full 40 minutes; adrenaline only takes you so far. And so then they falter, and lose.

Obviously it is frustrating. It has to be for the players more so than the fans. It just does not seem like there is a way to solve the problem any time soon. Unless some of these bench players start developing some serious game soon, Carmody will be forced to trot out the same players for 30-35 minutes a game. It is taking a toll.

And speaking of taking a toll, these losses keep taking a toll on the fans. It's hard enough to get fellow students to come to the games as it is- now try fighting the 0-18 argument. It's not easy to counter.

Next up: Indiana on Saturday night. Many Indiana fans will be there, but will Kelvin Sampson?