MINNEAPOLIS-Five months after their improbable run to March Madness concluded, the Northwestern Wildcats are on the cusp of another season and, they hope, another tournament berth.
Head coach Chris Collins was accompanied by a trio of guards at Big Ten Media Day in Minneapolis on Tuesday. Boo Buie, Ty Berry and Brooks Barnhizer. The coach and his players addressed the media and answered questions about the upcoming season.
Here are our takeaways from their statements and answers:
Northwestern isn't satisfied with another one-and-done tournament run: The first time the Wildcats made the NCAA Tournament in 2017, they followed it with five seasons of below-.500 basketball that nearly jeopardized Collins' job. Then, out of nowhere, they roared back to March Madness last season.
Now, Collins gets a second take at building a program to last in Evanston. He's not taking his chance for granted.
"There are a couple of guys who have been on my staff [that went through] the first NCAA Tournament in the history of the school for about 100 years, it's a big deal," he said. "You have a tendency, maybe not to get caught up in it, but to get a little bit satisfied.
"I think the thing we learned is that you can never just assume because you have guys back that it's automatically going to be the same. You have to start over. You have to reestablish habits."
Berry echoed Collins' sentiment. He doesn't want the Wildcats to rest on their laurels. He wants to build off of them.
"Our goals and expectations are even higher than they were last year," he said. "We want to perform at the highest level that we can, and everyday we push each other to be better. We don't even talk about last year's accomplishments because we're a new team."
March Madness run boosted NU's reputation on the recruiting trail: Northwestern has always been a developmental program, especially in their backcourt. But last year's postseason success could open the door to some players with more talent from the jump.
Collins said that it hasn't been a night-and-day difference, but a recruiting bump has been noticeable since the team went dancing in Sacramento.
"All prospects want to be somewhere where they feel they can win," he said. "So for us to go out there and bring back a second-place finish [in the Big Ten], a second-round appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the atmosphere [at Welsh-Ryan Arena].
"We were able to show them some of those games at the end of the year with Purdue or Indiana where Welsh-Ryan is rocking... I think they're answering calls a little bit quicker, though recruiting is still about fit and opportunity."
Expect a lot of small ball from the Cats this season: Northwestern lost Big Ten defensive player of the year Chase Audige to the NBA, but they still have loads of talent in their backcourt.
Buie, Berry and Barnhizer -- the killer Bs? -- all return, with transfers Ryan Langborg and Justin Mullins in the mix as well. Freshman guards Jordan Clayton and Parker Strauss figure to add depth.
Collins expects that with the team's switchable defensive style, and the physicality of Berry and Barnhizer on the boards, the team will utilize their depth.
"There's no question, you're going to see a lot of four-guard lineups... I think as a coach you have to find a way to put your best players on the floor," he said. "I think you're going to see a lot more of those lineups where we have to rebound as a collective unit...
"That's going to be a point of emphasis if we are smaller. We're going to need our guards and wings to go down there and help with rebounding."
Berry is poised to break out: Berry struggled shooting last season, splitting 34/29/81 percent from the floor, from three and from the free-throw line, respectively. Collins and Barnhizer know that he can be better. So does Berry himself.
"Ty is a shotmaker. He had a really good year in terms of his defense and his rebounding, but he didn't shoot the ball well," Collins said. "If we can get Ty consistently back to the mid-to-high 30 [percent from three] range, which I think he should be based on his shooting ability, that's going to add more to our ability to be successful on the wing."
Barnhizer chimed in later in the day when asked to identify the most under-the-radar player on the roster headed in 2023-24.
"I'd honestly say Ty," Barnhizer said, with Berry two seats to his right. "Everybody looks at his shooting percentage from last year, but when you see Ty play basketball everyday you see that he's an elite shooter.
"The thing that most people don't talk about is his defense. I think he took a really big jump leadership-wise and on the court."
Berry didn't shy away from being ambitious about his own season. It's clear he wants to up his shooting stats, but it was even more evident the tenacity he plans to bring defensively.
"I improved in my defensive leadership role," he said. "I'm trying to fill the shoes that Chase [Audige] left me. I'm playing more aggressive and physical on defense."
Wildcats know how important Welsh-Ryan's atmosphere has become: Collins was positively beaming at the podium during his televised remarks when he got to discuss Welsh-Ryan Arena.
"Fortunately for me, I had a big hand in designing the new Welsh-Ryan Arena, with our administration and the architects," he said. "[We wanted] to build a place that could become a great home-court atmosphere for us.
"Seeing that come to fruition, especially during conference play, at times I got a little emotional about it. You lay awake at night dreaming that you could have an opportunity to build [a connection] like that with our home court."
Collins said that, by his count, the team's home court advantage swung three to four games the Wildcats' way. Notably among those were the games he mentioned for recruiting, back-to-back wins over then-No. 1 Purdue and then-No. 14 Indiana in February.
The projected interest for student tickets this season is so intense that the athletic department has instituted a points program where students can earn priority points for basketball games by going to other Northwestern sporting events.
It's a system that Buie would have barely believed a year ago.
"Last year, we had [almost] no fans in those first eight or nine games. Once we came out hot, people started showing up and truly brought their energy and passion," Buie said. "Everyone is super-excited about the basketball games. The school put in the point system to get other teams involved and have that many people and that passion at their games as well."
More stories to come on Big Ten Basketball Media Days from WildcatReport.
