Article in Daily Northwestern says that demolition of Ryan Field Stadium will begin week of Jan 29. This is certainly a sad day for us old farts.

I talked to Jace Borcherding about his PWO offer earlier this week, where Northwestern ranks for him and the Wildcats' recruiting pitch.

The last year we beat a top 10 Illannoy team was 1956.

This is the program’s second time doing so.

Incredible turnaround from the last game versus them.

If he has an amazing game on Saturday, he could be second all time scoring by the end of the game. He needs 147 to top Shurna. Twelve games left in the regular season. I'm pretty sure it's gonna happen.

First off that win was awesome!

I need to rant though as going into OT I believe the foul differential was 22-9 and Buie was getting manhandled on every drive and cut. I watch a ton of Colorado State hoops too because a family connection and I can say without a doubt the B1G refs are truly awful. They don’t call a fair game and it was unbelievably evident again tonight. We would have won without OT if it wasn’t 5-8. I don’t get it and how change never happen. End rant.

Loved what they did today. CCC outcoached ole Undie. Hawkins got his, but I thought putting the small guys on him was the right move. Isolating Boo on Domsak or Goode was awesome. Those two had no chance to stop Boo. Inserting Big Matt and not expecting him to hang out at the line guarding Hawkins freed up Matt to help down low. Coverage at the three was much better. Barney guarded well and Ty stayed with TSJ when he had to. The 🧙 had them switching at the right time. At any rate, there was A LOT of adjustments from the debacle in Rantoul. There were plenty of well designed in bounds plays and the weave with Matt getting in the way opened up the driving lanes. Didn’t just roll out the same game plan and hope we executed better. Good job.

Now that we are having a little sustained success, I am hoping that we may be an attractive spot for guys that we recruited that chose other schools. Christie’s brother chose Minnesota at the start of last season when things looked grim for Collins and the program. Gonzaga is obviously at a different level than our program but Braden Huff may get homesick. I am sure there are other players that we recruited who are looking at the program differently. Transfer portal could be our friend for some of those guys who aren’t completely happy at their current schools. And they have already gotten through admissions. Our big wins are national news and the game day atmosphere is night and day from when they were being recruited. Of course, NIL will likely be a factor so who knows.

I really don't like the way we match up against IL. Strong, fast, athletic backcourts/4 are a nightmare for us.

To me, IL is harder for us to beat than Purdue.

So, naturally, I hope I am dead wrong, as I was last week against Nebraska.

Per Edgy's story, head coach David Braun and an unnamed linebackers coach (Vokolek, maybe?) visited nearby Loyola Academy to check out S/LB Donovan Robinson yesterday.

Here's the link:

Here's someone to keep an eye on, per today's Recruiting Rumor Mill:

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The three-star quarterback from St. Louis (Mo.) De Smet loved his time at Missouri over the weekend and seeing the vision for the future from coach Eli Drinkwitz, position coach Kirby Moore and others. Missouri is definitely one of the teams to watch but it also feels early for Duff.

He’s planning to narrow down his list more by the spring and Nebraska, Kansas State, Kentucky, Illinois, Northwestern and others are reaching out as well.

Story:

That was the one they really needed to win at home! Split next two games and then the schedule loosens up for stretch drive. Huge win!

I'm more than a bit concerned about our serious lack of bench minutes. Martinelli had 20 and Preston had 8, Clayton had 3 (all at the end of the first half I think) and....that's it.

Brooks played 44 minutes tonight.

I hope the guys get some serious rest and recuperation in before their next game on Saturday. I guess at least it's an evening game, so it's almost like two and a half days before it starts.

