Fun to cheer for. Gritty kids

Jameson Purcell out of Maine South looks to be one of the next top QBs to come out of the Chicagoland area. He already has offers from Indiana, Vandy and most recently the University of Miami. This one has the feel of a Thotson/Alviti to me…a local QB with solid academics at one of our “feeder” schools. I’d assume Lujan will make (hopefully already has made) Purcell a priority recruit…he could be the guy leading us in our new stadium. Lots of good connections here for NU.

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Here’s another big time prospect that recently picked up a Stanford offer. Wesolak is 6’5” DE out of Booneville, MO. Has 35 offers thus far. Seems like the type of kid we should be on.

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Stats and the gamethread won’t show it but the turning point in this game might just have been Big Matt lunging for a loose ball, causing his elbow to gush blood in the process. He was fired up and animated the crowd… and also by the way had a damn good game himself. He held his own on defense, even against guards, and made a FT and at least one critical block in the clutch.

Great game, Big Matt.

Looks like SMU is in; Bama out.

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@lou v contacted Tulsa transfer OT Jack Tanner about his offer from Northwestern and his recruiting outlook.

Long snapper Will Halkyard announces he’s transferring

Northwestern offered 2026 wide receiver Jude Hall from Greenville (S.C.) Christ Church, the alma mater of running back Dashun Reeder. I talked to Hall about his offer from Northwestern and more.

In his first week as a commit and signee, RB Daniel Anderson turned around and won the Arkansas state title. Read about Anderson and more in this week’s roundup.

BOOOO!!!!

It's a "temporary" rule for the shortened season, but without a doubt there's going to be a push to make it permanent.

No thanks; I hate it.

It should be an 8-team field playing over three weeks.

Will Indiana, SMU, Tennessee or Clemson advance? I don’t think so.

@lou v talked to incoming Class of 2025 Marcus Romain on committing early, enrolling early, battling back from injury, and more.

All times CENTRAL. All games available nationally unless otherwise indicated. I will add announcers as they are assigned. This week includes the rest of the December conference games as well as several non-conference matchups.

First, the NU game:

Northwestern vs. Georgia Tech @ Milwaukee, WI (MKE Tipoff)
Sunday, December 15
3:00 PM, BTN
PxP: Jeff Levering
Color: Stephen Bardo

And the rest:

Monday, December 9

Minnesota @ Indiana
5:30 PM, BTN
PxP: Dave Revsine
Color: LaPhonso Ellis

Tuesday, December 10

Penn State @ Rutgers
6:00 PM, Peacock (streaming only)
PxP: Paul Burmeister
Color: Stephen Bardo

Michigan vs. Arkansas @ New York, NY (Jimmy V Classic)
8:00 PM, ESPN
PxP: Dan Shulman
Color: Jay Bilas

Wisconsin @ Illinois
8:00 PM, Peacock (streaming only)
PxP: Noah Eagle
Color: Robbie Hummel

Eastern Washington @ Washington
10:00 PM, BTN
PxP: AJ Kanell
Color: Eldridge Recasner

Thursday, December 12

Iowa State @ Iowa
6:30 PM, FS1
PxP: Cory Provus
Color: Bill Raftery

Friday, December 13

Indiana @ Nebraska
7:00 PM, FOX
PxP: Brandon Gaudin
Color: LaPhonso Ellis

Saturday, December 14

Purdue vs. Texas A&M @ Indianapolis, IN (Indy Classic)
11:00 AM, CBS
PxP: Rich Waltz
Color: Bill Raftery
Color: Jay Wright

Coppin State @ Penn State
11:30 AM, BTN
PxP: Ryan Burr
Color: Myles Dread

Ohio State vs. Auburn @ Atlanta, GA (Holiday Hoopsgiving)
12:00 PM, ESPN2
PxP: Dave O'Brien
Color: Jay Williams

Wisconsin vs. Butler @ Indianapolis, IN (Indy Classic)
1:30 PM, BTN
PxP: Dave Revsine
Color: Brian Butch

