Update: Turns out Coble will take option b: season-ending surgery. That's settled, I guess.

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There was some disheartening news for the fighting Northwestern basketball Wildcats this weekend. Star forward Kevin Coble, a versatile scoring presence that makes Northwestern a dangerous offensive team, suffered a potentially season-ending foot injury. Coble is hands-down the Wildcats' best player; this is a fatal blow for Northwestern's outside chance of making the 2010 NCAA tournament, something the program has never done and something Bill Carmody very desperately needs.

But hark! Carmody has a plan, and no, it doesn't involve inventing a crazy new offensive scheme wherein he starts shifting lines every 30 seconds like a hockey team. (Though that could work.) Instead, Carmody says he's spoken with Coble -- a long-shot NBA draft pick -- about redshirting and staying for a fifth year. Now this is intriguing.

Coble has two options with his injury: Rest for four or six weeks and see how it feels, potentially resuming basketball activities then. Or he could have surgery and rehabilitate the foot, which would keep him out for four months and effectively end his season. Coble doesn't seem very enthusiastic about either option:

"It's not like you can just drop me in (to the lineup)," he said. "These guys will develop their own chemistry, and we have to look at where we are: Is our record (such) that it warrants me coming back to make that final push, or will it be better off just to write this (season) off and come back strong?" Coble said he also would consider the fact the Wildcats, on paper, would be loaded next season. The team's only other prominent seniors are Jeremy Nash and Jeff Ryan. Plus the Big Ten is expected to be weaker.

Doesn't that sound like a guy who'd like to give it a shot in 2010-11? Surgery or no, this year is lost. But Carmody and Coble might save their Northwestern legacies yet.

Related: Big Ten Basketball