COLLEGE PARK, Md.-After the regular season finale at Maryland, head coach Chris Collins turned to address the Terrapin beat writers, a mix of rueful and wistful, to tell them what would have happened had his team’s big brother been around.
“I feel bad that you guys didn’t get a chance to see him this year…” he said. “Look at his numbers on a broken foot and he was doing all that on one leg. I feel bad, obviously for us it’s horrible, but also that the conference didn’t get to see a healthy Brooks Barnhizer as a senior.”
Barnhizer, Northwestern's All-Big Ten star and one of the best all-around players to ever wear purple, had his senior year cut short by a broken foot that he first hurt over the summer and then reinjured in January.
Before he rehabs and prepares for the NBA Draft, it's given him a glimpse of his future as a coach, something that both he and Collins agree is inevitable.
“Whether I like it or not, I think I’m going to be in this line of work,” Barnhizer admits. “It’s in my family’s blood and I love this game so much."
Barnhizer’s numbers, even playing through pain for much of the season, still don’t feel real: 17 points, 8.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. Now at the close of the college regular season, no one else in Division I was able to match or exceed Barnhizer's production across all five categories. He remains the only Big Ten player in at least the last 30 years to record seven straight double-doubles.
But Collins’ beloved basketball gods wouldn’t smile on his prodigal son forever. He reinjured his foot against Michigan State on Jan. 12. Even though he still put up 15 points, 7.6 rebounds and two steals, on average, in the five games between his reinjury and his final 10-point, nine-rebound effort in an excruciating seven-point loss to Rutgers on Jan. 29, Collins and the staff had to step in to save Barnhizer from himself. His ability to play through the pain had been stretched to the limit, and he has a professional career to consider.
Collins' tearful announcement that Barnhizer had played his last game, after the loss to Wisconsin on Feb. 1, displayed how the coach feels about his star.
Since being shut down for the season, Barnhizer has shadowed the team on the bench. His team-issue, all-black sweatsuit and walking boot on his right foot evoke mourning for the season that could have been.
No longer the team’s omnipresent leader on the court, Barnhizer has a new mission from Collins: tutoring his teammate and roommate, Nick Martinelli, on what it means to run a team.
Martinelli, who led the Big Ten in scoring this season, began the year as the Robin to Barnhizer's Batman. But for the last 10 games, with Barnhizer sidelined, he got a taste of what life as the clear-cut No. 1 option is going to be like next season.
“I told Brooks, since he and Nick are so close, I put him in charge of Nick,” Collins said after the late February win over Iowa. “I told him you need to be Nick’s whisperer… I want [you] to be there every game, be that strong voice and who Nick sees as he’s becoming a star player.”
The Wildcats went 4-6 in Barnhizer's absence, a miraculous record when you figure that they also lost starting point guard Jalen Leach two games later. Those were two of Northwestern's top three scorers, and their two best passers.
Barnhizer has been on the bench as a player-turned-coach for eight of those games. He missed two games on the team’s West Coast trip, to play Washington and Oregon, in early February because he had surgery to repair his injured foot. The Wildcats lost both games.
The boot will be off in “a couple weeks”, he said, and his optimistic target for a return to play is early May, well within range of the preparation process for the NBA Draft on June 25.
But Barnhizer's mind is far from a potential pro career; it’s still with his heart at Northwestern, guiding Martinelli through growing pains. Martinelli, his roommate and closest friend on the team, is averaging 22 points per game under Barnhizer's wing.
“We had this dream to play together and now he’s not a part of it, but he still has that dream for me,” Martinelli said. “That’s a tribute to him and who he is…
“We talked about it so much growing up in this program. He’s been great and playing for him has been such a pleasure.”
Northwestern has an accomplished coaching staff. Collins has helmed the program for more than a decade. Bryant McIntosh helped Collins break through with the program's first NCAA Tournament bid in 2017 and now helps as an assistant. Brian James, Collins' old high school coach, is the Wildcats' play-calling ace. Chris Lowery is the defensive wizard. Shane Southwell is a rising star in the coaching ranks in his first year in Evanston.
But sometimes, a player like Martinelli needs a peer, a player, to break through the cacophony of coaches.
“Nick is like my brother,” Barnhizer said. “That kid, to see his progression, what he’s turned into, it’s been so cool to be part of his journey. I just try to keep it real with him as the game is going on.