Seton Hall @ Rutgers
2:00 PM, FOX
PxP: Tim Brando
Color: Donny Marshall

UCLA vs. Arizona @ Phoenix, AZ (Hall of Fame Series)
2:00 PM, ESPN2
PxP: Roxy Bernstein
Color: Fran Fraschilla

Tennessee @ Illinois
4:30 PM, FOX
PxP: Jeff Levering
Color: Robbie Hummel

Sunday, December 15

New Orleans @ Iowa
1:00 PM, BTN
PxP: Cory Provus
Color: Jess Settles

Stephen F. Austin @ Oregon
5:00 PM, BTN
PxP: AJ Kanell
Color: Eldridge Recasner

Montana State @ USC
7:00 PM, BTN
PxP: Guy Haberman
Color: Don MacLean

somewhere in the last minute of the second half, and he's staring intently at the court with a seriously sour and super tense look on his face. I tapped him on the shoulder and said 'don't worry, we've lost the last two games by a total of three points', and he kinda smiles and says to me 'I'm worried. I come here every year and the Cats always beat us.'

And ya know, it turns out we haven't lost to them at home since Pete Nance left the team. I hadn't realized that, and it kinda made my night.

Safe to say, Braun has to win 5 games next year with a brutal schedule to be back in 2026.

Saw an article on this. That would royally suck

First and foremost, I want to acknowledge big improvement from prior years for the most part. However, we have some work to do:
- Wildside was strong in attendance 30 min before tip off (kudos) but oddly subdued for much of the game. For a Friday night rivalry game, I thought this was odd. Took Collins and MN’s energy to fire up the crowd, which then fueled the ‘Cats late in the 2nd half and OT.
- Last 2 years, the Wildside rivaled the Raider’s Black Hole and pitbulled their way into opponent’s psyches. Terrance Shannon (Lock Him Up/No Means No), Miller Kopp (lol), Mason Gillis (DUI), and others were victims of the Wildside. This year, so far the energy has not been there—our students cannot be soft if we are going to continue to make WR into an elite fortress. I worry about this—maybe the new leaders of the Wildside are great, high achieving character people—which is awesome sure, but politeness and intimidation are opposite forces. Get mean guys.
- For the love of everything, please STOP selling seats behind the announcers to opposing fans!
- We outnumbered the Illini fans 60/40 (maybe slightly more), and we were louder overall
- Love the Ice Gothics
- Traffic flow out of the stadium is terrible when it full. Maybe a good problem, but they need better people flow or things could get really unsafe
- Hip hop music DJ plays is great
- Great win—let’s get some more

Finally saw the defensive effort we have come to expect in the second half and lo and behold the shots started falling.

As Bardo said several times, “Ty Berry is back, ladies and gentlemen.”

Yes we lack a true distributor, but Boo is gone and this is a different type of unit than ‘22 or ‘23. More wing depth and if Berry truly is back then the Mart/Barn combo is going to be beastly.

I still don’t get why we insist on playing so slow. Our offense looks so much better when we get into our sets before the shot clock is down to 15.

Besides having a bunch of farm boys with very punchable faces and rosy cheeks, that Iowa team is really good. So much shooting. They will play well into March.

Three-star DE Michael Diatta has said thanks, but no thanks to Northwestern and will stick to his commitment to Virginia. He plans to sign with the Cavaliers on Dec. 16.

The 6-foot-4, 247-pounder from Nashville (Tenn.) Cane Ridge gave Virginia his verbal in mid-November. Then, Northwestern offered him a couple weeks later, an opportunity that Diatta said he would have to consider.

But in the end, he decided to remain a Cavalier. The relationship he built with the UVa staff over a long time period was the biggest factor, he said.

"Yeah, so I talked to my parents and we’ve decided that I’m going to stick with UVA," he said. "You know signing day is right around the corner and we just feel it’s best to stick with UVA because we’ve had a longer relationship with them."

Diatta said that he has already informed Northwestern's coaches of his choice.

Tyus looking good for Ohio U.

