Really poor today guys. Sitting throughout the game, West side on phones, and sections not filled up. Would take a photo but it’s too depressing.

If you can’t get up for this kind of game…

Wow that was intense. What a W. Trying to find the CC postgame. Sadly I missed it on BTN (assuming they showed it earlier). If anyone sees it posted please pass along the link.

Go Cats

I have 3 extra Wilson for tonight. Free but I want to make sure they stay in NU hands. Let me know if anyone can use them!

While I think OSU will win this by 10 or so, I think this is one of the most intriguing B1G games in years. I would love to see Indiana win, and would particularly enjoy seeing OSU, Michigan and PSU all shut out of the title game after all the whining their fan bases did about the West Division having a team in that game before the great chaos was instituted this year.

Source on X/Twitter (FWIW) says Brooks is in a boot, doubtful for tonight, may be a season-ending injury. Oh boy.

The Northwestern University Alumni Association just sent me a request to submit a brief article for the "NU Loyal Newsletter."

In response I sent this one. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did putting the memory to pen.

The effort also led me to locating a legacy video I had completely forgotten about recording for posterity Actor Bill Murray leading in the singing of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the 7th Inning Stretch of a post-season Cubs game I had attended the year after the Cubs won the World Series. If I recall correctly it was the last time the Cubs won a post-season game at Wrigley Field.


THE DAY THAT THE Windy City GOT RENAMED THE Windy CitY

It was a blustery fall day as the wind whipped off of Lake Michigan and made its presence known in the city on its shore, Chicago. Myself and a contingent of Alaskan youth were well prepared for the weather as we had worn our parkas in a show of solidarity to promote the state we hailed from at the National 4-H Convention being held at the historic Conrad Hilton Hotel there on Michigan Avenue.

I had been given an assignment to prepare a human interest story about the attending Alaskans for inclusion in the convention newsletter to be distributed the next morning. With its completion I took it down to the hotel's basement where the editor, an actual Chicago newsman, accepted the piece. As he reviewed it I received an unexpected complement as he suggested I might want to consider journalism as a career.
Included in the story I made mention of that day's wind by coming up with a phrase describing Chicago as "The Windy City."Coming from Alaska and knowing little about Chicago I had never heard the term previously and assumed it to be original.

Imagine my surprise several years later when as a college student I had come to Evanston, a community bordering on Chicago, and saw a sentence in a Chicago newspaper article referring to Chicago as "The Windy City." My first thought was that the newspaperman I had met in the Conrad Hilton Hotel basement must have liked my article even more than I had thought and had gone on to perpetuate my term for Chicago as "The Windy City.”

And that is how "The Windy City" got renamed "The Windy City."











And for an added treat, here is Bill Murray, World's Number One Cub's Fan, Leading us in "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the 7th Inning Stretch at Chicago's Wrigley Field:

Link to Bill Murray Leading in Singing of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field:


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Maryland is off to their best start by record since the 2020 season that ended due to COVID. That said, the win-loss and efficiency numbers appear to be better than they actually may be. Their nonconference schedule was an absolute joke - the weakest in the entire country. Their best win was on a neutral court by one point over a mediocre Villanova team. They have yet to win a true road game, though to be fair, two of their losses were on their west coast trip and the other was at Purdue, in a much more competitive effort than what we provided. They were actually beating Purdue by 5 with 8 and a half to play, before giving up a 20-5 run over the next 5 minutes.

On offense, Maryland likes to play very fast. They are even stronger than MSU when it comes to transition offense, so we should be prepared for that coming off our last game. When they are not in transition, their first look will be to post up one of their big men, or to run PnR with a big man rolling to the hoop. The good news for us is that they do not have a quick PG who will drive to the rim or kick it out for a 3, they play two starters who aren't threats from 3, and they don't get to the FT line very often. Where they are at their best is when Reese or Queen find an open shooter for a 3, which is a concern for me. Defensively, if we can avoid turning the ball over, they aren't that great. Despite having two big men, they don't rebound very well, nor do they defend shots at any level particularly well. They manage to force a lot of turnovers without fouling, and they are very patient on defense, so they aren't super aggressive trying to strip the ball, but rather sit back and look for an opportunity to jump a pass and start a transition sequence.

