In honor of Chris Collins becoming just the second Northwestern basketball coach ever to be named Big Ten Coach of the Year, and the first since Bill Carmody in 2004, we are re-upping this old post. Collins led the Wildcats to a second-place finish in the league, the program’s best since 1958-59. They also nabbed a school-record 12 Big Ten wins this season. The ‘Cats earned the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, the program’s highest ever seed in a conference tournament.
He’s also now won 155 games, the third most in program history.
Now, here is the rest of the post, which originally ran on Feb 22:
Entering this year, Northwestern basketball coach Chris Collins, recorded a winning record in just two of his previous nine seasons. In Big Ten conference play, he had only one winning season.
Having seen his program head sharply downhill since the breakthrough NCAA Tournament season of 2016-17, his seat was warming. One was wondering how much time he really had left in Evanston, to get his program back on track.
After all, his career league record was just 54-113. Over the past five seasons, Collins teams went a combined 26-71 in the conference.
Additionally, Northwestern basketball saw two of their best players from last season, Ryan Turner and Pete Nance, transfer out to blue bloods Duke and North Carolina. As such they were picked in the preseason to finish 13th in a 14 team league.
Yet here they are, on the precipice of March and sitting second in the league, just 1.5 games behind first place Purdue. With four games left in the league, they have already tied the 1931 team for the most Big Ten wins in a season.
They are the fifth team in school history to reach 20 wins in season. Chris Collins has three of them, while his predecessor Bill Carmody has the other two.
Let’s take a look at some of the milestones that Chris Collins has achieved already this season, one that still has a few games to play, plus a conference tournament and the big dance to come.
Northwestern Basketball Milestones
Defeating #1 Purdue on Feb 12.
This pretty much clinched an at large NCAA Tournament berth, as it marked the first win over a #1 ranked team in school history.
Wed, Feb 15, win over #18 Indiana
Cats swept the series against 17th year forward Trayce-Jackson Davis, they’re old friend Miller Kopp and company. In the process, they achieved their fourth win over an AP top 25 in the same season. That marked a new record for the program.
Sun, Feb. 19 win over Iowa
Wow! How have things changed, drastically, since the disaster in last season’s Big Ten Tournament.
This ended the Hawkeyes nine game win streak in the series, which vaulted them back into the national rankings. As this is the 15th poll of the season, it is the latest NU has ever been ranked in a season.
Currently, these Cats are tied for second on the program’s list for most wins in a single season. With four games left to go, plus the conference tournament and the NCAA Tournament, their chances of tying the all-time mark, 24, are very good.
Given the form that they are in right now, it looks likely that they’ll surpass that mark too. It’s quite the 180 degree turnaround for Chris Collins and Northwestern basketball.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager 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’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram.