Left late 3rd quarter in loss to UCLA....say it is a sprained ankle...but he got squashed a bunch b4 that..

And who will it be? I say Illinois. if two, Illinois and Michigan. They will surprise.

He was fantastic but got so little help. With Brooks still out hurt, NU can’t win a game like that with two combined points from Ty and Matt. We should expect more from our seniors, frankly. If Brooks plays and even one of those guys somewhat shows up, I think we win that one. Bummer of a loss.

I’m heading out to Naperville Central tonight to watch Fremd and 2026 quarterback Johnny O’Brien.

I’ll be live tweeting his performance, kick is set for 7:30, and should have a scouting report up on the site for subscribers tomorrow morning.

I’m excited to see O’Brien play, should be a great game and a really elite test. Two Top 10 seeds in 8A, NC’s only loss has been to Lincoln-Way East.

Here you go:

1. UD Arena and the home team fans are just amazing. Pre-game entertainment is rock concert quality. The Arena is first class in every way. The place was deafening when the Flyers made their late 2nd half run. The cheerleaders are SEC quality.
2. Our seats were close to the action. Where I could see the physicality of the game. Holy Cow! I thought at times I was watching a hockey match. At other times an NFL game. Lots and lots of hand and hip checking. Grabbing and bumping and leaning too. A real eye opener for me.
3. I'm not sure why Collins was so high on Nicholson and Hunger going into the season. Flyers did a great job of doubling the ballhandler on the Nicholson picks out top knowing that our big guy could not effectively roll to the basket to score. Hard to execute an alley oop when the ball handler has 2 guys on him. Hunger plays small for as big as he is. Just the opposite of what Pardon use to do for us.
4. The freshmen have amazing composure. If Ciaravino can add 15 lbs. of muscle, the sky's the limit. He can hit the three and take it to the rim with authority. If Mullins had the freshman's confidence and aggressiveness he could be a double digit scorer. The skills are there. The mindset is not. Sadly, the Denver transfer seems content to play the complimentary role. I hope Collins is demanding more from him. This team needs him to be an offensive threat other teams have to defend.
5. Brooks looked healthy in warmups. But even then you could see he needs a few full go sparring matches to get his game back. He is one very strong, well built dude.
6. You can't beat Dayton on the road with Ty Berry posting a goose egg on the scoreboard. Nicholson having no impact on the game. And Barnhizer MIA. Cats did well to make the game as close as they did.
7. Dayton's guards and wings were a little quicker and a little more physical. That was the difference in the game IMO. Their full court pressure defense was very disruptive to the Cats offense even when we avoided the turnover. Their second half offensive surge was fueled by their defense. I was consistently disappointed we couldn't make the Flyers pay for overplaying the ball by going vertical on them.
8. Nick Martinelli is the best, most complete Wildcat basketball player I have seen in the 47 years of my NU hoops fandom. He had answers for everything Dayton threw at him. Nothing even slowed him down. Sorry Barney. There's a new sheriff in town. A BIG POY caliber player with an NBA future and still room to improve. I would be surprised if we saw him back in purple next year.
9. Collins is still a live firecracker on the bench. Some short fused zebra is going to T him up this year.
10. Like Collins said, this was a great measuring stick game for the Cats. I'm anxious to see how far CCC and his staff can take this team in the preseason. Lots of reasons we have to expect significant improvement.

GOUNUII

Check out his facial hair! 😂

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NU has a shockingly good all-time OT record. We are 15-7 all-time in OT games, 13-3 in B1G OT games, 8-2 in home OT games, and 7-3 in road OT games. Our first OT game was in Randy Walker's first season, so this record covers 25 years and 3 different coaching regimes. I suppose this could all be random chance, but we always look well-prepared for OT even if we lose. Is it down to coaching? The type of player we recruit? Or is it truly just a coincidence?

This is just like good ole BIG10 football.....good game...Harbaugh always seems to know when to leave....and our Indiana game is looking better and better..Proebe having a good game for Michigan . Indiana having a difficult time on the side where they are missing their starting left guard.....OFFENSIVE LINE MATTERS.

How many are they going to put up on us at wrigley? Can we score?

Here are @mshelton33's takeaways from Dayton:

Here are @mshelton33's takeaways from Dayton:

Northwestern (1-0) plays Dayton (1-0) tonight at UD Arena. Tip off is set for 6:30 pm CT and the game will air on ESPN+.

Our @mshelton33 was on the sideline last night as Johnny O'Brien threw for a school-record 464 yards and 4 TDs in Palatine (Ill.) Fremd's 31-28 playoff loss to Naperville Central.

Great stuff here from Matt.

As long as I've followed NU we've had a history of doing the unpredictable. Beat Notre Dame. Lose to Miami of Ohio. Beat Michigan. Lose to Army. Win the Big Ten West. Lose to New Hampshire Eastern and who knows who else. Crush a great Utah team in a bowl.

But this year, we've, for once, done pretty much the predicted. Beat some stink NC teams. Lose a nailbiter to an evenly matched Duke team. Lose handily to good Indiana and pretty good Iowa team. Maybe Maryland was a small outlier (but we tend to own them). Beat a stink Purdue team.

Seems unusual that we have done "the expected" for once with no crazy outlier upsets or pathetic losses.

Incredible athlete! Austin Peay downs Butler tonight!

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I did not know him very well, just well enough to say hello on campus. He seemed like a very nice guy. May his memory be for a blessing.

The Ravens are in all purple, gold numbers and gold and white stripes on the pants, purple matte helmets, and they look just spectacular.

