Against all odds, Northwestern will officially begin their men’s basketball season Wednesday, December 2 against Arkansas-Pines Bluff at home. Ahead of the season, NBN's sports section sat down to discuss the upcoming season, and what we expected for the program this year and beyond.

Coop Daley:  

All right, so Big Ten basketball [is] coming back for the cats on December 2. Just to recap last year, the ’Cats put together about three wins in the Big Ten, two against Nebraska and one was a bit of an upset against Penn State, so that was kind of fun. Key departures for the ’Cats, of course, include Pat Spencer, the guard, and AJ Turner. And I think Jared Jones left in the transfer portal, and Tino Malnati.

Justine Banbury:

My heart.

Coop:

Rip in peace Tino. But honestly, I will say just looking at this year, the ’Cats already returned a lot of the depth that they had last year, if not more. I am very excited about the emergence of Boo Buie and Ryan Young as young stars that we can see come out. Of course, Boo Buie, last year kind of served in the shadow role under Pat Spencer, and Ryan Young, of course, is the center that started a lot of games, but he was really starting to develop towards the end of the year.

Jordan Landsberg:  

Yeah, I'm excited about Boo Buie as well, he was in my entrepreneurship class last year, which was pretty cool to see him after the games. I think that he has potential to be a consistent source of scoring for them. He averaged 10 points last year under Pat Spencer, [and] now that he's going to start most likely, I think that he can definitely get that number up and help Miller Kopp out.

Justine:

I agree with you guys. I think Boo Buie is a big player for us this year. I think Anthony Gaines is going to be huge, and Miller Kopp as well. But before we jump into people specifically, I wanted to talk about our record last year, because while it was very bleak, I think for people who are casual basketball fans, they just may not realize how strong the Big Ten conference actually was, and it's even going to be stronger this year. It's kind of underrated in basketball. I put down some stats from the conference: seven Big Ten, seven of our 14, so half the conference, is ranked [AP] Top 25 heading into the preseason, which is huge. I didn't really compare it to other conferences, but a lot of teams. Not us, but we'll get there. Also, two of our teams have players who are ranked as top 20 players in the country. And four Big Ten teams have a recruiting class that's ranked top four in the country. So basically, even if our record, which was [8-23] total last year, is really tough, we have to keep in mind we're against some of the best in the nation. Give our guys some slack.

Jordan:

I totally agree with you on that. But it's also that they had very embarrassing home losses last year to Merrimack, Radford and Hartford. So I think that it starts there. You can't really be that bad playing on your home court. Two teams that should be easy wins, playing in as tough of a conference as the Big Ten, it starts with winning those games. Because without that, there's zero confidence.

Justine:

Yeah, it’s definitely one thing to lose to that team versus losing to Michigan State. But I just think it's definitely something to know that if you do lose those games early on, it's going to shake your confidence even more heading into the big games later.

Coop:

You guys brought this up, but one thing that [head coach Chris] Collins touched on when I spoke with him at his press conference–and he touched on this fact, too–yes, the losses are going to be tough. But the other thing that I think is really important when you start talking about how good the Big Ten is, Northwestern was in a lot of games last year where they almost fought back; they kind of hung in with the big boys. A lot of games I can name off the top of my head, Purdue, Maryland, Rutgers, not fun games in terms of the outcome, but they did fight tooth-and-nail. Either they got out to a big lead or they clawed their way back into maybe a tight play in the final seconds. I think to say that the Big Ten is a great conference is an understatement, especially with all the great teams that are in there this year, but honestly, if Northwestern can find a way to turn the corner and actually find a way to finish games, which I think we'll discuss later on, that's going to be important to this year. I think if they can manage to do that with the new depth that they're getting back, I think that'll be an important step.

Jordan:

Yes, they're getting back in. Just another year in the system, another year of our players progressing, just rebuilding the system, honestly, just another year in the rebuild. Have to hope for improvement. We'll see what Anthony Gaines can do, I know Justine was hinting at him earlier. I think that his defense and his leadership will be huge for the team, and I think that if he can stay healthy, and if he can be the defensive force that we need him to be, it can lighten the load of Boo Buie, Miller Kopp. Pete Nance, who was the highest recruit in Northwestern’s history, we really need [him] to bounce back and to show some consistency. If he can pull it together and be a consistent source of scoring, and just someone that they can rely upon, I think that things will get better fast for them. And I think that those close games will be much easier. The win will be much more attainable if you put those pieces together.