A handful of thoughts.
1 thanks Boo for coming back. This has been a fun ride. He’s developed from a sometimes streaky scorer, to a consistent performer, to an excellent all around floor general who can be trusted to run the offense and make the right decision almost every time. I don’t know that in my lifetime of being a Cats fan I’ve seen a player that we basically just iso with 4 wide for about a 6 minute stretch of the game and dare the opponent to do something about it.
2 Brooks is strong. Like real strong. For the first 30 minutes of the game we were getting killed on the O boards by them. Then magically something started to change. Brooks and Langborg and even Matty Nich (who is huge but doesn’t have the strongest hands) started to block out like their life depended on it and squeezed the ball rock solid with 2 hands. And ever since Brooks got his hand fixed, he’s been a force on offense as well.
3 Nicholson hasn’t been perfect this year. But the last 3-5 games he seems to have turned it up. He’s back to being our clear #1 center IMO. Walls up on defense. On offense sets good screens. He’s not going to create a bunch of points on his own but he darn well knows how to finish a dunk when he gets a chance.
4 Berry a mixed game on offense but his hot stretch off of the pin down curls in early second half was huge. When the kid gets on a heater, he is a force. And he played very good defense on Shannon for lengthy portions of the night. Then… that steal on Shannon at the end was absolutely effing epic. Just ate his lunch to seal the game.
5 Langborg didn’t really show out on offense, but he did the dirty work all night on defense and in securing 6 rebounds. He will have his nights on offense in the future im not worried. But please can you set your feet before rising up for those mid range 2 pointers? You are so much better when shooting them off of a stable base than when you jump off a non standard platform.

6 what a crowd. Thanks students, keep it up. 4-0 at home against Purdue, MSU, Maryland, and Illinois is awfully impressive. Would love it if the kids can maintain that rabid energy the rest of the way and we keep winning games at home. Welsh Ryan is a real home court these days.
7 my favorite play of the game was in OT. After we traded baskets with them in that excellent stretch in H2, we basically ran them out of the gym in OT. But the difference maker (aside from the Ty Berry theft of Shannon) was when we showed the pin down curl action we’d used to great success at times in H2. When they tried to jump it to the middle Brooks faded it out to the corner for an open 3 that he buried plus a foul. Just absolutely beautiful offensive play design and perfect execution by Boo Brooks and the team. They adjusted and we were one step ahead of them. When he nailed that I was pretty confident we had them. The night was ours. Brilliant by the coaches and players.

Let’s keep defending the home court like that boys. Agree that no court storm was the move, we outplayed them and deserved to win, we were simply the better team. Welsh Ryan is where dreams go to die. (Of our opponents)

Awesome win. Go Cats!

PS (edit) there was also a 12-4 foul differential at one point in H2 and some weird reffing (including them stealing another 2 points from us on an egregious missed goaltending call, what is it with that one for refs screwing us). We didn’t pout (though im sure CC deservedly gave them some words in the ear), we just kept going and played stronger to finish the job. Love it. If we have to play 5 on 6 at times against the stripes we don’t care, we will find a way to get the Dub anyways.

I came across the planning documents submitted to the Evanston Planning Commission. The files are big but there are lots of illustrations to whet your appetites....

Check out Area Plan P5, which shows the locker room locations The NU locker room will be almost 60 yards long.

Best feature: something called a "Bar" in many spots on the second tier. Imagine that, being able to get an adult beverage at an NU game......

And finally, Gragg will have his own suite on the press box level. Wonder if he will rent it out for games he choses not to attend?

There is also a mention of a "Proposed Softball Building" where the SJD field is.

Vote or die.

Northwestern (13-5, 4-3 Big Ten) hosts No. 10 Illinois (14-4, 5-2 Big Ten) tonight at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The game tips off at 8 pm and will air on BTN.

The Wildcats have lost nine of their last 10 to Illinois, including a 96-66 drubbing in Champaign earlier this season. They'll plan to flip the script tonight.

nfm

…is a mensch. That is all.

That's what the Sun Times' Steve Greenberg is calling it.

Here are @mshelton33's takeaways from another epic night at Welsh-Ryan.

Watch the closeups in overtime. The cat bodies needed some iodine and bandages crazy welts all over.

11-for-18 on threes
55% from the field
Barnhizer with a very quiet 23
Nicholson - 12 points (6-7 from field), 8 boards, 4 blocks, 3 assists
Berry - 14 points, four boards, 1 assist, 1 steal - all in second half
Only five turnovers in 45 minutes

And of course, the man, Boo Buie:
29 points (48% shooting), three threes, seven assists, three steals, three rebounds

if they play to win, they can win it all.

Screw beating Purdue. This is the tastiest win of the season

Really love this team. The guys are really putting together an effort. And the future looks pretty damn bright w BB and Mart here for a minute.

Win or lose tonight - first half made be proud.

Btw - any good student chants? And can someone put a couple hard fouls on Domask - damn kid has our number.