Northwestern Basketball: 2017-18 season preview for the Wildcats
Analyzing the Schedule
Check out this article from a few months ago that ranks Northwestern’s toughest non-conference games.
Here are some of Northwestern’s best Big Ten games, listed chronologically:
Dec. 3 – @ Purdue
Jan. 10 – Minnesota and Jan. 23 – @ Minnesota
Jan. 29 – @ Michigan
Feb. 10 – @ Maryland
Feb. 17 – Michigan State
Northwestern will have ample opportunities to bolster their resume in both non-conference and Big Ten Play. They will have a very tough game in the early portion of the conference slate, at Purdue. Purdue’s giant, Isaac Haas, will be a tough cover, but his lack of mobility will provide McIntosh with an advantage in pick and roll.
Minnesota will be a top-15 team so playing them twice can be considered both positive and negative. It is positive in the sense that Northwestern has an additional opportunity to grab a quality win. Playing at Minnesota can only help their resume since it would be an enormous resume boost and it will improve their RPI regardless of the outcome. It is negative in the sense that Minnesota could sweep Northwestern and push them down the standings. If they were to play a bottom-half team twice they could almost count on two wins. In this case, the positives significantly outweigh the negatives, unless you are really caught up on conference record and standing.
While Northwestern is a better team on paper than both Maryland and Michigan, playing them on the road could be difficult. Maryland has a trio of talented sophomores who are poised for breakout seasons and could lead the Terps back to the Big Dance. Michigan is consistently one of the best offensive teams in the country led by skilled center Moritz Wagner. They also added two of the best transfers in Jaaron Simmons and Charles Matthews. Both games will be great tests for Northwestern.
Northwestern only plays Michigan State, the projected Big Ten favorite, at home which means they will have a chance to knock off the Spartans. Michigan State has the best player in the conference, Miles Bridges, and the top-rated freshman, Jaren Jackson. The Spartans are a consensus top-5 team in the country so Northwestern fans could be storming the court on Feb. 17.