Coble's exit underscores difficulty of Northwestern's passage

Kentucky lost its five best players early because they wanted to become NBA millionaires, and North Carolina lost two players who figured to be in next season's rotation because they wanted to get closer to their California home. This stuff happens in college basketball. Guys come and go for a variety of reasons, but when they go it's always because they believe there's something better out there.

In other words, good players never just quit.

Kevin Coble led the Wildcats in scoring and rebounding each of his three seasons. (Getty Images)

"I would like to thank Northwestern University and the administration for all that they have done for me," said Kevin Coble, who followed that sentence Tuesday by explaining that he's going to thank Northwestern University and the administration for all they have done for him by not using his final year of eligibility. Consequently, the Wildcats will enter the season without a key part, and I really do feel sorry for poor Bill Carmody.

One of his best players just quit.

In late July.

And though I realize Coble suffered a foot injury last year, there was and still is no indication said foot injury would've prevented Coble from playing this season. He could've played if he wanted to play. That's what I'm told. But Coble doesn't want to play anymore, which is odd because when a person accepts a basketball scholarship to a school I tend to think he should, I don't know, play basketball for that school. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned.

But whatever.

That's not the point of this column.

The point of this column is how Coble's decision, right or wrong, highlights just how difficult it is to succeed at Northwestern, a traditional non-power that serves as the answer to one of college basketball's most basic trivia questions: What's the only power-conference school to never make the NCAA tournament? Northwestern, of course. And what are the odds of that ever changing if the guy who leads his team in scoring and rebounding as a freshman, sophomore and junior opts to quit basketball despite remaining in school for his senior year?

Understand, that's what's happening here. Coble isn't leaving the Wildcats for the NBA, for Europe, for a job as an investment banker. He's just leaving. He doesn't even graduate until December, meaning Coble will be a student on campus but not a player on the court when Northwestern opens the season. It's the equivalent of Robbie Hummel announcing he's going to remain in school at Purdue but no longer play for the Boilermakers, the equivalent of Kalin Lucas announcing he's going to remain in school at Michigan State but no longer play for the Spartans.

It's insane.

(If not insane, at least unusual.)

But what Coble's decision does more than anything is underline the difficulty facing Carmody. Coaches at most schools have to worry about losing a player to the NBA, to the NBDL, to an overseas contract or another school via transfer, but that's pretty much it. Northwestern just lost maybe its best player to ... nothing. Dude just up and quit in late July, decided he'd rather focus on books and other things than play another Big Ten schedule, which might tell us all we need to know about why the Wildcats -- who tend to recruit "student-athletes" in a more legitimate sense than most -- are the only power-conference team to never make the NCAA tournament.

John Calipari loses players to the Wizards and Kings.

Roy Williams loses players to UCLA.

Bill Carmody loses players to a lack of interest.

That's not something that happens at high-major programs.

That's something that happens when a church league star gets married.