Justine:

I agree. Looking at Kopp a little bit, he was one of our top players last year. He had the best free throw percentage in the Big Ten last season, and also, his three point percentage was ninth in the [conference], which is very impressive. I think you're right, I think we have some big players, but we're not putting them all together, and that's a little bit on Collins. I know some people are frustrated with him. I think there's a lot of big players with potential. We just need someone to kind of tie it all up with a bow.

Coop:

You guys talk about potential. Some things that got touched on when I spoke to Collins: Pete Nance and Robbie Beran apparently have impressed Collins with their improvement over the offseason, just because both have apparently bulked up and will become more key parts of a perimeter defense, especially Pete Nance. Apparently there is talk that he might be used as a small ball center. So that will be fun to watch, to say the least. Just getting more into it, I think the key part of the ’Cats this year will just be their defense. I think there's no doubt that they can score. Boo Buie is going to have a good year, Ryan Young is going to have a decent year in the paint, Pete Nance, towards the end of the season, was starting to finally find his shooting form again. I think those are heavily talked about topics in a bunch of media circles. I think it will really come down to like you guys touched on, Anthony Gaines, Pete Nance and even Robbie Beran subbing off the bench, how well those guys can lock down the perimeter on defense, especially in those games that we mentioned, are just close towards the end.

Jordan:

When he's healthy, Gaines has proven to be an outstanding on-ball defender. [His] physicality and athleticism with the high intensity makes him a really enticing matchup with the best guards in the Big Ten. So I think if he can stay healthy, and if other players can pick up the slack on defense, games might be a little closer for them versus the strong Big Ten opponents that they're going to play.

Justine:

Another thing to bring up is the experience level we have this year versus last year. Our team was fairly young last year, and all the people we lost weren't as big of leaders on the court as a senior class could be. So I think that this year, we still have strong players in all these younger guys, because they're going to be juniors and sophomores. So I think that has more potential for them to grow more and obviously just kind of know what they're doing, especially in these close games.

Coop:

Would you guys call this a rebuild year or more of a fringe year? Because I don't think contending is a good term to use in the Big Ten right now, but would you say it's more of a rebuild or a fringe? Because I know next year we're looking ahead to one of the best recruiting classes we've ever had, but I know this year is gonna be interesting.

Justine:

I would say this is a fringe year … fringe is a little bit better than rebuild, right?

Jordan:  

I don't think that Chris Collins is on the hot seat whatsoever, and I think that Jim Phillips has proven that he will give coaches time. It paid off with football, as we know. We’re only four years removed from taking them as far as they've as they've ever gone, from taking them from the cellar of the Big Ten, and the complete bottom, to relevancy and the tournament. To let that go in four years, I just don't think that that's going to happen. So I would take this year as another rebuild, in a hopeful step in the right direction. I don't think it's a fringe season for a couple other reasons. They were very young last year as well, and this is another year of experience. This is another year in the system, and another year of experience for all these guys. So we'll see if they can put that together and hopefully make it a more attractive destination for recruits in a hopeful, strong class next year.

Justine:

Well, something to think about recruiting-wise: they just finished their facility last year. So I know women's and men's [basketball teams] were practicing in Blomquist, a gross gym. Any recruit is not going to come to an average program and practice in a gross gym. That's actually a huge part of recruiting is actually having Treinens, and having an amazing facility for them to have fun, and that's why we got such an amazing class coming in next year.

Jordan:

Look at football too! Ryan Fieldhouse is absolutely stunning, [costs] like $300 million. That's definitely part of their package when recruits come. Even from talking to football players in my classes, that's a huge part of what they tout: the academics, and this great coaching with this absolutely beautiful facility to just get big, and to hopefully make it into the big leagues, let their names be known.