Maryland's depth is pretty weak, compared to other teams. There's a significant drop-off after the starters, and they only play about 8 guys per game. When their subs do get into the game, they usually defer to the starters for shots. So let's go in-depth on their guys.

Starters
PG, #0, 6'1" Ja'Kobi Gillespie. Played two years at Belmont before transferring to MD this year. By far their best 3-point shooter and their best passer, also their best ballhawk and likely their most indispensable player. He got in foul trouble against Washington and only played 18 minutes before fouling out in a game they lost by 6. He scored 27 against UCLA last week and has shot 45% from 3 in their last 3 games. On the season he's averaging 13.9 points, 4.3 assists, 1.6 turnovers, 1.6 steals and 2.3 rebounds.

CG, #1, 6'4" Rodney Rice. Played 8 games two years ago before redshirting last year at Virginia Tech, then transferred to MD. Displaced returning starter Deshawn Harris-Smith after 4 games this season. Rice is likely their worst defender on the team, but he's on the court to shoot the ball, and that's what he does. He's had an up-and-down season so far, but he doesn't turn the ball over, and he's deadly on midrange shots. He shoots a lot of 3s, and is shooting 34% on the year, but is only making 28% of them in conference play.

CG, #9, 6'4" Selton Miguel. A 5th-year grad student, spent 2 years at Kansas St and 2 years at South Florida. He is their 2nd-best 3-point shooter behind Gillespie, though he's cooled off in recent games after a blistering start. He is...extremely similar to Rice in pretty much every aspect, except for the fact that his shooting percentages inside the arc are pretty bad. Maybe a slightly better defender? Both Miguel and Rice average double-digits in points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds and 1 steal per game.

PF, #25, 6'10" Derik Queen. A 5-star local freshman, Queen is one half of one of the most dominant big man duos in college basketball. If he gets to the rim, he's likely going to score, and probably slam it home to boot. One of the best rebounders in the country, yet not even the best on his own team. Averages 16 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block and 1 steal per game, though he does have two weaknesses - turning it over, averaging 2+ turnovers per game, and trying to shoot 3s, where he shoots 10% (yes 10%).

C, #10, 6'9" Julian Reese. Somehow this guy is still here playing for MD, and he's the only starter who was actually on the team last year. Last year we frustrated him into two of his worst games on the season, as he averaged just 11 points, 7 boards, 1 assist, 5 turnovers, 0.5 blocks, 0.5 steals and 4 fouls per game. Here's hoping we can do it again this year. Reese's game is the same as it's always been - he won't shoot 3s, he can score at the rim or midrange, he rebounds very well, blocks a decent amount of shots, and gets to the line frequently where he shoots poorly.

Reserves
Wing, #5, 6'5" Deshawn Harris-Smith. His 2nd year at MD. Despite being a highly touted recruit, he's just...not that great at anything in particular. Last year against us he had no points and fouled out in 28 minutes in one game, and scored 14 points while going 1-5 from 3 in the other. I guess maybe he's a decent defender? Anyway, he's rightly seen his playing time decrease this season.

PF, #6, 6'9" Tafara Gapare. A Kiwi who's at his 3rd school in 3 years. Gapare is from Wellington, New Zealand, and his best contributions this season have been in blocking shots, where he averages more than 1 block per game despite playing only 13 mpg or so. He has developed a bit of a 3-point shot this year though, after going a miserable 16.7% last year at Georgia Tech.

CG, #8, 6'2" Jay Young. Also on his 3rd school in 3 years, Young is a dangerous catch-and-shoot guy from long distance, but he is anything but that inside the arc. He's actually shooting better from 3 than 3 this year (42.9% to 42.1%). He's also a solid defender who gets steals without fouling.

Wing, #22, 6'6" Jordan Geronimo. Another "how is this guy still here" player, Geronimo is in his 5th year in the Big Ten, 2nd at MD. Despite being a starter last season, he's seeing the fewest minutes since his freshman year, and seems to have fallen out of the rotation in recent games. Last year he had one solid game against us, with 12 points, 7 boards and 3 blocks, but in the other he did nothing. When he does get on the court, he's effective defensively, but we'll see if he plays much at all.

“Just a bit outside!” 🪦

Why? With all the departures, the MWC isn't much of a step up from the MAC in football, and NIU doesn't join them in basketball where they ARE a step up. Makes no sense.

