Originally published on Aug. 1.

While the Rick Pitino extortion trial has been stealing the college hoops headlines recently, another unfortunate storyline has unfolded in Evanston. And I can only think of three words, “poor Bill Carmody.”

Carmody’s head-coaching career began at Princeton when he took over for the legendary Pete Carril in 1996. In four seasons with the Tigers, he led the Ivy League school to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances and two NIT bids.

In fact, until Cornell produced a Sweet 16 squad last year, Carmody’s second Princeton squad in 1997 was the best Ivy team we’d seen in decades, beating UNLV in the Big Dance before falling to Michigan St. in a hotly-contested second-round contest.

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When Carmody made the jump to Northwestern, he knew he was taking on a tough gig. After all, the Wildcats have never (ever!) heard their name called on Selection Sunday. Like Vandy in SEC football, it’s tough for Northwestern to compete in basketball in the Big Ten.

That isn’t to say it can’t be done; it’s just extremely difficult. Also, it’s not to say that once ever half-dozen years or so, the circumstances can’t be perfect for the Wildcats to put together that one season where they finally get to the NCAA Tournament.

Last year was one of those seasons, but senior Kevin Coble went down with a foot injury in the preseason. Coble had led Northwestern in scoring and rebounding the three previous years, combining to average 14.9 points and 5.1 rebounds. Nevertheless, the Wildcats were on the bubble and within reach of a Tournament invite deep into February.

Although they settled for an NIT bid, expectations were extremely high for the 2010-2011 campaign with most of the nucleus coming back and Coble’s expected return. But in late July, Coble informed Carmody that he won’t play his senior season.

Instead, he wants to concentrate on the books. That’s right, he’ll still be on campus and on scholarship, but he won’t be playing. Dude just decided to do what we’re all taught to never do – quit. Not just that, he’s quitting on Carmody and the rest of his teammates.

From everything I’ve gathered, the injured foot is not the issue. Coble just doesn’t want to play basketball anymore.

Nevermind that Northwestern was set to field – with Coble, that is – its best team ever. Forget that without Coble, John Shurna enjoyed a breakout campaign last year and became a legitimate go-to scorer at crunch time. Nevermind that rising sophomore Drew Crawford possesses as much athleticism as any player in the program during Carmody’s tenure.

Forget about school pride and snapping that record of futility -- you know, the 'never-been-to-the-NCAA-Tournament thing.'

Maybe there are personal issues in play that I’m not privy to? Coble did, after all, miss nine games a few years ago to be with his mother as she battled cancer. If there are similar issues that Coble’s dealing with now, then I’m off base for this criticism.

But if there aren’t, then he owes an apology to Carmody. Check that, he owes him a change of mind. Carmody gave Coble a scholarship for him to get a free education at one of the nation’s finest academic institutions. In return, Carmody just asked for four years of basketball from Coble. Instead, he’s only going to give him three.

And that’s garbage.

But it isn’t too late. If Bobby Cremins, Jim Harrick, Dana Altman, Billy Donovan and Urban Meyer can change their minds and face scrutiny from the national media, then Coble can have a change of heart as well, especially when it won’t garner anything but positive headlines.

Do the right thing, Kevin. Play your senior year at Northwestern because you’ve got a lot more help around you than you did in your first three years. More importantly, do it because you owe that to Carmody and your teammates. And best of all, do it because it’ll make for an even better story when you help lead the Wildcats into the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever.

Brian Edwards can be reached at briane@vegasinsider.com.

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