Coop:

Yeah. So then bringing it down to this year … I think it really just depends on the game, it's hard to tell right now, just because there's been no exhibitions. Like this time last year, the ’Cats were playing in Fort Myers. So I mean, it's hard to know exactly. But just looking ahead at the schedule, some of these games are just absolutely insane. You’ve got to play Illinois twice, you’ve got to play Wisconsin twice, you’ve got to play Ohio State, Michigan. Obviously the ’Cats haven't played yet, but the games I've been watching lately, I mean, Illinois has just been destroying everything, and Wisconsin looks really good. So I mean, it's hard for me to say right now that the ’Cats will be contending or have a presence, but I think once the games actually start, we’ll have [an idea.] And then one last thing I think we could touch on: one thing I asked Collins is [if] there’s a different atmosphere that comes from being in an empty arena versus a crowd filled arena. He said, yes, one of the things that he has been working with his guys on is conditioning, because when you don't have any fans in the stands, you don't have that last energy push to go forward. I'm not sure if you guys remember last year, but a lot of last year came down to conditioning, just the ’Cats seemed tired in the last couple minutes of a game. So do you guys think this extra work on the conditioning could have more potential for these last close games or do you think it's just being overly optimistic?

Jordan:

Conditioning is always a good thing in any sport. So the more you condition, the stronger, faster you are. They’re positively correlated, and I think that the lack of fatigue that that would hopefully bring would help them close out games as well and help lighten the load of top players that consistently play. They probably have maybe eight guys, nine guys in the rotation, maybe even less. I watch other basketball schools or like other college basketball games … I watch a bunch of Duke because my brother went, but there was one year where they had maybe seven guys in the rotation, and you can clearly tell that they were exhausted at the end of each game, and they lost a bunch of close ones that they probably should have won, just because there were only seven guys in the rotation. I think if they were conditioned properly, and they worked on that before the season, that they definitely could have closed out those close games and maybe made it further in the tournament than they did. I just think conditioning won't ever hurt you.

Justine:

I think there's a combination. I think it's conditioning, and I also think it's having a longer bench than your starting five. If you're going to keep someone in for the entire game, [like] last year, they're obviously going to be tired at the end. And when we're losing games by three, four points … I'm looking at their schedule, there's multiple games where we were within five, and I remember watching and you're like, “Oh my god, we have it!” And then the last two minutes, you're like “What's happening?” I think it's just a combination of things. It's recruiting, so that you have more depth, it's conditioning so you're ready. And also, it's kind of the same as what we were talking about football, an empty stadium is going to affect Northwestern a lot less than it might affect Michigan State, because they don't have the biggest turnout of their games. Obviously our football has been doing well. I think we'll see that it might play in our favor this year.

Coop:

I agree on all of that. Just to wrap this up, give two key things you’re going to be looking for this year and then a record prediction. I'll go first: I think I'm going to be looking for that perimeter defense we mentioned and the further development of Pete Nance and Robbie Beran. I'm going to be optimistic. We're going to go 11-11, 22 games, four non-conference, and go 11-11, maybe 12-10. I think we might be a little more optimistic going into next year.

Jordan:

I guess what I'm looking forward to the most is the development and progression of Boo Buie and to see Miller Kopp as well, see how many points and the improvement that they make, [which] would really help them on offense. Also the transfer from William & Mary, Chase Audige, I'm excited to see what he can bring to the team. I think he averaged around 10 points when he was with William & Mary, so he might be that spark that can also provide some additional help for them. I didn’t come with a record prediction, but I would say that in the Big Ten, I'm hoping that they can go 6-12. It would be an improvement on last year, and I hate to be pessimistic, but I think I think a three-game improvement in Big Ten conference play would be a big improvement for them.

Justine:

I disagree, because I think if you look at our conference games last year, a lot of them were close. So if they're going to do what we're talking about and fix themselves in closing games … I think my phrase would be I'm looking for consistency, like we’re saying, or maybe being able to close games. Something I'm looking forward to is, what are the freshmen and the transfer gonna bring? I think they were medium ranked, so that's cool. And then, for the record, I'm gonna be way more optimistic. I'm gonna say 12-6, going to be the opposite. Wow.

Jordan:

I hate to be brief, but I don't want to set expectations too high.

Justine:

No, set the bar high! Reach for it!