Comparing Northwestern’s March Madness teams.
What do the 2016-2017, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 Northwestern basketball teams have in common?
They all made the NCAA Tournament, had stars that will go down in Northwestern history, and are currently the most successful teams in program history. While all had different key moments — and one a completely different group of players — they will all be remembered in purple lore.
So, time to answer a hard question: which was the most special? That’s hard to answer. All three were great. But, if one had to start/bench/cut the three seasons, here’s who I’d go with.
Start: 2022-2023
Out of the three teams, all of which reached different milestones and had different special moments, this one gets the starting slot. Why? Because there was no reason for this team to be as good as it was and the milestones it reached set the foundation for years to come.
During the 2021-2022 season, Northwestern went 15-16 and finished 12th in the Big Ten. In the months following a 40-point loss to Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament that saw Pete Nance transfer to North Carolina and Ryan Young to Duke, Chris Collins was issued an ultimatum demanding success from the basketball team. For the 2022-2023 season, the Wildcats faced questions all around the board and were picked to finish 13th in the Big Ten; some even said dead last.
But from day one, Collins and his squad flipped the script, reaching the NCAA tournament for the second time in the school’s history and recording its highest-ever finish in the Big Ten (second with 12 wins).
It was the first time Boo Buie was the number one option, and he became one of the best guards in the conference. Buie and Chase Audige — who won co-Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year — was one of the most formidable duos in the conference, and to put it short, the team was magical.
Look at all the marquee wins: Northwestern beat the AP No. 1 team for the first time in history when it took down Purdue in February, and three days later, Buie hit arguably his most famous shot with a last-second winner against No. 14 Indiana. Other big victories include wins over Michigan State at Breslin Center and Indiana in Assembly Hall, beating Illinois for the first time in four years and securing a school record with the final conference win over Rutgers.
There were accolades, such as Audiges’ defensive honors, but the main one was Chris Collins winning Big Ten Coach of the Year when many thought it would be his last year in the program. The turnaround this program had this season was truly remarkable.
Northwestern beat Boise State in the NCAA Tournament before taking a legitimate NCAA tournament contender in UCLA to the wire in the round of 32. It set the foundation for years to come as a program that could be successful. But, a lot was still to be proven.
Which leads us to…
Bench: 2023-2024
Northwestern entered this season with the highest expectations out of the three — it made the NCAA Tournament the year before, returned its top scorer in Buie and replaced Audige with Ryan Langborg, who carried Princeton to the Sweet 16 as a 15 seed. The key losses were Audige and Robbie Beran, but Northwestern had the makings of a successful team with returners like Ty Berry and Brooks Barnhizer to complement Buie and Langborg.
Obviously, this season ended Sunday night when Northwestern lost to the reigning national champion UConn. Yet many special games along the way showed this team’s potential and resilience. The ‘Cats beat No. 1 Purdue in Welsh Ryan Arena for the second time in 2023, defeated No. 10 Illinois in overtime and almost beat Purdue in Mackey Arena, taking the Boilermakers to overtime. It seemed like every game was a different reason this team could go far — whether late-game heroics in both games against Maryland, beating Minnesota on senior night or something else, these Wildcats were special.
But injuries got in the way, as Berry and Matthew Nicholson both suffered season-ending ones. This clearly lowered the team’s ceiling, but with Berry and Nicholson, I believe this was the best team. It was one of the best three-point shooting teams in the entire NCAA, was filled with offensive firepower and if fully healthy, could have been a second-weekend team in the NCAA tournament.
What this team was able to accomplish without two key starters is remarkable.
Northwestern still reached 12 Big Ten wins, tying a school record, and once again won an NCAA Tournament game. This one might have been the most thrilling — the Wildcats defeated Florida Atlantic, who made the Final Four in 2023, in overtime. A tournament win in back-to-back years showed that Northwestern is going to compete year-in-and-year-out.
This was also the year Buie solidified himself as the best player in Northwestern history. He passed John Shurna as Northwestern’s all-time leading scorer on Feb. 22 against Michigan, was a unanimous all-Big Ten first-team selection and had many magical games that Northwestern fans will remember their entire life.
Though the Wildcats lost to the Huskies, they were clearly special, but injuries capped their potential. Given all that happened and it being Buie’s last year in Evanston, this team deserves spot on the bench.
Cut: 2016-2017
This is not to disrespect how special this team was. These ‘Cats will always hold a special place in Northwestern history as the first to make the NCAA Tournament and the legends on this team — such as Bryant McIntosh, Vic Law, Dererk Pardon and Nathan Taphorn – will always be remembered in Northwestern basketball lore.
Most of the reason this team is cut out of the three is what happened in the preceding years. After the most successful season in program history, Northwestern backtracked to the bottom of the Big Ten and barely touched the NCAA tournament. It didn’t set the bar for years to come, and rather, seemed like a one-off.
But, that’s not to take away from how important this team was for Northwestern Athletics. Collins proved he could be a coach at the top level, and when Northwestern defeated No. 5 Michigan on a Derek Pardon buzzer-beater, it was monumental relevancy that led to Northwestern’s first-ever March Madness selection. In the postseason, Northwestern claimed its first-ever NCAA tournament win over Vanderbilt and lost to the No. 1 overall seed in Gonzaga