Women’s team

[RhabdoWildcat]

What is stopping us from becoming a basketball power?

It seems to me that a school like Northwestern should be able to recruit top recruits given the priority women players give education compared to the men.

On a side note, the championship game today was really fun to watch. These girls can play!

 

[techtim72]

NU hasn't been recruiting recently at the.level of athlete required to compete at the upper echelon of the Big Ten and the NCAA. My sense is that competing for elite players is just as competitive for the women as the men.

I don't think recruiting for basketball is the same challenge as recruiting for lacrosse. Lacrosse is still more of an "elite" sport in terms of limited high level high school programs in select regions. Women's basketball has exploded. Softball is interesting in that it is still a largely rural high school sport that is strong and competitive in the Midwest. NU has done an excellent job recruiting that sport not only in the Midwest but also the West Coast.

 

[Secho99]

What is stopping us from becoming a basketball power?

It seems to me that a school like Northwestern should be able to recruit top recruits given the priority women players give education compared to the men.

On a side note, the championship game today was really fun to watch. These girls can play!

We had a team in 2020 that was likely going to be a #2 seed in the tournament if it hadn’t been canceled, and we made the 2nd round in 2021 and were barely on the wrong side of the bubble in 2022. I believe NU is the only team to ever hold Caitlin Clark under 10 points thanks to Veronica Burton. This year was bad, but there’s history of us putting together good teams, hopefully the momentum can get going back in the right direction. I will admit though that I don’t know much about the outlook for next season.