With Buie back, Northwestern looking to return to NCAA Tournament
Heading into last season, the Northwestern men's basketball team was projected to finish with a losing record for the sixth straight year.
Coach Chris Collins was in danger of being fired.
It looked bad for the Wildcats, all the way around. Playing in the 2017 NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history was supposed to revive a program that was beyond dormant, but NU resorted right back to its losing ways.
"Any time you go to the first NCAA Tournament in the history of the school in about 100 years, it's a big deal," Collins said at Big Ten Media day. "You have a tendency maybe not to get caught up in it, but to get a little bit satisfied about what you have accomplished."
Fortunately for the Wildcats, Boo Buie and Chase Audige were on the roster last season. The veteran guards combined to average almost 32 points per game while leading Northwestern to a stunning second-place finish in the Big Ten with a 12-8 record.
Overall, the Wildcats were 21-11 and that was good enough to get them another taste of March Madness.
NU got past Boise State in its NCAA opener before being sent home by UCLA in Round 2.
The Wildcats will try to keep the momentum going when the regular season opens Monday with a game against Binghamton at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
An All-Big Ten first team pick last year, Buie is back for his fifth season with Northwestern.
"A big boost," Collins said. "He has been incredible."
Having Buie back as a stellar guard is one plus. Having another coach on the floor is another.
"I think that's something he and I have built over time, and it helps you have a chance to be successful," Collins said. "When the head coach and the point guard are aligned and they have the same vision and they have the same goals and they're together, I think it just seeps throughout the whole team.
"For those reasons, among others, I'm really excited to have him back for this fifth year."
Picked to finish eighth in the Big Ten preseason media poll behind Purdue, Michigan State, Maryland, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio State, the Wildcats also return guard Ty Berry, who ranked third in scoring last season with 8.5 points per game.
Up front, Matthew Nicholson and Brooks Barnhizer are back after combining to average 14 points and close to 11 rebounds a game in 2022-23.
"Excited about our group, to see what we can become," Collins said. "It's going to be an interesting team for us. We do return a number of veterans that have been a part of winning now and have tasted how hard it is and what it takes to win in this league.
"We've integrated them with six new players. So even though we have continuity and older players, we're also mixing in freshmen, some transfers and trying to become the best team we can be."
Former Glenbrook South High School star Nick Martinelli returns after logging some big minutes as a freshman.
Ryan Langborg is the newcomer to watch.
In three years at Princeton, the 6-foot-4 guard made 153 3-pointers. Langborg averaged 12.7 points per game last season while helping lead the Tigers to the Sweet 16 in March.