Not much of a contest, a 91-59 blowout.
This won’t help Northwestern’s NET rating, might even bring it down. Detroit Mercy is 0-10. Too bad they couldn’t find some better non-conference opponents.
You beat #1 last year (and this year too) and nobody wants to play you early in the season.
Go B1GCats
rsl
If Northwestern was a consistent Sweet 16 caliber team, they’d make the A-list holiday tournaments and be able to schedule some early-season rated vs rated games.
I notice, though, that Gonzaga is playing 0-9 Mississippi Valley State tonight.
#25 in AP, and 11 votes shy of making the top 25 in the Coaches poll. Gotta keep winning, though. The latest Bracketology on ESPN had them as a #9 seed.
Still pretty early. Need to figure out where the rest of the B1G is.
The Purdue win is still looking good, but they are the only B1G in the top ten.
Ill and Wisky are the other B1G in the top 15 (along with NU).
Ill is at 16 having lost to two better ranked teams (Tenn and Marq.)
Whisky is at 23 with three losses (Tenn. Ariz. and an unranked Providence)
The bottom half of the conference (Minny, Mary, UoM, PSU, Ruts, Iowa, and MSU) all look like they may be having off years.
Jeff
MSU was rated #4 pre-season, but they’ve fallen off the radar completely at this point.
The fact that there are 20 teams in the ‘also receiving votes’ category on the latest AP polls shows just how early in the season it still is, though. Lots of games to be played before March arrives.
You may be right about this being an off year for several Big Ten schools.
Been quite a while since the BT won the NCAA title and then only from MSU . The days of Iowa , Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois being serious contenders may be gone with the wind . I haven’t crossed out Purdue just yet, as it’s way too early Rutgers apparently has just received some top commits and may be challenging for a title soon
As far as The Cats go, just be up for every game , even the ones that look like pushovers When the conference games come into full swing, I fully expect NU to hold their own
Harry
I love this site for monitoring basketball
https://bballnet.com/teams/northwestern
It is unfortunate we lost a quad 1 vs. Mississippi State. We obviously needed less cowbells.
I got the impression last year that Illinois was about one player away from being a serious Sweet 16 if not Final Four contender but they ran out of steam late in the season.
The Transfer Portal and NIL might actually increase the number of Sweet 16 capable teams in basketball, which does not appear to be what’s happening in football. But basketball has always been a game where one or two players can be what separates the middle of the pack from the cream.
If the game last night showed the league anything they will have to be ready to guard 2 or 3 players around the circle.
you may put your best guy on Boo, but don’t forget the rest of them, they seem to be players.
Go B1GCats
rsl
I was wondering why Boo’s scoring was so low yesterday. Good to know there are other go-to guys on the floor.
They were trapping Boo with 2+ players when he had the ball, essentially daring NU to beat them “without” him. This won’t be the last time, but if NU can prove they have enough other reliable weapons, it will keep other teams from the same tactic.
Shawn
Definitely shut him down so the Cats had 4 guys in double figures, and one missed 10 by 1.
I think you double Boo at your peril this year… but then its early, so you put your best guy on Boo and hope the other 4 are cold?
and it was good to see the bottom of the bench get some minutes too.
Go B1GCats
rsl
North Dakota State played a game (and that’s being generous) against Oak Hills Christian, a school with a listed enrollment of 100.
Halftime: 60-5
Final Score: 108-14
You could have probably brought in any ND high school team and seen more points scored by them.