It was close for a half, but the Northwestern Wildcats had little trouble dispatching the American Eagles 78-62. This one went about as expected--Northwestern was impressive offensively and mediocre defensively. The Wildcats scored 1.22 points per possession, better than anybody has scored on American this season (including West Virginia and Florida). There's little doubt that the Northwestern offense is legit, as they now sport the nation's tenth best adjusted offensive efficiency, behind only Ohio State in the Big Ten. That's the good part of the story.

The Northwestern defense, however, continues to look porous. American scored 0.97 points per possession, on par with what the Eagles did against basketball illuminaries like St. Francis (PA), Columbia, and Howard. Is there something about being a prestigious academic institution that makes you unable to shut down American University? Don't want to jeopardize a potential career at Goldman Sachs?

Regardless, Northwestern's defense looks only marginally better than last season's, which will make reaching the NCAA Tournament a real struggle. Pomeroy's ratings project Northwestern to win eight Big Ten games, which--while not bad in the nation's toughest conference--might not be enough for the committee without any good nonconference wins. The scheduling at play here is simply maddening--the Wildcats really needed a couple shots at top-50 wins before Big Ten play, but they seemingly won't get that chance. It's like Northwestern's football scheduling mentality has spilled over to the basketball program, and it's a real shame. Of course, the Wildcats could simply win 10 Big Ten games and remove all doubt, but that will be an uphill battle.

Michael Thompson and John Shurna took care of the team's shooting; the pair combined for 51 points on 28 shots. Luka Mirkovic posted an 11-11 double-double, and Drew Crawford dished 5 asissts to no turnovers. Now it's off to Madison Square Garden for games on Monday and Tuesday nights against St. Francis (NY) and St. John's or Davidson. Wow, I somehow mentioned both St. Francis schools in one post. Weird.

Tonight, Indiana hosts SIU-Edwardsville (6pm CT, BTN). SIU-E is one of the nation's worst teams, yet they've got some Ricky Bobby in them--they wanna go fast, regardless of the consequences. Iowa beat them 111-50 three weeks ago. This one could get out of hand quickly.

This weekend brings some more competitive matchups, headlined by Michigan's hosting of Oakland (11am CT Saturday, espn3.com). We'll find out just how good Michigan's defense really is against a team that just went hog wild against Tennessee.

- Posted by Mike Portscheller