NCAA: The Time Is Now For Northwestern To Strike

Rebuilding a program is often messy, but Chris Collins and Northwestern have something going right now.

Without an NCAA Tournament history to tout, Northwestern has found it to be difficult to rebuild their program. Rebuilding has been the name of the game for the Wildcats for quite some time and under third-year head coach Chris Collins, the process continues to be a bit slow.

A program that has a total of one 20-win season isn’t exactly drawing top-flight recruits to Northwestern, a school known more for the graduates that cover the team than the team itself.

Rebuilding is done in a number of ways and in college basketball. It’s hard to dictate what’s a good way to go about it and what’s a bad way. Sometimes rebuilding takes half a decade, like with Tony Bennett and the Virginia Cavaliers.

Time is of the essence, but sometimes the clock gets a little faster with changing circumstances. Sometimes that clock speeds up a few years or a few months.

For Northwestern, that clock may be set to right freaking now.

Sitting with a 9-1 record, the 2015-16 incarnation of the Wildcats has a chance to do something no other team in program history has done: enter conference play with just one single loss.

Though the 1993-94 Wildcats finished December undefeated, they only played nine total games. More games are played than back then, so going into Big Ten play with just one loss is a big deal.

A number of different variables are in play with this potential mark in history, though, and they play strongly into a potential postseason berth.

First, there’s the schedule. Northwestern currently ranks 270th in the country in strength of schedule. Only four major conference teams (Clemson, Oklahoma State, Marquette and Baylor) rank lower.

Rebuilding teams looking to make some sort of postseason appearance, be it NCAA or NIT, often schedule cupcake non-conference schedules. I’ve already noted how teams have been using this method more and more in order to “trick” the selection committee by touting a big win total with no real substance. Northwestern does not have a true, quality win thus far and they won’t get one in their final four non-conference games.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune isn’t a fan of this, by the way, but Collins says this was the way to go for this team.

However, there’s a silver lining here for Northwestern, which brings us to point No. 2: the Big Ten, despite what was being said prior to the season, is extremely down.

A quick breakdown of the Big Ten goes like this:

• Wisconsin – 7-5 and just lost its head coach, Bo Ryan, to retirement
• Indiana – still can’t figure out how to play defense (111th in adjusted defense, according to Kenpom)
• Michigan – zero inside presence and awful at rebounding (225th nationally in rebounding margin; -1.4)
• Iowa – quietly has been solid but no signature wins yet
• Penn State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Rutgers & Ohio State – if you can figure them out, let me know.

This leaves three teams (Maryland, Purdue and Michigan State) who have a solid grasp on their teams and will likely get better as the season goes. In the Big Ten, if you can finish in the top four, you’re NCAA Tournament bound regardless of the strength of the conference. It’s the Big Ten.

Northwestern is right in the mix for a potential top five spot. Though their early schedule hasn’t really challenged them, there isn’t a lot to signify that their conference schedule will be any more challenging.

Because of this, how the Big Ten has shaped out early on and the possibility of finishing in the top four or five of the conference, the clock on Northwestern’s rebuild may have skipped over the year-by-year process and jumped to win now mode.

One benefit for the Wildcats this year is that they have two go-to guards and a legitimate big man to battle Purdue and Maryland inside.

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Sophomore Bryant McIntosh and Tre Demps have combined to average 31.2 points per game (each with 15.6 average) through the first 10 games. With both players on the court, the Wildcats have two valuable options as scorers with McIntosh leading the offensive attack while being able to create his own shot at point while Demps can slash and shoot from the off-guard position.

Demps and McIntosh are a big part of the offensive attack, but Northwestern has the benefit of several guards and wings with the ability to shoot the three. The Wildcats rank 58th in the nation in three-point shooting at 38.5 percent, which is just four percentage points short of being in the top 15 nationally in that category.

Those shooters opens up the floor for senior seven-footer Alex Olah. A throw-back bruiser in the post, Olah can control the paint on both ends of the floor, finishing 58 percent of his total shot attempts and averaging 2.2 blocks per game.

Having this sort of trio gives Northwestern options. They have the tools to be a good team and while many didn’t think of them as an NCAA Tournament team before the season, it might be time to start talking about this as a real possibility.

Next: NCAA: Mid-Major Uprising Not Surprising

The circumstances are right, the players are in place and the time very well may be now for Northwestern to finally make its first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.

Rebuilding just became reality for the Wildcats.