Kevin Coble News

Junior point guard Michael Thompson has especially stepped his game up a notch. 2. Illinois State : The Redbirds are the only unbeaten team remaining in the state.

It is a time unlike any other in college basketball. Where each conference views another as an equal counterpart, the ACC certainly has had the Big Ten's number lately.

Everyone who predicted the Big Ten would be stronger this season was right. They just had some of the teams wrong.

John Shurna lugged the Chicago Invitational Challenge MVP trophy out of Northwesterna s locker room on Saturday night -- and did it while wearing a look that defined the word sheepish.

Coach Mike Brey was on a roll, joking in a G-rated Ozzie Guillen kind of way that the Chicago Invitational Challenge should be renamed the "Big Ten Invitational." Friday's Notre Dame -Northwestern game is on the Big Ten Network, he pointed out.

This was supposed to be the most exciting season in Northwestern basketball history.

EVANSTON, Ill. - Michael Thompson, the smallest player on the court, was a major force for a Northwestern team learning to survive without its star.

With apologies to Dallas journalist Blackie Sherrod, scattershooting while wondering whether Butler would ever expand enrollment to 5,000 students: -- Star forward Kevin Coble of Northwestern will miss Wednesday's game against No.

The Wildcats have had the worst luck so far. They already have lost star Kevin Coble and key backup Jeff Ryan for the season.

Matt Painter began his Monday morning teleconference by telling media members that there's nothing new to report about sophomore point guard Lewis Jackson's foot injury, which was suffered during Thursday's practice.

Nick Gore scored 20 points and Andrew Sparks added 19 as VMI defeated West Virginia Wesleyan 111-92 on Wednesday night.

The 11th-ranked Butler Bulldogs are fresh off an impressive victory to open the season, and they will take on the Northwestern Wildcats in Evanston, Illinois this evening.

Danielle McCray scored 20 points and No. 19 Kansas used a late 11-0 run to win Wednesday night at Iowa, 66-55. All the Kansas starters scored in double figures.

For the first time, Butler visits a Big Ten arena nationally ranked and favored.

Bill Carmody keeps saying his 10th Northwestern team features unprecedented depth, one reason some have predicted the Wildcats will earn the school's first NCAA Tournament berth.

After consulting with several health professionals, including a pair of foot specialists, Northwestern senior forward Kevin Coble has no choice but to undergo season-ending surgery to fix the mild Lisfranc fracture in his left foot.

Game one of the 2009-2010 Northwestern men's basketball season is in the books, and I'm here to tell you this will be unlike any season you've witnessed during the Bill Carmody era.

According to a Chicago Tribune report , star Northwestern forward Kevin Coble injured his foot in practice on Tuesday.

And here I thought I wasted four years of high school French and a year of college French.

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