Northwestern makes NCAA Tournament for second straight season
EVANSTON-Confetti rained down on Welsh-Ryan Arena on Selection Sunday for the second straight season as the Wildcats made consecutive tournaments for the first time in program history.
Doubts started to creep in for Northwestern's postseason chances after they lost their first game in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday, and as a classically chaotic run of conference champions unfurled across Saturday and Sunday, stealing bids left and right.
But concerns were eased quickly as the Wildcats were the fourth team announced, the No. 9 seed in the East Region. They are set to play No. 8 Florida Atlantic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., for the right to very likely take on overall No. 1-seed and defending national champion UConn in the second round.
"It's exciting to be back in March Madness and the NCAA Tournament," head coach Chris Collins said. "It was great to be in the first bracket because it's very nerve wracking. We were confident we'd be in but there was a lot of craziness the last couple days...but we got what we deserved. We're an NCAA Tournament team."
Northwestern's road here wasn't easy, filled with injuries to key players and a brutal conference schedule. The Wildcats played all five of the other Big Ten teams to make the NCAA Tournament twice, albeit with their second Wisconsin game coming in the Big Ten Tournament.
They finished with a 4-6 record in those 10 games, splitting each series except for their duo against the Badgers.
Collins and star guard Boo Buie identified one of those games as a turning point: the 105-96 overtime loss at Purdue on Jan. 31.
"How we played at Purdue," Collins said for the moment he knew this team could return to March. "It really showed a lot about our team. [They're] arguably the best in the country. We had beaten them in overtime here, so we knew we would get their best shot in the toughest environment in our league right now.
"For our guys to have a shot in the air to win the game on the road? I was like man, even though we lost, I came out of there thinking that we're pretty good."
Collins was infamously ejected from that game once it was in Purdue's hands, a game where the Boilermakers took 46 free throws to Northwestern's eight.
"Going into that environment, with how that game was called but not using it as an excuse, and still being able to be in a position to win the game showed a lot of toughness," Buie said. "I knew that we could compete with anyone in the country at that point."
Collins will focus on FAU, wait to celebrate this team: Collins continues to set and reset the bar for postseason success at Northwestern. He was most famously the first coach to lead the Wildcats to the Big Dance, in 2017. Now he's also the first coach to make consecutive tournaments for the Wildcats.
Has the achievement sunk in for Collins?
"Probably not," he said. "I think the things you accomplish, they don't truly set in until some time has passed.
"We're in the middle of it right now, we're not in reflection mode, we're in attack mode. Once this season ends and we get into the spring and summer, at some point, with a nice adult beverage, I'll probably sit back and reflect on how special this has been."
Collins made it clear that he and his team have work ahead of them. FAU was a Final Four team last season and are 25-8 this season. They finished second in the AAC regular season and narrowly lost to Temple in the semifinals of their conference tournament.
The Owls have a rising star at head coach in Dusty May, and at guard with Johnell Davis. This isn't a standard No. 8 seed: this is an experienced team that has tested their mettle with non-conference wins over NCAA Tournament 9-seed Texas A&M and 2-seed Arizona, in double overtime.
"We'll do a deep dive," Collins said. "The job Dusty has done has been awesome and we'll get to work and be ready to roll on Friday... We're in attack mode, right now. For me and our video guy, let's load up my computer with the film and let's get to work."
Buie is heading home: Buie, a fifth-year senior and two-time first-team All Big Ten pick, is heading back to his home state to cap off his legendary career. To the star guard who hails from Albany, it all feels meant to be.
"It's super special," he said. "It's all fitting. People always talk about how I chose to stay here, I didn't go in the portal. They talk about how it's a true story of sticking hard times out.
"Now to be back playing our first game at a place that's two hours from my hometown? It just feels like the cherry on top. It feels like God rewarded me for being loyal and staying the course."
Buie grew up in Albany, but played his high school ball in Maine at Gould Academy. Northwestern, infamously, was his only offer from a high-major program, and it's not something he's forgotten.
"There's a poster in my locker that says 318th national rank [out of high school]," he said. "That's what they thought of me."
Collins has often talked about the bond he feels with Buie, Northwestern's all-time leading scorer. And Buie made sure to announce the feeling is mutual.
"Coach is my guy," he said. "He says he's indebted to me, I'm just as much indebted to him."
Collins reflected on program's reset: The Wildcats are set to play in their third NCAA Tournament in seven seasons, but it's hardly been a direct path. More of a parabola.
The Wildcats followed up their first berth in 2017 with five seasons below .500, two of them below 10 wins. Collins has talked at length in the past about how hard he took the program's struggles after that triumphant first tournament season, struggles that nearly cost him his job, as surreal as that is to imagine now.
"We had worked so hard in those first few years to get there the first time and then took a step backwards," he said. "I wish I could have been better in that moment. I've said that a ton. But there were a lot of factors and things that went on, and we just didn't sustain it.
"We dropped back to the bottom of the league and I knew we had to have a reset. That was very hard for me because we started with a reset and got there. Then the house kind of burned down and we had to build it again."
They say in cards that one is luck, and two is skill. Collins is evidence of that axiom. He took the Wildcats back to March Madness last season, and will do so again later this week.
"To me, it was harder the second time around because there was so much negativity around us," he said. "The first time, [I] was a new coach and a young coach, all the new guys were here, he's going to do it and we did it.
"Then [I] went thorough some years where the team doesn't do well and all of a sudden it's, 'Maybe he can't get it done.' That's why I'm so indebted to Boo and these guys... I'll be forever indebted to them for their loyalty and their work ethic. To me, this second build was even harder than the first and, in a lot of respects, even more rewarding."