Going to miss this one due to family obligations. Could be a trap game after the big game at B.C. and Denver coming to town, but I don't think CMU poses much of a problem. Go Cats!

Stressfully, the game vs Minny next weekend is shaping up to be pretty close to a must win for the Cats, barring a big upset midweek in East Lansing. NU competed hard but fell short against Iowa with THREE STARTERS sidelined by injury. Ty won’t be back this year. We really need Borg. And boy oh boy is it nerve-wracking as we await news on Matt.

If we beat Minnesota at home, I think our ticket is firmly punched. If we lose our last three regular season games, we might slip to bubble status, and may very well need to get a BTT win to right the ship — especially because the committee will be aware of our injuries and trajectory.

There’s nothing we can do other than pray for our guys to heal up, and then show up in force to root HARD against the Gophers on senior night.

So - any thoughts on what happened? And what his downtime will be?

Boo Buie has had an amazing career against MSU. He is their bane. He is their master.

Boo Buie time to cement your legend by beating Izzy and MSU (again) at Breslin without your big guy and without Robin. But you’re the Boo in the BooBerry show. Let’s go!

A la Arnold

Preferably at halftime but probably after the boo buie ceremony

Scoreboard puts the terminator on the screen

Barney, Nicholson and berry take the mike or maybe it’s all recorded

They announce We’ll Be Back

The crowd will go NUTS

Minnesota will feel energy against the world they have never experienced.

We will win at least one of the last games

We will be in both games. We will not be rolled over.

Go cats

We were just plain worn down in the 2nd half.

Let's have something good happen today. This would qualify, it helps our seeding potential.

What an environment this afternoon. Had to have been 80-90% NU fans. Even the Wilson section was full. Students were great but even the old folks (like me) were on their feet many times. What a difference from the McGraw Hall I remember as a freshman in 1974, watching Billy on the Kansas State floor with the dirt floor around the arena.

With less than seven months until the start of the 2024 season, Northwestern is still working to sign contracts for venues after its home schedule was disrupted by the rebuild of Ryan Field. @lou v and I report on what we've learned from a source close to the scheduling process, the possibilities of a Lambeau game in 2024 and 2025, and more surrounding Northwestern's efforts to lock in their home schedule away from home this season.

As someone that has been critical of the lack of student attendance/enthusiasm about the NU sports, I must fall on the sword and say I was wrong. The students REALLY stepped up. Not one game, but the entire season. You could see the team rally behind the fan support and opposing teams get rattled. Good job Students.

Anyone know what the deal is with him? Seems like he’s in Collins doghouse. Was he dressed yesterday? Weird he didn’t get any burn when Clayton is just horrible at this point.

...starts on Tuesday. I'm assuming they'll do the typical Tue-Thu-Sat schedule.

I'm told to expect an impressive list of visitors on Saturday. I'm hoping to get a list at some point this week.

Dix - Doesn’t annoy me at all. Actually respect the guy. Smooth player.

Sandfort - Possibly the most annoying person I’ve ever seen. I’m assuming he’ll be on the Bohannon 7 year plan.

The injuries themselves are brutal. But now I'm worried the committee will "Pull a Florida State". Remember how they excluded FSU from playoff after stud QB Jordan Travis was hurt stating they aren't the same team without him (which admittedly they weren't).

Scared they will say the no-Berry (and or Langborg/MN) NU team is not the same and bounce us off the bubble.

Northwestern (20-8, 11-6 Big Ten) hosts Iowa (17-12, 9-9 Big Ten) this afternoon at 4:30 pm at Welsh-Ryan Arena, airing on BTN. The game also serves to honor Northwestern legend and current broadcaster Billy McKinney, who will be recognized at halftime as the first player in the history of Northwestern athletics to have their jersey retired.

After Wisconsin's loss earlier today, the Wildcats are 1.5 games up on the Badgers and Huskers for third place in the Big Ten. Purdue and Illinois have clinched their double byes in first and second. A win today would give NU a two-game lead with two games remaining, with the top four teams in conference getting a double bye in the tournament.

If you were to search through my posts around here the last few weeks, you would find a fairly skeptical attitude towards his ability to contribute beyond token amount.

Tonight, he called BS on all that. He was far from perfect and still isn’t a guy I need to see handling the ball a lot, but he stepped out there as a young walkon and played competent, competitive defense against a Jahmir Young led team and made a few key and excellent offensive plays, especially in the paint. We needed him tonight and he delivered. Very impressive, maybe this team is deep!

Nothing else to say.

This Saturday is setting up to be the biggest day in the Big Ten regular season. Schedule (all times Central):

Illinois (12-5) at Wisconsin (10-7) 12:00
Penn State (8-10) at Minnesota (8-9) 2:15
Iowa (9-9) at Northwestern (11-6) 4:30
Michigan State (9-8) at Purdue (14-3) 7:00
Nebraska (10-7) plays tonight and Sunday, but they'll be watching results eagerly.


Wisconsin is on fumes right now, but they have a big opportunity at home to help themselves - and NU. Purdue can clinch first place with a win and Illinois loss, and at the same time, they can put a dagger in Michigan State's hopes of getting a double-bye. PSU at Minnesota may seem like an outlier, but Minnesota still has very slim NCAA hopes (and is the "home" team in the BTT) and can't afford to lose that one.

Meanwhile, NU has to keep the pedal down. It's a home game. McKinney is getting honored. It's freaking Iowa. Northwestern could be in second place at the end of the night (they currently have the tiebreaker over Illinois). There is a lot at stake. Hopefully Langborg's DNP last night was strategic (risky, but strategic) more than worrisome and he will be dropping bombs on the Hawkeyes.

David Braun was formally announced as the permanent head coach at Northwestern in a press conference at Ryan Fieldhouse. Here are our takeaways from what Braun had to say about his hiring process, this season and the program's future.

It was an emotional night at Welsh-Ryan Arena as Northwestern honored legendary player and broadcaster Billy McKinney with the first retired jersey in the history of the school, in any program. Unfortunately, Iowa spoiled the festivities by handing the Wildcats their first home loss of the season in Big Ten play.

Here are @mshelton33's takeaways:

It was an emotional night at Welsh-Ryan Arena as Northwestern honored legendary player and broadcaster Billy McKinney with the first retired jersey in the history of the school, in any program. Unfortunately, Iowa spoiled the festivities by handing the Wildcats their first home loss of the season in Big Ten play.

Here are @mshelton33's takeaways:

A solid win today and cats can take a deep breath! With Wisconsin and Nebraska losing Cats look in solid position for the double bye in the conference tournament. A couple more wins
should put them in the top 25 and moved them up in the big dance seeding.