Not surprisingly Saturday's home opener against Syracuse is a sellout.

Here's our quick story on Barnett's background ahead of reportedly taking the Northwestern defensive backs coach position.

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The B1G coaching carousel could start spinning pretty quickly. We had a handful of offered commits in UCLA’s 2024 class (Jamir Benjamin, Jensen Somerville, and Kason Gordon), but don’t know that we have spots left for them now.

Would imagine that Fleck tries to raid the Minnesota roster if he were go to UCLA, would be the same thing he did upon leaving WMU. Still, could be many and various potential transferees for NU to consider. Braun and our other coaches could have some “in’s” with Minnesota players given strong ties in the upper Midwest.

While much of the frustration in the early part of the season was directed toward Nicholson (welcome back Big Guy!), I was very concerned about Barnhizer's early shooting woes (injury or no injury). Was it possible we all overrated him? Why are so many of his shots coming up short early in games?

Well, check out his last six games (NU is 4-2):

19 ppg
5.8 rpg
2.5 apg
2.2 spg
0.7 bpg
1.3 tpg (five of his eight turnovers came in one game)
41-69 (59%) from field
21-26 (81%) from line
11-22 (50%) from field

For the season he's averaging 14.9 ppg and 6.6 rpg. During the Nebraska game the announcers were talking about him as an All-Big-Ten player, which I had never heard outside this board. I doubt he'll get THAT much recognition at the end of this season, but if he does the same thing over his next 12 as he did over his last six, he'll certainly be considered for preseason All-Big-10 next year.

It's clear from the Nebraska game that Barnhizer and Nicholson alone won't usually carry the team to victory if Boo isn't playing well, but when all three are good (like last night), the team is really fun to watch. And of course it's also really good.

Been going through the archives. Can’t get enough of this guy. Really hoping this hire brings the results we’re seeking.

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Northwestern offered local LB Josh Veldman from New Lenox (Ill.) Lincoln-Way West. Check out our profile on Veldman for insight into the offer, his background and an upcoming visit to Northwestern.

Northwestern offered local LB Josh Veldman from New Lenox (Ill.) Lincoln-Way West. Check out our profile on Veldman for insight into the offer, his background and an upcoming visit to Northwestern.

Watching Michigan-Nebraska. Not paying much attention. Why do they suck this year?

Now that we're entering the final month of play before conference tourneys, I'm going to start looking at the other games involving bubble teams to provide a "rooting guide" for us.

Yesterday:
Illinois beating Nebraska was great news for us, as it prevented Nebraska from getting a premier victory

Tuesday 2/6:
MSU at Minnesota - MSU. Gives us a better win on our team sheet
Butler at UConn - UConn. Butler is climbing towards the bubble and we want them knocked down
Nevada at Utah St - Nevada. A loss drives Utah St closer to the bubble from safety, though brings Nevada closer to the bubble
Clemson at UNC - UNC. A loss pushes Clemson closer to the bubble.

Wednesday 2/7:
Georgia at Mississippi St. - Georgia. They aren't near the bubble and an MSU loss would push them further from safety to the bubble.

Thursday 2/8:
Washington St. at Oregon St. - Oregon St. Likewise, WSU is already on the bubble and a loss pushes them further away.
Arizona at Utah - Arizona. A Utah loss pushes them closer to the bubble from safety.

I threw out the last 2 minutes of the game because it was free throws and intentional fouls and a lot of substitutions.... with 8 points for each team.


Ty Berry's injury followed immediately after NU's best segment of the game, a 9-2 blitz with Hunger, Martinelli, Berry, Langborg and Buie on the court for 2:16.
Assuming Berry is not going to be able to play against Penn State, the new starting lineup will be Nicholson / Martinelli / Barnhizer / Langborg / Buie.
That group scored 33 and allowed 34 in under 18 minutes against the Cornhuskers.
Jordan Clayton played 9 minutes and we scored 9 and allowed 8 when he was on the court (ignoring the garbage time, of course).
Luke Hunger played 10 minutes and NU put up an impressive 25 points and allowing 14.
We usually score at a high rate when Luke is in the game.

Brooks Barnhizer, Ryan Langborg and Boo Buie provided the margin of victory.
Buie had a bad stretch from about 8 minutes to 2:30 in the 2nd half, knocking him off the "star of the game" podium.

The "Golden Lineup" of Nicholson, Martinelli, Barnhizer, Berry and Buie played 38 seconds and lost 3-2.
This was the segment where Berry hurt his knee and Barnhizer fouled Tominaga on a 3 point attempt.
Fingers crossed that the Golden Lineup gets back on the court soon.

If Berry can't play, we're looking at the oft-discussed injury scenario. We have 5 guys playing 4 positions. What are we going to do if one of those 5 guys gets hurt?
If Collins really wants his best players on the court then he will play Preston and Hunger more than he plays Clayton.
Clayton will have to play better than he has so far or he will be a drag on our future performances.
Hopefully Berry is good to go. Otherwise, its time to see how well we've developed "Plan B."

NU players in the Super Bowl on Sunday?

After National Signing Day, Rivals national recruiting analyst Greg Smith grades the Big Ten on each team's Class of 2024.

Before the season, I trashed Nick Martinelli’s defense on this board characterizing him as a liability. I was largely wrong, or at least, I did not foresee this great of an improvement. While he may never be an elite defender, his size, smarts and hustle make him no longer a defensive deficit. He more than holds his own. Meantime, his unorthodox moves around the bucket and 3 point shooting provide problems for opponents defenses. In that regard, he’s of a change of pace guy who is tough to account for. Braun talks of being a developmental program, but Collins is as well. As guys like Nicholson and Martinelli show. Great game, Nick…but let’s hope Berry’s not out long.

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Peppers visited Northwestern on Jan. 27

I am going to predict that these schools have hit the coaching jackpot

#1 Arkansas-Chad Morris -brilliant offensive mind
#2 Nebraska-Scott Frost-will unfortunately revitalize NU
#3 Central Florida-another offensive genius

As he told me last week, KJ Windham finally signed his LOI with Northwestern yesterday at a ceremony at his school.

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Ridiculous.

I was checking in, behind a Photon. The Clerk asked the Photon if he had any baggage to check. The Photon said ‘No checked bags, I’m traveling light.’

You can’t go to Purdue and just quit. These guys gave it everything through OT. But I was worried that our thin team might expend all its energy on the road in a game they weren’t likely to win and not have much left for a game they couldn’t lose at Minnesota.

Can't ever remember road wins being so prohibitively impossible. Hope winning all games in Evanston is enough (with maybe a win or two in neutral court BTT)

A sweep! That the 'Cats managed a sweep against anybody is worth celebrating.

Win a win or two on the road, they will be in great shape for the NCAA's. Those will be tough, however.

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