Amazing that a team NU beat this year is playing for a championship. (Even MAC)

I'll save you the trouble... unless you're an MD...

ileostomy - surgical formation of an artificial anus by connecting the ileum to an opening in the abdominal wall
I'm pretty sure Dr. Nicholson performed an ileostomy involving Kasparas Jakucionis and the backboard with about 40 seconds left in overtime.

I added a new column at the end of the table representing the total of each player's raw box score contribution.


Obviously this was a great win, rallying from a 46-36 deficit with 10 minutes to go.
Nick Martinelli was clearly the star of the game for Northwestern, with primary support from Nicholson and Leach.
Barnhizer played the entire game and had a major hand in the victory, but he missed so many shots that he gets chopped severely.
The 3 steals he got are completely offset by his 3 turnovers - its a harsh system!
Ty Berry had a bad night on the offensive end - but at least he stopped shooting - and contributed 1 lonely rebound.

The starting lineup bounced back to form with a 26-18 win in 16 minutes of court time.
Against a high-scoring team like Illinois, giving up 18 points in 16 minutes is phenomenal.

The 2nd lineup (Hunger/Martinelli/Barnhizer/Mullins/Leach) played to a 20-18 loss in 11:35.
Thats okay - Illinois is good.

Jalen Leach had a nice game and was very steady... 5 assists, zero turnovers. Thats good, but Illinois chose to put their most athletic guard on Barnhizer much of the time, so Leach was not getting pressured. It remains to be seen how he will handle the ball against more athletic guards, but Leach generally appears to be handling the big step up in class. He had some nice field goals driving toward the basket.

Collins really shortened the bench for the two Big Ten games. Hopefully Windham and Ciaravino get some minutes in the 3 remaining non-conference games against Georgia Tech, DePaul and Northeastern. We'll probably need one of them in the rotation down the road.

Couple random notes...

Martinelli said after the game "at halftime everybody on the team was encouraging me, trying to pump me up - from Gus and Clayton all the way up..." Ouch for Clayton.

Big Matt got his only basket of the night when Barnhizer inadvertently ran "the play" that I have suggested multiple times.
Take a shot that intentionally will not reach the basket - have the big guy grab it on the way down and dunk it while the defense stands there helplessly.
Thats how NC State beat Houston in the 1983 NCAA title game.
Just shoot it between the rim and the big guy. A lob shot, if you will.
Either way, the defense cannot risk a goaltending call, so they stand there waiting to get the rebound.
Yeah I know - it sounds crazy - but it has to work. The hard part is getting the shooter to miss on purpose, but once that mental barrier is broken, look out world.

Lastly, Coach Collins said in the postgame something like "I'd have to be an idiot to not adapt our offense to the players we have."
That made me smile.

Great win for the Cats!

2026 point guard Chris Kirkpatrick from New Trier is visiting NU to watch practice this weekend. Yep, he's the son of former NU guard Kip Kirkpatrick.

Chris is a 6-2 point guard. Just a sophomore, he's got an offer from Tavaras Hardy and Loyola Maryland. He already knows just about all there is to know about the NU basketball program.

Scouting report:

Film:
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I have been reading posts the last few weeks bemoaning the static nature and one on one style the Cats were playing while thinking that their best chance to win rides on letting Barnhizer or Martinelli back down a physically weaker defender. Collins’ comment last night that they are “ a midrange team” pretty much confirmed that. Leach, Barnhizer and Martinelli are all situational 3 pt. shooters: they can hit an open 3 from a limited number of spots on the floor, but are not great catch and shoot guys that thrive in the Steph Curry era.

On defense, they have a good rim defender and physically tough guys who can fight picks.

In short, this would have been a great team in 1974 as opposed to a good team in 2024.

There was a 35-second period (from about 7:26 to 6:51) last night where Barnhizer appeared to completely take over the game. Somehow he only scored one point, but he was everywhere, and after he missed a dunk, he was so determined to get the ball back that he practically grabbed the ball out of Ivisic's hands. It was beautiful. His offense was shaky last night, but it might have been his best defensive performance so far this year. I doubt he'll win Defensive Player of the Year this year, but I think all-defensive team looks like a lock if he stays healthy. My hope is Nicholson gets some consideration on that team as well.