Back for more: Buie the key to Northwestern's success
From front to back.
If Northwestern is going to have a winning season for the first time since 2016-17, the focus has to shift.
The Wildcats will need to get strong play from the frontcourt after top big men Pete Nance (North Carolina) and Ryan Young (Duke) exited via the transfer portal.
Fortunately for NU, guards Boo Buie and Chase Audige are back this year.
"We're going to go as our perimeter goes," Wildcats coach Chris Collins said at last week's Big Ten Media Day. "That's where the strength of our team lays. Boo Buie, being a four-year starter at point guard, for us to be the team we need to be we need him to be an All Conference-caliber performer, which I think he can be.
"I think his growth over the last four years has been really good. Now it's time for him to put it all together and have a great senior year."
Buie was Northwestern's second-leading scorer (14.1 point per game) behind Nance (14.6) last season and he led the Wildcats with 4.3 assists a game.
Audige led NU with 42 steals and averaged 9.8 points per game.
Thin up front, the Wildcats will lean on senior forward Robbie Beran, who averaged 6.4 points and 4.3 rebounds a year ago.
"We're going to need our new frontcourt guys to be able to come in and do their part, especially in the Big Ten," Collins said. "You know how physical this league is, what big guys you're going to face night in, night out. No one is going to really replace the things that Pete and Ryan did, but collectively can we come out and can they play to their strengths and give us the production we need to be successful in the conference?"
That's a very big question.
In addition to Beran, Collins will look to Luke Hunger and Tydus Verhoven for help up front.
A freshman from Montreal, Hunger averaged 17 points and 9.7 rebounds per game at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts last year.
A transfer from UTEP, the 6-foot-9 Verhoven averaged 6.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game with the Miners in 2021-22.
After scoring 1,331 career points at Glenbrook South High School, 6-foot-7 forward Nick Martinelli will try to make an impact with the Wildcats.
"We are going to have a younger frontcourt," Collins said. "I'm anxious to see what those guys can do. A lot of new faces that are going to get opportunity. That's kind of what college basketball is about, really. There are a lot of teams in this league that have lost guys that have been mainstays. It's opportunity for other guys to step up."