The season is just over a month away, and the Chicagoland Media Day Luncheon hosted representatives from the Northwestern, Loyola, DePaul and Chicago State basketball programs for a press conference on Wednesday in Chicago.

Wildcat head coach Chris Collins spoke to reporters and took part in a Q-&-A run by ABC7 Chicago's Dionne Miller, alongside the head coaches from the other area programs. Northwestern players Boo Buie, Blake Preston and Ryan Langborg were available for interviews.

Here are our takeaways from the first fall media availability of the 2023-24 season:

Boo Buie is back to 100%: Northwestern fans had a scare in August when it was announced that the star point guard had injured his right hand and would require surgery. But for now all fears seem to have been dispelled.

Buie was cleared to return to practice and play last week and doesn't have any lingering issues at this time.

"I'm really feeling confident about where my hand is at," he said. "I don't have any pain, my jump shot is looking good. My game is looking tight and crisp, looking forward to picking up right where I left off."

Buie's return was an easy decision: After the surprising season that led to Northwestern's second March Madness berth in school history, it was unclear if they'd get either of the members of their star backcourt, Buie and Chase Audige, back for another season.

Audige chose to turn pro, but Buie decided to return to Evanston. The graduate student said the choice to come back for a sixth year was a simple one.

"With the community and support that the staff and Northwestern as whole has given me, it's been some of the best years of my life," Buie said. "College sports, there's nothing like it. I felt for me, it was best if I came back and did one more year."

Positional disparity in recruiting a result of opportunity, not strategy: Northwestern's Class of 2023 was two guards and a small forward, and its Class of 2024 stands at two guards.

In that same span, they brought in center Tydus Verhoeven as a grad transfer last year to work in with Matt Nicholson, and now they've signed grad transfer big man Preston from Liberty to play the same role this season.

It may seem like the Wildcats are focused on developing their guards from the ground up, and plugging-and-playing transfer bigs around them. But Collins said that the positional disparity was more opportunistic than purposeful.

"I think it's just the way it's shaken out," he said. "We felt from a post perspective, we still have very high hopes for Luke Hunger, he's going to be a redshirt freshman this year. We felt we have a young big and then Matt [Nicholson] going into his fourth year.

"But we saw the value of what happened last year with Tydus [Verhoeven]. He became a big piece of what we were doing, and we felt we wanted to get another, older frontline guy."

Collins expounded on Northwestern's recruiting philosophy regarding positional needs and the portal.

"We don't really go into every year, I don't think you can now with the portal, saying 'These are going to be our needs.' I don't think from year to year you're going to know as much. I think what we try to find now is what are the fits for us, whether it's guard, whether it's forward, or whether it's big."

Northwestern's two grad transfers are fitting in early: Collins made two experienced pickups through the portal with Langborg, a grad transfer guard from Princeton, and Preston.

"The biggest thing is [they're] winners," Collins said. "You look at where they came from. They both played for excellent coaches and winning cultures...

"We felt losing Tydus, we needed an older big to kind of fill that void. Then, obviously, with Chase moving on, we needed more firepower on the wing. We felt like we got that with Ryan."

Langborg averaged 12.3 points per game last season and was a 36.3% shooter from beyond the arc for Princeton, who made it to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament. He felt similarly, attributing Northwestern's run last season and style of play to his choice to commit there as a grad transfer.

"I was pretty convinced once I started talking to Northwestern," Langborg said. "Right off the jump with their style of play...I got a sense that I would fit in well.

"Then on my visit, meeting the guys was a really big thing for me. We had camaraderie right off the bat, me and Brooks [Barnhizer] decided to be roommates on the visit."

Preston averaged 6.7 points and 5.1 rebounds for a 27-win Liberty squad that lost to Wisconsin in the second round of the NIT. He had a great process too, although he already had a roommate in mind.

"I told Coach when he was on the phone with me, the most important thing that he was going to do was sell my wife on coming [to Evanston]," he said. "Whenever you go through a recruiting process and the coach is talking to the player and the parents, I told him it's a little bit different with me.

"I definitely had to talk to my wife and when we came here on the visit she got to spend some time and was just super excited about the community and the opportunity to be a part of it."

Preston has been happily married to his wife, Amelia, for two years and four months.

Nothing but support for Audige's choice: While Buie came back to Northwestern for another season, Audige jumped at the chance to turn pro. He played for the Miami Heat's summer league team and now has signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Washington Wizards that typically leads to a role on a team's G League squad.

Collins and Buie were effusive with excitement for Audige's future.

"It's awesome and I'm super happy for him," Buie said. "Because as athletes, as basketball players, that's our goal since [we're] little kids, [it's] growing up to make it and play at the highest level.

"He's getting one step closer to his dream. It's awesome for him to be able to go to training camp and have a shot to make the team."

Collins echoed Buie.

"It was awesome, man. We were able to connect by the phone when I saw that [he signed] and it was official. That's what you want for your guys. The amount of work he put in over four years, coming in at night, shooting in the mornings, playing through injuries," Collins said.

"The player he became last year, Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Second-Team All-Big Ten, that's why you do it. Those are the things that make me proud as a coach."