EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) - Northwestern won a program-record 20 games last season, and all guard Michael Thompson could think of were those that got away.

That happens when expectations get raised.

Now, how about an NCAA berth?

"We have a good chance with the guys on this team,'' Thompson said.

A long time Big Ten doormat, Northwestern is looking for more after making back-to-back NIT appearances for the first time. An NCAA berth would be a first for the program that hosted the inaugural championship game back in 1939 but still hasn't made the tournament seven decades later, and with four starters back from a team that went 20-14 (7-11 Big Ten), now is as good a time as any.

The Wildcats have their leading scorer returning in John Shurna, who set a school record with 619 points while averaging 18.2 and was second-team, all-Big Ten as a sophomore last season. Thompson is second on Northwestern's career assists list with 381 heading into his senior season.

Drew Crawford, the Big Ten co-Freshman of the Year, is back. So is center Luka Mirkovic, and although coach Bill Carmody is high on freshman guard JerShon Cobb, the bench might be a little thin.

``I think we have some guys that - right now - can compete with anybody,'' Carmody said. ``I still think that the depth is the problem - if there is a problem. People say that you're playing your guys 35 minutes and all that, maybe that led to sort of like our demise at the end.''

It would have helped had Kevin Coble decided to play. Instead, he's skipping his senior season after sitting out last year with a broken foot.

Considering he led the team in scoring and rebounding for three seasons, that was a big blow. But the Wildcats still got back to the postseason without him. Now, they're aiming higher.

``As long as I've been in the league, it seems like the same top six teams that have been up there,'' Carmody said. ``Some years we get seven teams in, sometimes six. But it doesn't seem like it's flipped-flopped up that much.''

The Big Ten sent five teams to the NCAA last season, and the Wildcats might have elbowed their way in had they performed just a little better away from Welsh-Ryan Arena, particularly in conference play. They were 1-8 on the road, compared to a 6-3 mark at home, and finished tied for seventh with Michigan.

``Last year, on the road we would always get off the slow starts,'' Thompson said. ``We need to come out more focused on the road.''

Carmody, in his 11th year at Northwestern, is no stranger to the NCAA.

He led Princeton to a 92-25 record overall and a 50-6 mark in Ivy League play over four seasons in the late 1990s, after 14 years as an assistant under the legendary Pete Carril. The Tigers never won fewer than 19 games and never missed the postseason.

They went 24-4 in his first season (1996-1997) and 27-2 the following year while earning a Top 10 ranking and advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament. They also went 14-0 in the league during each of those seasons, and posted the two longest win streaks in school history - 20 and 19 games - during Carmody's tenure.
When he made the jump to Northwestern in 2000, the landing was a hard one.

There were six straight losing seasons after the Wildcats went 16-13 in his second year, and he comes into this year with a 140-163 mark at Northwestern. Yet, the momentum is turning.

One thing Carmody has been able to do is tap in to a fertile local recruiting ground.

Northwestern may never lure the top prospects like Derrick Rose or Jon Scheyer, but it does have six players from Illinois, including Chicago's Thompson and suburbanites Shurna and Crawford.

``Over the years Northwestern has not been that successful, but now we have about eight or nine Illinois guys, a few guys from the city and mostly from the near suburbs,'' Carmody said. ``I think that's real important. If you can recruit locally, it just helps your program.''

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