I talked to 2025 PWO Seth Valeri about committing to David Braun on the same call he was offered, making his mom's wish for a Northwestern kid come true, and more.

Everybody except Indiana, Washington, Minnesota and Rutgers is playing today.
Everyone is playing at home.
Only Ohio State is not favored by double digits... They have #19 Texas coming to visit.
Just for fun, which heavily-favored team is most likely to fail to meet "expectations" about the outcome of today's game....
These polls are limited to 10 choices, so I left the former Pac 12 teams out, along with the underdog Buckeyes.

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The women’s team opened with a loss to Illinois State. Could be another long season.

Time for another exciting year of Big Ten hoops. Will NU reach an unprecedented third straight NCAA tournament? Will I develop carpal tunnel syndrome typing these out for an 18-team conference? Let’s find out!

All times CENTRAL. All games available nationally unless otherwise indicated. I will add announcers as they are assigned, except for BTN+ games.

First, the NU games:

Lehigh @ Northwestern
Monday, November 4
7:00 PM, Peacock (streaming only)
PxP: Paul Burmeister
Color: Tre Demps

Northwestern @ Dayton
Saturday, November 9
6:30 PM, ESPN+ (streaming only, except available in the Dayton market on WHIO-TV)
PxP: Alex Mikos
Color: Brooks Hall

And the rest:

Monday, November 4

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi @ Purdue
5:00 PM, BTN
PxP: Kevin Kugler
Color: Robbie Hummel

Manhattan @ Maryland
6:00 PM, BTN+ (streaming only)

Monmouth @ Michigan State
6:00 PM, BTN+ (streaming only)

Binghamton @ Penn State
6:30 PM, BTN+ (streaming only)

Cleveland State @ Michigan
7:00 PM, BTN
PxP: Jason Horowitz
Color: Stephen Bardo

Eastern Illinois @ Illinois
7:00 PM, BTN+ (streaming only)

Texas A&M-Commerce @ Iowa
7:00 PM, BTN+ (streaming only)

Texas-Rio Grande Valley @ Nebraska
7:00 PM, BTN+ (streaming only)

Holy Cross @ Wisconsin
7:00 PM, BTN+ (streaming only)

Chattanooga @ USC
9:00 PM, BTN
PxP: Guy Haberman
Color: Don MacLean

Ohio State vs. Texas @ Las Vegas, NV (Hall of Fame Series)
9:00 PM, TNT
PxP: Spero Dedes
Color: Grant Hill
Color: Candace Parker

Rider @ UCLA
9:30 PM, FS1
PxP: Trent Rush
Color: Darren Collison

UC Riverside @ Oregon
9:30 PM, BTN+ (streaming only)

Tuesday, November 5

UC Davis @ Washington
9:00 PM, BTN
PxP: AJ Kanell
Color: Eldridge Recasner

Wednesday, November 6

Wagner @ Rutgers
5:00 PM, BTN
PxP: Jason Horowitz
Color: Austin Johnson

SIU-Edwardsville @ Indiana
7:00 PM, BTN
PxP: Connor Onion
Color: Robbie Hummel

Oral Roberts @ Minnesota
7:00 PM, BTN+ (streaming only)

Thursday, November 7

Niagara @ Michigan State
7:00 PM, BTN
PxP: Kevin Kugler
Color: Shon Morris

Southern @ Iowa
7:00 PM, BTN+ (streaming only)

Montana State @ Wisconsin
7:00 PM, BTN+ (streaming only)

Idaho State @ USC
9:00 PM, BTN+ (streaming only)

Friday, November 8

UMBC @ Penn State
5:00 PM, BTN
PxP: Wayne Randazzo
Color: Myles Dread

Northern Kentucky @ Purdue
6:00 PM, BTN+ (streaming only)

Mount St. Mary’s @ Maryland
7:00 PM, BTN
PxP: Joe Malfa
Color: Austin Johnson

SIU-Edwardsville @ Illinois
7:00 PM, Peacock (streaming only)
PxP: Noah Reed
Color: Stephen Bardo

Montana @ Oregon
9:00 PM, BTN
PxP: AJ Kanell
Color: Don MacLean

UCLA vs. New Mexico @ Henderson, NV (Las Vegas Hoopfest)
10:00 PM, CBSSN
PxP: Dave Ryan
Color: Dan Dickau

Saturday, November 9

Omaha @ Minnesota
2:30 PM, Peacock (streaming only)
PxP: Steve Schlanger
Color: Tre Demps

Bethune-Cookman @ Nebraska
7:00 PM, BTN+ (streaming only)

Washington @ Nevada
9:00 PM, Mountain West Digital (streaming only, except available in the Reno market on KNSN-TV)
PxP: John Ramey
Color: Len Stevens

Sunday, November 10

Eastern Illinois @ Indiana
11:00 AM, BTN+ (streaming only)

Appalachian State @ Wisconsin
11:00 AM, BTN+ (streaming only)

Michigan @ Wake Forest
12:00 PM, ESPN2
PxP: Dave O’Brien
Color: Cory Alexander

ESPN's matchup predictor says we have a 58.9% chance of beating Illinois on Dec 7. Who has a view on why?

Ryan Hilinski? I understand that Lausch has struggled (and no offense to Ryan) but that guy is not the answer and we knew that like 2 years ago.

Really struggling to understand any of the decision making on the offensive side of the ball this year.

I talked to 2025 PWO Seth Valeri about committing to David Braun on the same call he was offered, making his mom's wish for a Northwestern kid come true, and more.