Men's basketball preview: Northwestern

Northwestern

Coach: Bill Carmody (140-163, 11th year)

Last year: 20-14, 7-11 (T-7th in Big Ten)

Key players lost: SG Jeremy Nash, SF Kevin Coble.

Newcomer: SG JerShon Cobb.

First practice: 8 a.m. Friday.

First exhibition: Robert Morris, Nov. 4

First game: at Northern Illinois, Nov. 12

Initial issues: Thanks to their trip to Italy six weeks ago, the Wildcats already have 10 days of practice and four exhibition games under their belt. That allowed Cobb a chance to get comfortable with the offense and for Carmody to pair various guys (Drew Crawford, Alex Marcotullio, Cobb) in the backcourt with fourth-year starting point guard Juice Thompson.