Jalen and Ty to the bench with reduced minutes, KJ and Justin to the starting lineup with more minutes. If we are serious about actually trying to win this year we can’t do this same crap against Maryland. Try and win UGLY.

Section 109, row 17.
Unfortunately can’t use them.
Free to a good NU home!
DM me

Okay, thats a little "Salty" as the kids say. Refs have to be better than that - and ultimately prevented NU from winning.


Barnhizer was the best player on the court for Northwestern and played another excellent game.
Martinelli was only 5 of 13 from the floor and turned the ball over 3 times against 5 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.
Leach only took 5 shots, making 2, but turned it over a painful 5 times against 3 steals, 3 assists and 2 rebounds.
Ty Berry played a mere 14 minutes, got tagged with lame fouls and went 1 for 6 from the floor, with only an assist and a rebound to show for his effort.

Into the gap stepped KJ Windham and Angelo Ciaravino. Both played well. Ciaravino played really well. Limited to 9 minutes by the zebras he put up 5 shots, making 3 of them, including 2 from outside the arc. He added a steal and a rebound. His +10 is noteworthy. That was achieved primarily with Nicholson, Martinelli and Mullins in the first half, when NU turned a 12-6 deficit into a 21-16 lead.

KJ Windham displayed his ball-handling skills, recording 2 assists against 1 turnover in 20.5 minutes. This is the area where he helps NU most, but he also knocked down 3 of 5 shots, inluding 2 of 4 from distance - matching Ciaravino's shooting numbers exactly.

Justin Mullins made 3 of 5 shots, but had no rebounds at all, which is rather bizarre for him.

Tough loss for the Wildcats, but, importantly, Windham and Ciaravino showed they are ready to provide Collins more options on the court. The team really struggled with Luke Hunger playing the 5 against Penn State - we gave up 34 points in 13.4 minutes. Its possible that we might see more of Martinelli at the 5 with Ciaravino or Mullins essentially subbing in for Hunger.

Notre Dame, or Penn State? Every Domer or Domer Wannabe I’ve met has been a Drunk (not an Alcoholic) or a Weirdo, or a Drunken Weirdo: with the exception of Justin Tuck.

Not a lot of happy thoughts from the numbers today... Luke Hunger didn't play and a big Spartan run put NU in a 47-28 hole at halftime.
I scrapped the last 46 seconds. We were down 69-54 with 4 minutes to play, which is close to garbage time, but not quite.
The lineup of Fitzmorris/Martinelli/Barnhizer/Leach/Windham played from 4:18 until 46 seconds, outscoring the Spartans 8-2, helping each of those 5 guys in the table below.


Nick Martinelli played a good game with a little help from Jalen Leach and Matt Nicholson. Nobody else did too much. Brooks Barnhizer played his 2nd bad game in a row ,going 2 of 13 from the field, including 0 of 6 from distance. Ty Berry struggled again.

The starters played to a 12-12 draw in 9 minutes of court time. Defense, not much scoring.
Lineup #2 (now Fitzmorris/Martinelli/Barnhizer/Mullins/Leach) played to a 16-15 deficit in 6:06. Scoring, not much defense.

When Berry was out there with Leach we got outscored 18-17 in about 13 minutes.
When Berry was out there with Mullins, we got smoked 9-0 in a mere 3 minutes. Mullins turned it over twice in a 7-0 run for the Spartans with Fitzmorris, Martinelli and Barnhizer also on the court.

Ultimately, NU's fortunes have changed dramatically in conference play. The starting 5 has gone from highly effective to ineffective. I believe that reflects the fact that Big Ten coaches are very familiar with our players and our approach to the game. Non-conference opponents played us more or less "straight up." Big Ten coaches are smothering Barnhizer and leaving Mullins and Hunger alone on the perimeter, ignoring Nicholson. Our starters were much more effective on the offensive end when we held a physical advantage over our opponents. That will rarely be the case in conference play.

I'd like to see Ciaravino or Windham out there for Berry as our first substitution, with Nicholson staying in the game. Ty is 2 for 16 (total) in our last 4 Big Ten games. Unfortunately thats more of a "hope" than an expectation.

I never thought I would have an athlete in the family, we are all medical nerds (except for me, I faint at the sight of a drop of blood, so sad too bad). But my 14-year-old had really taken basketball to heart and even though he is only 14 they make him play in the 15–16-year-old league and in last week's tournament he was names MVP for the finals game where he scored 27 points and snagged 24 rebounds.

