It’s very safe to say that Northwestern basketball has turned the corner as a program now. You can thank a whole team effort for that, but most of the credit goes to head coach Chris Collins, and then of course, Boo Buie, the program G.O.A.T. He’ll take his spot in the program pantheon for eternity now. But with official word today that both Ty Berry and Matthew Nicholson returning for next season, the beat goes on.
Northwestern basketball is coming off its winningest two year stretch, and by a wide margin too.
They finished 4th in the Big Ten this past season, and second the previous season.
Prior to 2022-23, they had never gone to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments, nor had a double bye (now they’ve done that back-to-back too) in the Big Ten Tournament.
Their basement/support level now is much higher; that’s for certain.
Perhaps their ceiling/resistance level will increase as well?
NU has won exactly one game in all three of their NCAA Tournament appearances. Maybe with Berry and Nicholson back in 2025 that will change?
When Nicholson scored in double figures, Northwestern was 5-0 this past season and 20-9 when he played before missing the final five games of the season due to injury.
He was by far the Northwestern basketball team’s best big last season.
And Northwestern was very dangerous when Berry was on last season. Northwestern was 11-3 in games where Ty Berry scored in double figures. He scored 20+ four times last season and went off for 25 in the win over #1 Purdue.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network and the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Twitter.