Northwestern Basketball: 3 takeaways from preseason overseas tour results
The latest team to go through a preseason foreign tour was Northwestern Basketball, who traveled to Italy and Greece for a three-game trip. Without a trio of projected starters (Ty Berry, Brooks Barnhizer, and Matthew Nicholson), the Wildcats ultimately went 2-1, losing the last game against a pro team filled with former CBB stars.
What were some overall takeaways for Northwestern? Here are three takes from the three game outings.
1. Depth emerged without the stars
As mentioned, Northwestern was without arguably its best three returning players for this event. So the hope is that others could show they can be rotation pieces going forward. A couple of players looked great in all three games (more on them in a bit) but so did others. In the final game, freshman guard Angelo Ciaravino led the team with 16 points on 3/4 shooting from deep, while forward Luke Hunger had a couple of good games. Jalen Leach, the team's top transfer from Fairfield, showed that he can run the offense at point.
Without Boo Buie, it'll be a collective effort for the team to succeed and there's hope that this group can help with that.
2. KJ Windham a freshman to watch
Arguably the biggest revelation from this trip was Windham, a a 6'2 combo guard prospect and incoming freshman. He averaged double figures during this trip, including a game-high 17 points in one of the wins, making five 3-point shots. With Leach, Berry and Barnhizer, Northwestern should have good guard depth. But Windham showed this offseason that not only can he part of the rotation this season but a potential lead guard for the future.
3. Nick Martinelli set to be a focal frontcourt piece
Last season, Martinelli was the top-scoring frontcourt player for the Wildcats, averaging 8.8 ppg and 4.3 rpg. He was a double-digit scorer in all three games of this trip and the hope is that he can be a 10+ ppg scorer for the team starting in November.
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As part of replacing Buie's production, having more of a balanced approach on offense will be important. Martinelli taking a larger role in the offense will be very important, something that he showed he's capable of in the past couple of weeks.