NU, DePaul, Illinois women all off to fast starts
Some really great things are happening right now with the women's college basketball teams in Illinois.
Northwestern (4-0) travels to No. 18 DePaul (4-1) on Saturday night (7 p.m.) for a crosstown rivalry matchup that features two of the most accomplished coaches in the sport.
Joe McKeown of Northwestern got his 600th career victory last week when the Wildcats cruised past his alma mater Kent State 72-54.
McKeown, who rolled up his wins at New Mexico State, George Washington and Northwestern, will bring his undefeated Wildcats to McGrath-Phillips Arena in Lincoln Park to go head-to-head against the legendary Doug Bruno.
Bruno has 604 career wins, 564 with DePaul and 40 as the head coach of the Chicago Hustle, a professional women's basketball team in the 1970s.
Between them, McKeown and Bruno boast 1,205 career wins and 58 seasons at the college level.
“Well, really, I've never won any games. A coach never does,” Bruno said. “It's all about the players who play for us. But what I'm really proud of is the success we've had against the competition we've played over the years, some of the best programs and coaches in the country.
“That's why I'm thrilled to play against a coach like Joe (McKeown), because he's a great coach. This Northwestern game is going to have a degree of difficulty of a Top 25 game.”
Another Big Ten contender suddenly could be Illinois, which, on Thanksgiving Day, pulled off one of the best wins of the college basketball season.
The unranked Illini upended No. 9 Kentucky 77-71 at the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands. Illinois (5-0) is off to its best start since the 2002-03 season, the last time the program earned an NCAA Tournament berth.
“I think everyone underestimates us,” said freshman center Chatrice White, who scored a game-high 23 points and blocked 3 shots against Kentucky. “I think we made a statement tonight. It was crazy. We were so hyped in the locker room. It was a great feeling.”
Two years ago, at the beginning of the 2012-13 season, Illinois staged another major upset, a 70-59 victory over then-No. 6 Georgia. That came in head coach Matt Bollant's first season at Illinois.
“This means a lot,” Bollant said of the Kentucky win. “Illinois really hasn't had a lot of signature wins and to be 5-0 and beat the ninth-ranked team which is third in the RPI, means a lot to our program. Now we need to have some competitive maturity and move on to the next game.”
Watch it:
College volleyball is about to move into the postseason, and Sunday (7:30 p.m.), ESPNU will announce the 64 teams that make NCAA Tournament field.
Big Ten teams again have been dominating the national rankings. Last season Penn State defeated Wisconsin in the NCAA national championship game 3-1.
No. 2 Wisconsin won the Big Ten title this season, but was challenged by five other league team that were ranked in the Top 25 (No. 4 Penn State, No. 10 Nebraska, No. 11 Illinois, No. 19 Purdue and No. 20 Ohio State).
pbabcock@dailyherald.com