With ESPN's Pete Thamel reporting last Friday that Chris Collins expects to sign an extension with Northwestern, Wildcat fans can turn their focus to the transfer portal. The first window for coaches to contact a player opens on Monday, March 24, and Northwestern finds itself in new territory with aggressive aspirations.

The past two transfer cycles have been about adding a player or two that could play a role on a team coming off a tournament run. The Wildcats have made sage acquisitions with Ryan Langborg from Princeton in 2023 and Jalen Leach from Fairfield in 2024 to plug-and-play next to four already experienced starters.

This year, with program stalwarts like Brooks Barnhizer, Ty Berry and Matt Nicholson leaving, the team's only truly known quantity is Big Ten leading scorer Nick Martinelli. They have promising young pieces like KJ Windham and Angelo Ciaravino, but the mandate is as clear as it's ever been to go out and bring in multiple starting contributors out of the portal.

Let's break down how many players Northwestern can bring in and what kind of players they should target.

Roster limits determined by the House settlement are expected to be enacted by April, so rosters will be capped at 15 players. Schools may elect to offer up to 15 scholarships, but sources say the Wildcats are expected to stay at the existing allotment of 13.

Northwestern is undergoing a line change with five graduating players out of eligibility, and a five-member incoming Class of 2025. Barnhizer, Berry, Nicholson, Leach and Keenan Fitzmorris are on the way out, while signees Phoenix Gill, Tyler Kropp, Tre Singleton, Jake West and Cade Bennerman are coming in. Gus Hurlburt and Blake Smith are expected to return as walkons again next season.

The Wildcats went into this season with a scholarship in hand as they only had 12 scholarship players. Forward Blake Barkley announced his entry into the portal on March 17, so as things stand the Wildcats have two slots for incoming players.

It's hard to predict numbers in the ever-fluid portal era, but the Wildcats may get that number up to three should Luke Hunger decide to transfer. That seems like a strong possibility for a big man who averaged just 12.5 minutes, 2.8 points and 2.4 rebounds per game this season.

Hunger is graduating with a degree in June, so it wouldn't be a surprise if he decides to leave the program and go somewhere he could get more playing time. He has the added flexibility as a grad transfer with two years of eligibility remaining after a medical redshirt waived his six-game 2022-23 season.

Hunger stepped up two seasons ago and started the final 10 games after Matt Nicholson's injury, holding down the fort and even contributing an eight-point, eight-rebound game against FAU in the NCAA Tournament. It was hoped he would be able to contribute alongside Nicholson for a full season, but he couldn't carve out a consistent niche. After Hunger sprained his foot against Purdue in January, Fitzmorris was often the first big off the bench down the rest of the season.

The Wildcats' first priority should be to bring in a big man. With 7-footers Nicholson and Fitzmorris out of eligibility and Hunger a possibility to exit himself, the cupboard at center is bare. Incoming freshman Bennerman has high potential as an athletic rim-runner, but he probably doesn't have the physicality to make an immediate impact.

Northwestern needs a rim protector to make their defensive system under assistant coach Chris Lowery gel, and they could also use some scoring pop from their center that's been missing for some time now. Nicholson was a good screener, passer and lob threat, but he didn't create shots for himself in his five-season tenure. In fact, the Wildcats haven't had a center average 10+ points per game since Dererk Pardon in the 2018-19 season.

A starting-caliber big would not just be a key addition in and of itself; it will also be crucial to ease what projects to be a Herculean workload on Martinelli. Having another player that can reliably soak up rebounds and score is important to keep the star forward fresh for what will assuredly be a taxing season.

Next on the list should be a shooting guard. The Wildcats graduate Berry, and after having three players shoot 40% or better from beyond the arc on their 2023-24 team in Berry, Langborg and Boo Buie, their best returning shooter next season is Martinelli, who knocks down 33.3% of his triples on just 2.9 attempts per game. Martinelli is a physical player who finds angles and lanes where no one else can, but the Wildcats still need to find a volume shooter in the vein of Berry or Langborg who can take five or more 3s a game and hit at a high clip.

If the Wildcats end up with the third scholarship spot they're looking for, they should seek out a veteran point guard. Clayton is expected to back, and Windham showed real flashes running the offense with at least four assists in four of his last six games. West, at 6-foot-3, could also be ready to contribute. But the Wildcats could use a floor general with a few years under his belt if they have serious aspirations to return to the NCAA Tournament.

Bringing in a veteran operator that can execute Northwestern's physical defense, handle pressure as a ballhandler and distribute would be the third piece of the puzzle out of the portal to build a tournament-competitive team for next season.