For a thrilling moment, Northwestern grabbed the lead and the momentum last Sunday against the seventh-ranked Baylor Bears—one of the Wildcats’ biggest basketball matchups in years.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
At least it was something to cheer about, because the Baylor mishap was cause for more disappointment than your average 69-41 drubbing. For many of us, it brought back a familiar, sinking feeling that the Cats will never be ready for the Big Dance.
Northwestern has played men’s basketball for 108 years and the NCAA tournament has been held for 73. In fact, the first NCAA championship game was played on the NU campus in 1939, with Oregon beating Ohio State 46-33.
In the early 1990s, for example, they appeared to have a decent team forming around guard Rex Walters. Then he decided to transfer to Kansas, which he led to the Final Four before he moved on to the NBA.
They’ve also maintained their tradition of devastating injuries, losing their top scorers for much of the last two seasons.
That made this season even more promising. Aside from veteran point guard Juice Thompson—a Chicago kid now playing pro ball in Germany—all the key players returned, starting with top scorer John Shurna and athletic forward Drew Crawford.
After a break for semester exams, the Cats will have a chance to rack up some Ws against a couple of underwhelming foes. Then they take on a top-25 Creighton squad and plunge into Big Ten play with a game against Ohio State, currently the second-ranked team in the country.
