The Unanswered Question
Joe Mckeown, in his 17th season as Northwestern head coach, is coming off a 4-14 Big Ten campaign. That’s a notable drop for a team that captured a B1G title with a 16-2 record in 2019-20. It has led to the annual question from Janelpick: “this has to be McKeown’s last season, right?”
What we do know is that in addition to poor play on the court, McKeown dealt with some health issues off the court causing him to miss six games last season. Associate head coach Tangela Smith moved to the big chair in McKeown’s absence. This season, McKeown is noticeably less demonstrative; but remains capable of his signature arm swinging expressions of disbelief at referee’s calls.
We should also note, Jim Phillips, the AD who convinced McKeown to make the move from George Washington to Northwestern departed Evanston in 2021 to become commissioner of the ACC. And as far as I can tell, this is the final year of Mckeown’s most recent extension.
On the negative side of the ledger, the Wildcats are 0-5 in the B1G heading into Sunday’s game with the Gophers. The Wildcats lost to: @Michigan 54-60, Washington 71-90, Oregon 65-85, @ Ohio State 62-92 and Indiana 64-68. It coulda been better: Northwestern lost late leads against Michigan and Indiana. Or it coulda been worse; Northwestern postponed a trip to LA because of the fires.
Speaking of which, Global Warming appears to have claimed McKeown’s famed “Blizzard” defense. It was last seen melting down in an early season loss to Lehigh 68-85. Warming skeptics say this is more a result of a lack of players named Burton and Deary than climate change. Views differ.
This season’s ‘Cats feature some impact transfers trying to turn the program around. The starters with Big Ten stats.
Kyla Jones is a 5’9” graduate guard “All Ivy” transfer from Brown. Jones averages 11 points and 2.8 rebounds in 23.6 minutes. She scored 14 against Michigan.
Carleigh Walsh is a 6’3” senior forward who averages 11.2 points and 3 rebounds in 20 minutes. The fixture in Northwestern’s starting lineup netted 12 against Michigan and 15 against Oregon.
Taylor Williams is a 6’2” graduate forward averages 9.5 points and 8.8 rebounds in 28.3 minutes. The Michigan transfer had 15 points and 13 rebounds versus Indiana.
Caroline Lau is a 5’9” junior guard averaging 5.2 points and 4.2 rebounds in 27.2 minutes. Lau had 15 points and 6 rebounds against Washington. Unfortunately, Lau had 0 points and 4 turnovers in 22 minutes versus Indiana.
Casey Harter is a 5’11” sophomore guard averaging 4.8 points and 2.2 rebounds in 34.4 minutes.
The notable bench players:
Melannie Daley is a 5’11” senior guard averaging 12.4 points and 1.8 rebounds in 28.2 minutes. The team’s leading scorer is heating up with 17 points against both Oregon and Indiana.
Grace Sullivan is a 6’4” junior forward transfer from Bucknell averaging 7 points and 4.2 rebounds in 22.8 minutes. She scored 13 against Ohio State.
Like Janelpick, Northwestern remains a team searching for clues.
