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Northwestern's Carmody won't lobby for NCAA bid

Instead of hopping on radio shows all week and pleading his case for a first NCAA Tournament bid, Northwestern coach Bill Carmody would rather his Wildcats seal the verdict by what they've already accomplished this season and what they hope to accomplish on the court this week at the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis.

“I'm not going to lobby for anything; the stats are out there,” Carmody said. “Every school presents its argument and case for why they should be there. All the criteria they use: strength of schedule, wins against this, common opponents … all that is put forth. The whole case is laid out.

“We have our case. This is our body of work. Let the committee do what they're appointed to do.”

A couple of wins in Indy would sure make Northwestern's case more compelling. The seventh-seeded Cats (18-12, 8-10) begin play Thursday at 4:30 p.m. against No. 10 Minnesota (18-13, 6-12) in a tournament Carmody says is up for grabs.

“It's a fresh start for everybody,” he said. “Each team wants to go in there and try to win the championship. I've seen it happen before. I remember Iowa years ago — they came out and won it all. So, a lot can happen.”

Northwestern and Minnesota split their regular-season series with each squad winning on its home court. The Golden Gophers posted a 75-52 victory Jan. 22 in Minneapolis before the Wildcats earned a 64-53 win in Evanston a month later.

Carmody says when it comes to the Big Ten tourney, however, toss the history between teams, toss the seeds, and toss the records because this thing is more wide-open than ever.

“In years past you would say ‘these two teams and maybe some surprise here and there (have a chance),'” he said. “But this year I really wouldn't know what to say. Anyone really can beat anybody.

“And it's not just like the third-seeded team can beat the first or second (seeds) — all the way up and down there can be some pretty big upsets. And they might not be considered really major upsets because there are some really solid teams.”

But while everyone else is talking about it, don't count on Carmody using Northwestern's chance to make history as a motivational tool.

“Nah,” he said. “These guys know the history better than I do almost, and they read more about it. They recognize it and probably talk about it amongst themselves. I just look at it more game by game.

“We're going down there to try to win it.”

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