Before anyone gets too excited, no there is not a chance he could go to NU, he is not that good, the league is very good, competitive, but I know enough about bball to know what limits are. Maybe, MAYBE he could be second string at someplace like Lehigh or Colgate.

But basketball - which he only got into recently - has really changed and improved him, More self-confidence and self-discipline,

So, props to my youngest!

Go Cats!

ps - I will edit to add - he is an absolute f*cker on defense. I can't get more delighted, So many times some prima donna from another team will come down lah-dee-dah dribbling between his legs and behind his back (which is fine, but do it because it is effective not to show off to the cheerleaders) and my son will casually guard him and WHACK - ball rolls out of bounds. The prima donna will give a stare like "Bro, wassup?". Back on the court WHACK. No foul, all clean, just no bs. Probably my favorite part of his game. It is so funny to see the opponents reactions, they are like "hey, what are you doing"?

This just keeps getting funnier

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College football coaches(AFCA) voted today to shorten the transfer portal to a 10-day period in January, and eliminate the spring portal window. This would be bad for NU, given that the proposal would open the window from January 2-12. This would mean that non-grad transfers in all likelihood would not be able to enroll for Winter quarter (assuming grad transfer would already be in the portal once their season ends in December). The proposed timing appears to be designed for schools on the Semester system.

The proposal now goes to the Division I Council.

Here are @mshelton33's takeaways from the Wildcats' third straight loss.

These things are dumb, but they have Brooks going at #59 to my Cleveland Cavaliers......

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Phoenix Gill from Chicago (Ill.) St. Ignatius announced his commitment to the Wildcats today on social media. The three-star guard is the son of Illinois legend and NBA player Kendall Gill.

Here's what Adam Gorney had to say about the three-star Hinsdale Central standout in today's Recruiting Rumor Mill story.

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Fans wanna know. Transfer back, Sully!

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All times CENTRAL. All games available nationally unless otherwise indicated. I will add announcers as they are assigned.

First, the NU games:

Maryland @ Northwestern
Thursday, January 16
8:00 PM, BTN
PxP: Jeff Levering
Color: Stephen Bardo

Northwestern @ Michigan
Sunday, January 19
1:00 PM, BTN
PxP: Kevin Kugler
Color: Jordan Taylor

And the rest:

Monday, January 13

Minnesota @ Maryland
5:30 PM, BTN
PxP: Jason Horowitz
Color: Bruce Weber

UCLA @ Rutgers
5:30 PM, FS1
PxP: Alex Faust
Color: Bill Raftery

Tuesday, January 14

Illinois @ Indiana
6:00 PM, Peacock (streaming only)
PxP: Noah Eagle
Color: Robbie Hummel

Ohio State @ Wisconsin
8:00 PM, Peacock (streaming only)
PxP: Paul Burmeister
Color: Stephen Bardo

Iowa @ USC
9:30 PM, FS1
PxP: Guy Haberman
Color: Casey Jacobsen

Wednesday, January 15

Penn State @ Michigan State
6:30 PM, BTN
PxP: Kevin Kugler
Color: Robbie Hummel

Purdue @ Washington
8:30 PM, BTN
PxP: Guy Haberman
Color: Don MacLean

Thursday, January 16

Michigan @ Minnesota
6:00 PM, FS1
PxP: Cory Provus
Color: Brian Butch

Rutgers @ Nebraska
8:00 PM, FS1
PxP: Kevin Kugler
Color: Nick Bahe

Friday, January 17

Indiana @ Ohio State
7:00 PM, FOX
PxP: Gus Johnson
Color: Jim Jackson

Iowa @ UCLA
8:00 PM, FS1
PxP: Guy Haberman
Color: Don MacLean

Saturday, January 18

Purdue @ Oregon
2:00 PM, NBC
PxP: Terry Gannon
Color: Stephen Bardo

Wisconsin @ USC
2:00 PM, BTN
PxP: Guy Haberman
Color: Don MacLean

Sunday, January 19

Illinois @ Michigan State
11:00 AM, CBS
PxP: Spero Dedes
Color: Clark Kellogg

Nebraska @ Maryland
1:00 PM, BTN
PxP: Jason Horowitz
Color: Robbie Hummel