@lou v talked to Brock Heileg of Maize&BlueReview.com to preview Northwestern’s matchup with Michigan this week.

I talked to 2025 WR Brennan Saxe about his PWO commitment to NU, his place in the IHSA record books, growing up playing with Johnny O’Brien, and more.

Here's @mshelton33's story from Welsh-Ryan.

Carter Meadows out of Gonzaga College HS picks up an NU offer. Meadows has a very impressive offer list that includes Georgia, Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan.

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A friend and aspiring cat fan is looking for two for tomorrow in the Wilson Club. If you want to sell extras, please message me.

Thank you.

If you are a Northwestern fan and watching the game on TV (or streaming it), you are welcome to join us for a live Zoom discussion during the game. It's a great way to share the experience with others as you watch.

One thing you should be aware of is that TV and streaming are not always in sync with real time. It is not unusual for some viewers to be 30 seconds ahead of others, which leads to an interesting dynamic during the game watch. You can often tell by the reactions of others if something good or bad is about to happen. To me, it just makes it more interesting.

I hope that you can join us on via Zoom on Saturday at 2:30 PM CT.

Topic: Zoom In-Game Discussion: NU at Michigan Saturday Nov 23, 2:30 PM CT
Time: Nov 23, 2024 02:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 894 3867 0341
Passcode: 510043


Go 'Cats

- Astro

WLP got me thinking about all the hoops things that need to improve, and to me they kind of fall into two groups, one group I'm optimistic can easily be fixed, and the other I'm not so sure about.

Issues That Should Be Achievable to Improve
- Defensive cleanliness and chemistry. Lou quote Collins on this in his article. Even Brooks had a couple breakdowns likely due to rust. They have the athletes and the effort, seems like this should improve pretty naturally.
- Ty's shooting. We need deadeye Ty from last year in a big way. Getting 2023-24 Ty last night in the last 10 minutes on both ends of the floor was a massive difference maker. I don't know where his stroke went, but we need it back. I feel like we should be able to get it, he doesn't look hurt and he's been that guy.

Issues I'm Not Sure Where Improvement Comes From
- Who handles the ball, specifically to create for others? Books can do some handling and they probably have enough competent ball handlers that they aren't going to be overly vulnerable to the press, but I'm still not sure who consistently initiates the offense. Brooks mostly handles for himself, as does Nick. Leech is not bringing any bit of the ball handling we thought we were getting in his acquisition, which we really needed. Windham has the ability to do it and probably will in the future but unless he seriously develops over the season he doesn't feel reliable for more than token spells to be the key instigator yet. I'm just not seeing where it comes from. If Ty and Leech start really draining everything then maybe we have enough ball movement and spacing to not need more creation that we already have, but I'm not sure.
- Leech needs to be better. I'm... not seeing it with him so far, although he has proven he's a guy who is very happy and capable of stepping up to seek and take the big shots late. Of course, Langborg looked similarly questionable at times early last year, so maybe it's a learning curve. But it's not like we're even playing Big 10 teams yet. I'm not saying he's BAD, I'm just not sure we're getting as much out of acquiring him as we hoped for or probably need.

I talked to 2025 WR Brennan Saxe about his PWO commitment to NU, his place in the IHSA record books, growing up playing with Johnny O’Brien, and more.

Heads up for those that like to stop at Bluestone or someplace else along Central for a pre-game drink. No need to feed the meter, two hours free parking.

@lou v talked to 2026 Ohio DT Elijah Berman about his visit to Northwestern at Wrigley, his recruitment by the Wildcats, and more.

Here are my takeaways from today's 13-6 win over Miami (Ohio).

Tonight against Montana State.

By comparison, in the NCAA First Round, NU had 20 assists on the same 29 field goals.

This is very rudimentary analysis, of course, but it does seem like this squad is playing a lot of one-on-one thus far.

That’ll fly in the noncon but we are going to have to do better in conference when Brooks and Nick can’t steamroll their way to the basket as easily.

Many of you will be traveling to visit friends and relatives for Thanksgiving. During your travels, if you see a member of our armed forces, buy them a cup of coffee, lunch or dinner. These men and women sacrifice their freedom so we may have ours. They will appreciate your gesture and you will feel pretty good as well.

@lou v talked to 2026 Ohio DT Elijah Berman about his visit to Northwestern at Wrigley, his recruitment by the Wildcats, and more.

Multiple sources reported this week that Brendan Sullivan has been ruled out for the remainder of the year due to an ankle sprain. So far no-one on the Iowa boards has blamed Robert Fitzgerald. Maybe we can finally focus future discussions on the quarterback position at NU to the kids who have chosen to stay and play for the Wildcats?

Check out the film and offer list on this one...Keanu Koht out of Vero Beach, FL.

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TEAM - 62.2

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Currently in a packed Rizzo's, I'm the only purple lol.

Bernie's looked same.

G-Man not yet open.

Any word on Gronowski or any potential QB transfers? I do not think any of the QBs on our roster have shown me enough to say they are the answer. When should we expect to see QB movement in the portal?

Per FanDuel. That’s an awfully big number for a Michigan team scoring 20 points per game.

They were picked to finish first in their conference. They were a tournament team each of the last three seasons, and are one of the most experienced teams in the country. They have a lot size.

I've been thinking about the EIU game a lot and while I was very frustrated Friday night, I've come around to actually being happy about what we saw. So much of our disappointment is about the high expectations set by the two best seasons in recent memory, as well as the best NU player of all time. It's not that we're spoiled (lord know we're still behind pretty much every significant program historically speaking), but just that we've gotten so used to Boo and pulling them out or blowing them out that when NU plays a close game against a "bad" opponent it feels like a let down. But what about the positives?

1) NU won the game without the three top scorers from last year, including the one expected to lead the team this year
2) NU won the game despite Martinelli having his worst game of the season (by far). He still scored 16 points
3) NU got to the line a lot, especially Leach. This is a weapon NU has pretty much never had. Even Boo, for all his drives and great free-throw shooting, would rarely get into double-digit attempts in a game. Leach had 16 attempts, and he made 15 of them.
4) NU blew its lead against a bad opponent, but they didn't completely choke it away, made the shots when it mattered, and they eventually put EIU away. Far cry from Chicago State last year (when there were people who said it would be impossible to make the tourney afterwards).
5) Maybe it was later than we'd like, but when NU *really* had to put on the stifling defense, it did so. 9-0 in overtime.
6) New contributors stepped up, like Mullins and Jello. And they played in the OT, rather than at the end of the bench.

Meanwhile, NU is 3-1, about what reasonable people expected, and NOBODY on the NCAA committee is going to remember the EIU game (a win's a win) like they were forced to remember Chicago State last year. We can gnash our teeth all we want, but NU is doing just fine.

And Barnhizer is likely coming back tomorrow. He will be rusty, so we'll have to lean on Martinelli and Leach for at least one more game, but just having Barnhizer on the floor should make things easier for Marty and Leach (and Berry, who will hopefully see his volume of wide-open threes increase with Barnhizer back).

I am happy with where this team is right now, even with the cracks we've seen in the last couple of games.

Here's @mshelton33's story from Welsh-Ryan.