This Chicago winter has been a lot like the Northwestern basketball season. The beginning was so uncharacteristically pleasant and mild. It lulled you into a false sense of security. It made you believe that the harsh, cold wake-up call might not actually be coming this year. Perhaps we’d have a pleasant surprise this time, and the road to March would be a smooth one.
After all, on December 23rd it was 63 degrees in Chicago! Record high!
And with a pillow top mattress kind of schedule, Northwestern got off to a 13-1 start, tied for the best beginning in program history.
The 1930-31 team also started 13-1, en route to a 16-1 season and a Big Ten championship. Unfortunately, “Selection Sunday” and “March Madness” didn’t exist back then.
Northwestern basketball even received 11 votes in the most recent AP poll; marking the fifth straight week that they received votes.
For greater Chicagoland, winter finally came on Monday December 28th as a nasty snow/rain/wintry mix storm battered the area and made commuting of all sorts nightmarish all week.
For NU, winter started the night of January 2nd, as soon as Maryland rookie sensation Diamond Stone checked in. Stone didn’t start, but he came on at the 16:09 mark in the first half. The five-star rated recruit and McDonald’s All-American made it clear that he could score whenever he wanted, going 4-4 from the floor in the first half. If he didn’t score, Rasheed Sulaimon did as he went 5-5 from the field, 3-3 of behind the arc in the first 20 minutes.
Even though Maryland’s all-everything point guard, the Big Ten’s best player, Melo Trimble couldn’t hit the side of a barn with his jump shot at that point, the Terps were up 38-16 before anyone knew what hit NU. With five minutes left in the half, the outcome of the game was decided and much we started to believe that this is the same old Northwestern again.
The numbers don’t lie. Even with Trimble shooting 3-9, 1-7 from three, the Terps led the Cats 40-20 at intermission. The Cats would keep on fighting in the second half, but every time NU cut the deficit below 15, Maryland would answer with a quick three. Trimble himself got his perimeter game going in the second half, knocking down a few triples to make sure the lead remained comfortable for the rest of the game.
You can no longer say “winter is coming,” as it’s already here. It’s also worth mentioning that next Tuesday’s forecasted high is 14 degrees, with a low of 9.
So how could a Northwestern basketball team that played and looked like this be 13-1 entering this game?
Easy answer; their strength of schedule is ranked 307th in the country. They have zero RPI top 125 wins. (Best is Mizzou at 131) Also, take a look at the season records of some of the teams Northwestern basketball has beaten- New Orleans (1-7), Sacred Heart (1-10), Mississippi Valley St. (0-14), Chicago St. (1-12) Loyola-MD (2-10); well, I’ll just stop there, but believe me we could continue SIU-Edwardsville (3-10), UMass-Lowell (3-9)….
To be fair, it is just one game, and Maryland is really good, and Northwestern was without one of their best players in Alex Olah, but you must remember that this same Terrapins team was losing badly to lowly Penn State in their conference season opener before they got it together.
Chris Collins stressed in the post game press conference that we should not make this one game bigger than it is. On one hand, he has a point, it is just 40 minutes of basketball. On the other hand, this was definitely the biggest game of what has been marketed as the “New NU era.” Midway through year three of the Chris Collins regime, no home contest loomed larger than tonight’s Terps tilt.
It was the first home game against an opponent that you’ve heard of, and it obviously didn’t turn out too well. Collins referred to the home win over Michigan last season as a “program changer,” so imagine what we would have said had they won tonight?
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. The website is also featured on News Now.
Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye. He also appears regularly on numerous television and radio talk shows all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone.
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