It seemed like a reasonable question.

Would former Wildcat great Michael “Juice” Thompson get a chance to watch Northwestern’s first-ever NCAA tournament game on Thursday?

After all, Thompson is now a point guard for Besiktas in the Turkish League. He lives half a world away, in Istanbul, Turkey, some 6,200 miles and nine time zones from Salt Lake City, the site of the Wildcats’ Round of 64 game against Vanderbilt. The game will tip off at approximately 2:30 local time in Utah, which will be 11:30 p.m. in Istanbul. Besiktas plays the next day against Galatasary, so it’s a game night.

But Thompson’s response via email was incredulous.

“Is that a serious question? LOL,” he wrote. “I wouldn't miss this game for anything in the world.”

Not only will Thompson be watching Northwestern live from Istanbul, he will be doing it with a group of Wildcat fans.

“There is a Northwestern Alumni club here in Turkey that I found out about, so we are all planning on getting together to watch the game and support our Wildcats!”

That gives you an idea of just how far-reaching this historic season has been for Northwestern. Somewhere, amid the bazaars and bath houses of Istanbul, there will be a knot of purple-clad fans huddled around a monitor to watch the Wildcats as Thursday night slowly bleeds into Friday morning.

Head coach Chris Collins talked Sunday night after Northwestern got its invitation to the Big Dance about how this season was not only for the players, coaches and fans. It was also for “anyone who’s ever worn the jersey.”

Few have worn it better than Thompson.

A four-year starter at point guard from 2007-08 to 2010-11, the 5-foot-10 Thompson held the Northwestern career assist record (528) until Bryant McIntosh broke it during the Wildcats’ final game of the regular season against Purdue on March 5. Thompson was also a two-time team co-MVP (2010 and 2011, with John Shurna) and still ranks fifth on the all-time scoring list with 1,689 points (13.1 per game).

With Shurna (No. 1 on Northwestern’s all-time scoring list) and Drew Crawford (No. 2), Thompson was part of a formidable trio that twice won 20 games for head coach Bill Carmody, the most for a Northwestern team until this year’s team won 23.

Northwestern’s mantra under Collins is “Pound the Rock.” And while Thompson wasn’t able to split the rock open during his career in Evanston, he delivered many of blows that enabled this team to make finally it to the Big Dance.

“As a former player, I am so proud and happy that we are going dancing!” said Thompson, who typed his responses on his cell phone during a travel day for Besiktas. “Coach Collins and his staff have done an outstanding job with the program and I’ve seen the commitment and hard work they all put in when I am around in the summer. I knew we would be playing on the BIG stage sooner than later. I feel as though I am a part of it and I can’t wait to watch the game live.”

Thompson says that he’s followed the Wildcats throughout his career overseas. He played one year in Germany and four in France before this, his first season playing in Turkey. He was able to watch “a lot of games” this year, though the time difference usually meant that he had to watch a recording on his DVR the next day.

That wasn’t the case on March 1 – or, rather, March 2 in Istanbul. Thompson said he stayed up late to watch the Northwestern-Michigan game on his computer, so he saw the Nate Taphorn-to-Dererk Pardon buzzer-beater live. The game started at 6 p.m. in Chicago, or 2 a.m. in Istanbul, so Pardon’s game-winning shot trickled through the net sometime after 4 a.m. for Thompson.

Far from bleary-eyed, it wasn’t difficult for Thompson to stay awake to the finish. “I remember my heart beating fast as if I was actually playing or coaching the game,” he said.

Thompson is still connected to the program and keeps in touch with several players. He comes back home to Chicago over the summer and goes up to Evanston to work out. That’s where he saw the work ethic that would eventually lead this group to the Promised Land.

“Coach Collins brought a relentless, hard-working attitude to the Northwestern program,” said Thompson. “Collins has been a winner all of his life and he brings that winning tradition with him and instills it in his players. It has been exciting to watch and I know more exciting things are to come.”

You might think that a former player who gave as much to the program as Thompson might be a little jealous of the Wildcats’ success now that they are the darlings of college basketball. Like just about every player who passed through the program over the last couple decades, Thompson arrived at Northwestern with the goal of finally getting the program to the Dance. While he came close – three of his teams made the NIT – he was never able to get over the hump.

But Thompson feels like he had a role in making the dream a reality and is as excited as any fan about the team’s magical tournament run.

“I am proud of the group that put in the work and made the sacrifices to make history and make the NCAA tournament,” he said. “During my years there we weren’t able to make the NCAA tournament, but we made some history of our own and had a lot of success. Now the players and coaches took it to a new level and created something special. I am just happy that I am able to witness history.”

And Thompson doesn’t want to stay up late just once over these next couple weeks of March Madness. He hopes to be up until the wee hours of the Istanbul morning multiple times.

“I am looking forward to a deep tournament run!”