Davide Curletti News

Michael Thompson watched his Northwestern teammates scrimmage while he stood beside the scorer's table during a recent morning practice at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

The errant pass skipped toward the Northwestern bench, where coach Bill Carmody snagged it.

It was a strange sight; Northwestern standing at half-court of the UICA PavilionA holding a giant tournament trophy.

Northwestern capped a memorable weekend by downing previously undefeated Iowa State 67-65 Saturday night at the UIC Pavilion to claim the Chicago Invitational Challenge title.

Michael Thompson scored 13 of his career-high 31 points in the final 5 minutes 5 seconds Sunday as Northwestern finished with a 16-1 run and rallied to defeat Tennessee State 69-62. Northwestern trailed 61-53 before Thompson took over.

Last season, Northwestern finished 10th in the country in Assist to Turnover Ratio.

Early in the week, Northwestern coach Bill Carmody expressed concern over the tendinitis afflicting Davide Curletti, who averaged 1.1 points last season.

Last year, Northwestern had to lean heavily on its freshmen to provide a strong post presence.

He averaged 6.0 points and 3.9 rebounds in 12.2 minutes per game for that deep squad and appears to be more confident this fall, but coach Bill Carmody doesn't want expectations to rage out of control.

SCOUTING THE NEWCOMERS: The Wildcats brought in just two freshmen this year and at least one of them should be a crucial contributor from Day 1. The third-place finisher in Illinois ' Mr.