“I know him very well because I played against him every day in practice for about three years now. I tell him where he needs to be aggressive and where defenses are coming from with a player’s perspective, not just a coaching perspective.”
Coaching runs in Barnhizer’s family, the one he was born into and the one he has found here at Northwestern.
His father, Mark, coached Brooks at Lafayette (Ind.) Jefferson and is a legendary high school coach with accomplished tenures in Indiana and Alabama, tracing his steps from when he was a player for both Purdue and Auburn.
In Evanston, Collins recognizes a kindred spirit in Barnhizer. His father is famed NBA coach and broadcaster Doug Collins, recently inducted to the Hall of Fame.
“He’s going to be a coach,” Collins said. “His dad was a high school coach, he’s been in a gym his whole life. It’s kind of like my upbringing. I don’t know how to do anything else, either. If I couldn’t coach, I’d be a lost soul.”
Barnhizer concurs, admitting the past month has given him a glimpse of his future, following in the footsteps of both of his father figures.
“I look at Coach [Collins] like another dad," said Barnhizer. "I think just learning from him has been really cool. I have a lot of connections in the coaching world in the realm of college basketball.
"So I definitely want to go play basketball at the highest level for many years but when that’s done, I love the game way too much to step away from it. I think it’s inevitable that I’ll be coaching one day.”
Collins added that he’d be ready to take a pay cut and work for his former player once that future, hopefully a far-off one, becomes a reality.
“He’s going to coach, eventually,” he said. “I just want him to make a lot of money playing basketball first. Maybe I can be his assistant one day.”
Barnhizer’s forced move to the sidelines has given him a chance to take stock before taking the plunge into pro ball. The senior has been in a ceaseless whirlwind as he’s worked to build his game.
Think about it: after a breakout junior year, he has prepared his game for a senior season, suffered a summer setback with the original foot injury, threw himself into rehab to make a mid-season return, lost his two front teeth in practice once he was back, suffered a reinjury of that foot, fought through the pain and eventually had his season shut down. In short, a significant toll, mentally and physically.
“I’m on the books for another surgery in a week or two for my teeth to get that squared away before all the [draft] process starts,” he said. “I’ve just been really rehabbing, not only my foot, but kind of everything that I went through this year.
“It’s been a blessing to have the team supporting and taking care of me every day but I think I’m going to be the best version of myself when I need it the most. Hopefully I can go on and represent the school with pride and show that you can make it from here.”
Barnhizer knows there was a lot on his plate, but he also knows that is what pushed him to the peak of his powers and let him know his dreams of pro ball could be realized.
“I just appreciate the journey. It’s a good point that I never really got a break but that was kind of by design,” he said. “I knew what was going to be asked of me this year and I love ball so much… Last year was kind of the first time I saw that I can play at the highest level this game offers.
“I was able to take that, and how I was playing in the summer, and it was beautiful to come to a climax of what I can be and what I’ve been so far as a player. God, through these trials and tribulations, sent my senior year to help me learn and to help me grow. I think that the grind and the whole process has been beautiful, in a sense, even though it’s been a tragic kind of heartbreak.”
Collins described Barnhizer and Martinelli as his team’s “old-school forwards” several times during the season. He was referencing their penchant to find shots in the midrange, but there’s a deeper vein of truth.
In this modern era of college basketball, the ties that bind players, coaches and fans have been loosened by NIL, court cases and the transfer portal. Not so at Northwestern. Barnhizer has played all four years in Evanston. Martinelli is logging his third and has set the stage for an ascendant senior season.
But what makes the duo special isn’t just two tournament runs, or beating No. 1 Purdue twice, or beating Illinois or Maryland this season, or take your pick of the many Goliaths they slayed, side-by-side, over the years. It’s the bond forged in long hours in the same gym, the same program, the same apartment.
“It’s heartbreaking watching these guys play and not being out there with Nick,” Barnhizer said. “I think we talk about it every night back in the apartment, shed tears probably a couple times a week. But I know God doesn’t make mistakes, we’ll be alright.”
That was the closing statement from Barnhizer, the player. The future coach? He has a last word, too.
“I’m just always trying to help him and the other guys,” Barnhizer said. “Whatever I can do to help that kid, I’m going to do it for the rest of my life.”
