Over the 32 days leading up to college basketball season, we’re profiling 32 different teams who could be in the NIT mix, aided in this effort by those who know them best (or the closest we could get). Today, John Templon responds by email to our questions about Northwestern.
John Templon is the OG NIT Bracketologist, a legend within the NIT industry, and the man behind NYC Buckets, a blog which covered college basketball in the New York City area like none other during the 2010s. He writes about the NIT and other college basketball topics at his own site, www.nitbracketology.com, as well as at other outlets such as Blue Ribbon. If you’re looking for offseason NIT Bracketology (and who isn’t?), he’s your man.
Here’s the full list of 32 for 32’s published so far, with links:
- Auburn, with the Sickos CBB Committee
- BYU, with Mitch Harper
- Cincinnati, with Zach Fries
- Dayton, with Tyler Cronin
- Duquesne, with Tristan Freeman
- Indiana, with Matt Cox
- Iona, with Sam Federman
- Iowa State, with Joe Stunardi
- James Madison, with Bennett Conlin
- Loyola, with Ky McKeon
- Michigan, with the Sickos CBB Committee
- Missouri, with Jim Root
- North Texas, with Harry Miers
- Northwestern, with John Templon
- Notre Dame, with Stuart McGrath
- Ohio State, with Mark Titus
- Oregon State, with Andy Dieckhoff
- Penn State, with DJ Bauer
- South Carolina, with Brian Rauf
- St. Bonaventure, with SBUnfurled
- St. John’s, with the Sickos CBB Committee
- Syracuse, with the Marshall Street Podcast
- Texas, with NIT Stu
- Utah, with Andrew Crowley
- Virginia Tech, with Ken Pomeroy
- Washington State, with Dave Andersen
- Wisconsin, with Cole Amundson
The Barking Crow: Let’s start with last year. Northwestern was in the NIT mix early in the winter, but a series of big conference wins pushed them past our reach. What are expectations this year for the Wildcats, and in what direction would they need to miss those expectations in order to find their way to the NIT?
Northwestern was one of the biggest surprises in the Big Ten last season. The Wildcats basically saved Chris Collins’s job with their run through the Big Ten regular season. After the return of Boo Buie, Northwestern is once again set to be a competitive program. While finishing 2nd again probably isn’t happening, they’d have to fall a bit below expectations in order to make the NIT. This is Northwestern, so that is entirely plausible.
TBC: Northwestern had a remarkable run of NIT appearances between 2009 and 2012. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but was that what got you into NIT Bracketology? Either way, what legacy does that period have at the school?
Yes! Northwestern’s consistent flirting with the NIT during that period was what first got me into NIT bracketology. I was a graduate student at Northwestern at the beginning of that era (and covered the team after) and also a big Bill Carmody fan because of my Princeton fandom, so it was great fun. (Remember Northwestern had never made the NCAA Tournament during that era either.) I even attended the NIT loss at Tulsa at the end of the 2009 season. That era was a great building block for the program and established a Northwestern basketball culture that had actual expectations.
TBC: We saw some great crowds last year at the fairly recently renovated Welsh-Ryan Arena, to the point where the crowds became part of the story surrounding last year’s team. NIT attendance is known to vary widely across power conference programs, though. Would fans and students show up in Evanston for an NIT home game? Would they make the trip to Indianapolis for a hypothetical NIT Final Four appearance?
This is a tough one because an NIT would mean a slight miss of expectations, but I do think depending on the opponent that Welsh-Ryan Arena would attract a crowd for an NIT game. The Northwestern fan base isn’t necessarily the type though to travel down to Indianapolis.
At least we’ve come a long way from the days when Indiana or Wisconsin playing at Northwestern felt like a home game for those schools.
TBC: Northwestern’s women’s basketball team has been a frequent presence in the WNIT in recent years, even reaching the championship in 2019. Is there any hope of a Northwestern appearance this year in the new WBIT?
Joe McKeown has built a solid program with the Northwestern women’s team. They had a down season in 2022-23, but there’s definitely hope for a bounce back and an appearance in the postseason.
TBC: Schools, especially in power conferences, tend to be labeled as “football schools,” “basketball schools,” or—occasionally—something else entirely. Does Northwestern fit into one of those buckets? If not, what’s the best way to describe it?
I put a poll on X (or Twitter or whatever we call it now) about this because it’s… complicated. The result thus far is “something else” in a landslide and I don’t disagree.
TBC: Smaller, private, and even more highly regarded academically than the rest of the conference, Northwestern stands out in the Big Ten. With conference realignment all the rage, how would you regard Northwestern’s long-term fit in its historic league?
Realignment is a funny nut, but I don’t think Northwestern is going anywhere. There might’ve been a time where you could’ve conceived of Northwestern giving up its athletic ambitions, but those days are now long gone.
As you noted, the Wildcats are a weird fit among all the giant public schools in the Big Ten, but they’ve found ways to be competitive. Those schools would have to kick NU out (and they wouldn’t go quietly) for anything to change.
TBC: Dare we dream of a Northwestern NIT title?
Of course we can dream! I wish it’d be in MSG, but it’d be a good excuse to go to Indianapolis.
