Northwestern is about to get very trendy, very quickly.
The Wildcats cracked The Associated Press Top 25 Monday and if the NCAA selection committee were meeting right now, Northwestern would be in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, an event it hasn’t qualified for since… well… ever.
NU was ranked in top 25 for a week in December 2009 and before that not since the 1968-69 season. It is the only school in a Power Five conference never to play in the NCAA Tournament and one of only five charter Division I schools (Army, The Citadel, William & Mary, St. Francis of Brooklyn) never to get there.
But drought-ending is popular in sports these days, especially in Chicago. The Wildcats are trying to follow the Cubs among the Windy City area sports teams reaching elusive milestones.
Before November, any Northwestern fan under the age of 108 who also rooted for the Cubs, hadn’t seen a World Series championship or an NCAA berth in their lifetime.
Barring a collapse — and all long-suffering fans never rule out a collapse — both waits will have ended in a five-month window.
Chicago loves its basketball city, but there hasn’t been much to cheer for lately. The Bulls are under .500 and the other college teams have been worse. DePaul (8-13), Chicago State (3-18 vs. Division I teams), Illinois-Chicago (9-11 vs. Division I) are all bad, which only makes the light shining on Northwestern’s success all the brighter.
The Wildcats are in third place in the Big Ten at 7-2, just a half game behind Maryland and Wisconsin, which are both 7-1. They are 18-4 overall and ranked No. 32 in the RPI and No. 30 in the KenPom.com rankings.
Coach Chris Collins is an engaging personality who’ll be a prominent face before the year is out. He’s a Chicago native, the son of longtime NBA coach Doug Collins and the protégé of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, whom he played for and coached under.
There are no NU alums in the NBA and none of the current Wildcats are likely to get there. The NCAA Tournament is likely to be the pinnacle of every one on the roster’s career. This will mean as much to the participants as it will to the fans.
The Wildcats are a fun story at a school with a journalism program that has produced more than its share of nationally known sports media members (Michael Wilbon, Christine Brennan, Stewart Mandel, J.A. Adande, Mike Greenberg, etc), so it’s a safe bet the story won’t be undercovered.
MY TOP 10 — 1. Gonzaga; 2. Villanova; 3. Arizona; 4. Baylor; 5. Kansas; 6. Virginia; 7. Louisville; 8. West Virginia; 9. Wisconsin; 10. UCLA.
It got to the point where it was almost impossible not to rank Gonzaga No. 1, but I can’t picture them in the Final Four.
I wish the Zags had a good nonconference game scheduled for mid-February to prove they belong atop the poll. They haven’t been challenged since mid-December and other than a Feb. 11 game against Saint Mary’s, they won’t be challenged until postseason.
For the rest of my Top 25, visit the College Hoop Week Guide on gazettenet.com’s UMass Sports Blog.
GAME OF THE WEEK: — No. 25 Northwestern at No. 23 Purdue, Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. Big Ten Network — The Wildcats don’t need to win this game to get into the NCAA Tournament, but they probably do need it to stay ranked next week.
No. 2 Baylor at No. 3 Kansas, Wednesday 9 p.m. ESPN2 — If someone is going to prevent Kansas from winning yet another Big 12 regular season title, the Bears have the best chance. Both teams are 7-1 entering Wednesday.
No. 5 Arizona at No. 13 Oregon, Saturday 4 p.m. ESPN — Arizona has emerged as a Final Four contender, but nobody wins at Oregon.
ATLANTIC 10 GAME OF THE WEEK — Richmond at VCU, Wednesday, 7 p.m. CBS Sports Network — This battle for supremacy in Virginia’s capital is good in any year, but right now the Spiders (7-2 A-10) and Rams (6-2) are chasing an Atlantic 10 regular season title and a bye in the first round of the conference tournament.
BUZZER BEATER — There are no Atlantic 10 players from any of the nation’s affected by President Donald Trump’s temporary travel and immigration ban. But several of the league’s programs have regularly recruited internationally and their coaches spoke out.
“We live in the greatest country in the world and one of the reasons it has become the greatest is because decade after decade we welcomed immigrants. Our history has been filled with countless contributions they have made in making our country great,” said Davidson’s Bob McKillop, who has seven international players on his roster. “I haven’t spoken with our players at this point, but I will speak to them about it.”
VCU coach Will Wade told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that he had spoken to senior forward Ahmed Hamdy, a native of Egypt.
“We just talked about it,” Wade said. “He asked me a couple of questions. I answered them as best as I could. We’ll just keep the dialogue open.”
Acting George Washington coach Maurice Joseph is a Canadian citizen.
“I’m an immigrant and a permanent resident. It hits a little closer to home for me,” he said. “It’s obviously concerning what’s happening in our country right now. It’s tough to be in such a politically driven city like D.C. to see all that going on. It hasn’t affected us greatly yet and I hope it doesn’t affect us greatly. We do want to continue to recruit internationally. That’s a strength of our program and our university and should be a strength of our country as a whole.”
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage