Bart Torvik 2025 Projections

[SF_Wildcat]

Bart Torvik released his 2025 projections. You can edit the NU roster to see how it affects the projections, too.

His current projections have Northwestern ranked 55th in the nation and 14th in the expanded B1G, but that doesn't account for Nicholson and Berry returning.

When you add Berry and Nicholson back to the roster the Cats move up to 27th overall. If you add Blackmon then they move up to 25th.

Fun tool to play around with, and good to see the models like this returning roster.

 

[PZAZ]

Not surprised we r ranked low. NU always is

 

[NJCat]

Not surprised we r ranked low. NU always is

Even the computers hate NU!!!

 

[Deeringfish]

Even the computers hate NU!!!

Yeah but 25 when you add back in Nickolson, Berry and Blackmon; all of which will be added in.

 

[SF_Wildcat]

Yeah but 25 when you add back in Nickolson, Berry and Blackmon; all of which will be added in.

We'll see about Blackmon, but we're ranked 27 with Leach, Berry, and Nicholson.

Then can plug in some names once we learn which big men we're now targeting.

 

[Secho99]

Not surprised we r ranked low. NU always is

55th without Berry and Nicholson is wildly high. 27th with those two and Leach is quite generous considering the two key players were losing.

 

[freewillie07]

55th without Berry and Nicholson is wildly high. 27th with those two and Leach is quite generous considering the two key players were losing.

While Buie will obviously be missed next year, his greatest gift to the program was returning for his final year and serving as a “bridge” to the next group.

Berry, Barnhizer, Martinelli and Nicholson have all been to the NCAA Tournament two years now. They are all coming back. Hunger has experienced it against some of the toughest big men. Heck, Blake Smith, Jordan Clayton and Justin Mullins have too.

This is a veteran squad. Add in Leach and you’ve got a strong starting five. Add in Blackmon and this is certainly the makings of a Top 25 team.

 

[olshin]

While Buie will obviously be missed next year, his greatest gift to the program was returning for his final year and serving as a “bridge” to the next group.

Berry, Barnhizer, Martinelli and Nicholson have all been to the NCAA Tournament two years now. They are all coming back. Hunger has experienced it against some of the toughest big men. Heck, Blake Smith, Jordan Clayton and Justin Mullins have too.

This is a veteran squad. Add in Leach and you’ve got a strong starting five. Add in Blackmon and this is certainly the makings of a Top 25 team.

We could be the new Wisconsin. I'd certainly take it.

 

[macarthur31]

We could be the new Wisconsin. I'd certainly take it.

"Get old, and stay old" is the mantra for sustainable winning. In the era of the portal, the degree of difficulty for achieving even that has been raised exponentially.

 

[TheC]

"Get old, and stay old" is the mantra for sustainable winning.

That's certainly the approach I'm taking!

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

"Get old, and stay old" is the mantra for sustainable winning. In the era of the portal, the degree of difficulty for achieving even that has been raised exponentially.

The "Get Old" part is easy.
Its the "Staying Good" part that may prove elusive.

Our clearest advantage in transfer recruiting is "old guys who have realized that their NBA dream probably ain't gonna happen, so a free graduate degree from Northwestern (plus expenses) is the smartest thing they can do for themselves."

Remember the Ivy League doesn't let grad students play at all.

That leaves NU, Duke, Stanford and maaaaybe Vanderbilt competing for these players.

 

[DonatelloCat]

Yeah but 25 when you add back in Nickolson, Berry and Blackmon; all of which will be added in.

I'd guess we still have to take that with a grain of salt, since presumably many other teams also have returning players who aren't currently factored into the rankings?

 

[SF_Wildcat]

I'd guess we still have to take that with a grain of salt, since presumably many other teams also have returning players who aren't currently factored into the rankings?

Definitely. And all the existing transfer talent in the portal that has not yet committed. It's similar to the the FB recruiting class rankings early in the cycle.

That said, our power rating with Berry, Nicholson, and Blackmon is .8859 which would have been good for 28th in 2024 between Kentucky (.8863) and San Diego St. (.8802).

Top 35 pre-season seems like a reasonable expectation if we can get Blackmon and a forward in the portal.

 

[wocka]

Torvik's projections are generally pretty good. While everyone was talking about Barnhizer's expected breakout last preseason (and he did underrate Brooks a little), he was big on a Ty Berry improvement that no one was talking about that did largely happen.

These projections line up well with my thinking that this team can still be pretty good next year even without Boo by improving on defense. We just weren't nearly as good as 2022-3 last year and Langborg while great offensively was probably our worst defender in the starters. We can make up for the loss of Boo by getting better on defense.

The big surprise I see here is that he has Justin Mullins making a fairly massive jump and getting a significant minutes share. That would be a pretty welcome development

 

[EagerFan]

Mullins "jumping" would be a welcome addition to the rotation.

 

[SmellyCat]

Mullins "jumping" would be a welcome addition to the rotation.

It would also help him rebound better.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

Torvik's projections are generally pretty good. While everyone was talking about Barnhizer's expected breakout last preseason (and he did underrate Brooks a little), he was big on a Ty Berry improvement that no one was talking about that did largely happen.

I want to make it clear that I was one hundred million percent talking about a big Ty Berry jump

 

[freewillie07]

Definitely. And all the existing transfer talent in the portal that has not yet committed. It's similar to the the FB recruiting class rankings early in the cycle.

That said, our power rating with Berry, Nicholson, and Blackmon is .8859 which would have been good for 28th in 2024 between Kentucky (.8863) and San Diego St. (.8802).

Top 35 pre-season seems like a reasonable expectation if we can get Blackmon and a forward in the portal.

Blackmon and Fitzmorris in addition to Leach and we are Top 25. We would have a very, very solid starting 5, a versatile veteran 6th man who can sub for 4 of the starting 5, and, if Clayton and/or Mullins and/or Smith can make leaps, borderline unprecedented depth for a Collins team. Anything the true freshman can bring would just be gravy.

Blackmon
Berry
Leach
Barnhizer
Nicholson

Martinelli
Hunger
Clayton
Fitzsimmons
Smith
Mullins
Barkley
Ciaravino
Windham

 

[SF_Wildcat]

Torvik's official 2025 projections are now live. Northwestern is ranked #48 overall.

Seems promising until you realize that it's only good for 14th of 18 in the Big Ten. It's shaping up to be a blood bath this year with no real elite tier projected.

15 of the 18 B1G teams are projected between 16 and 51.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

Torvik's official 2025 projections are now live. Northwestern is ranked #48 overall.

Seems promising until you realize that it's only good for 14th of 18 in the Big Ten. It's shaping up to be a blood bath this year with no real elite tier projected.

15 of the 18 B1G teams are projected between 16 and 51.

Means there is plenty of space to win a bunch of games against closely matchups up teams.

Much rides on our offensive line.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

Means there is plenty of space to win a bunch of games against closely matchups up teams.

Much rides on our offensive line.

And our bullpen.