Last season was easily the best season in the last decade for Northwestern basketball. After finishing 2-14 in Big 10 play in '06-'07, and 1-17 in '07-'08, the Wildcats finally broke through and finished 8-10.

The record wasn't good enough for an NCAA bid, but it did earn the Wildcats an NIT bid. Among those eight wins were impressive road victories against Michigan St. and Purdue, as well as a non-conference triumph over Florida State. Many milestones where achieved along the way, including beating a Top-10 team on the road for the first time since 1953, winning consecutive games against ranked teams for the first time ever and reaching the NIT for the first time in this decade.

With a solid core returning, Northwestern could be in the hunt of its first ever NCAA tournament berth. The Wildcats' stud is Kevin Coble, who will probably never play in the NBA, but has a game that was tailor made for the Princeton style offense Northwestern runs.

Coble is as unique as any player in college basketball, a political science major who has a game that reminds some of Dirk Nowitzki. He can score from any spot on the floor and possess deadly range that extends way beyond the college line. He uses his quickness to execute perfectly-timed back door cuts, and can create a mismatch with almost any defender.

Returning with Coble is junior point Michael "Juice" Thompson. Thompson set Northwestern's freshman record for assists, and last season came up big against Michigan State, scoring 20 points and hitting several key shots.

John Shurna, who was much more of a role player last season, was part of the US Under-19 team and will get plenty more burn this season. Rebounding and interior defense still remains a problem though, unless 7-foot, 280 pound, sophomore Kyle Rowley can reel in more than 1.8 rebounds a game.

Interior defense is where the Wildcats have been hit the hardest, but the front court is solid, and this year's Big 10 does not present itself to have any dominant back-to-the-basket bigs at all.

Finishing off close games was also a huge issue for Bill Carmody's squad. If Northwestern had executed a little bit better down the stretch, they could have already punched their first ticket to the dance.

Its been a rough stretch for Carmody, who doesn't have a ton of fans in Evanston, but he may have earned the trust of some last year. This year presents itself with hope, and many more opportunities for the 10th-year coach. Looking at the schedule, the non-conference slate provides plenty of challenging, but winnable games against formidable competition (Butler, Notre Dame, NC State, Stanford), and the Wildcats finally have the tools to be successful in Big 10 play.