B1G Basketball Previews 2026: Northwestern

Last Season

The Case of the Missing Wingmen. Things were already going a little south, and then Brooks Barnhizer and Jalen Leach were lost to injury in February. That resulted in a 17-16 final record, 7-13 in conference, and a second round loss in the BTT to call it a season, a bit of a letdown for a veteran team.

Defectors

• The senior triumvirate of Brooks Barnhizer, Ty Berry, and Matthew Nicolson are finally done with Northwestern.
• As are one year rentals Jalen Leach and Keenan Fitzmorris
• The portal came for Luke "The" Hunger (George Washington) and Blake Barkley (East Tennessee State)

Starters

PG Jayden Reid, 5'10'' Junior: With Jalen Leach outgoing, point guard is up in the air for the Wildcats. Enter South Florida transfer Reid, who is small but led the Bulls in points, steals, and assist last season. His overall scoring was pretty inefficient, but with Martinelli and Windham next to him, he shouldn't have to hunt his shot.

SG K.J. Windham, 6'3'' Sophomore: Windham got thrown in the deep end last year as a freshman due to injury, but scored in double figures in 6 of the last 9 games. He can also run the point and generally I'm a big fan of two point guard lineups, which may be the case for Northwestern this year.

SF Justin Mullins, 6'6'' Senior: Now a senior and in his third year, Mullins may get first crack at the wing. He is your Little Things guy, as he rarely shoots or makes any plays, but you can't put a traffic cone out on the court so someone has to play here.

PF Nick Martinelli, 6'7'' Senior: The Detective returns, taking on small time crooks, the federal government, opposing coaches, and inferior fast food restaurants. He scored in double figures in every game but one last season while leading the team in rebounds. In a world of chaos and crime and depravity for Northwestern fans, he was the light that kept the entire city of Chicago from sinking into Lake Michigan.

C Arrinten Page, 6'11'' Junior: Page is a former top 60 recruit who bounced around USC and Cincinnati before arriving to the Wildcats. He can block shots and rebound and also enter a fugue state for extended stretches, much to the chagrin of his coaches.

Bench

CG Jordan Clayton, 6'2'' Junior: Clayton is in his third year of the program, and didn't play at all last season until the great injury storm forced him into service. He didn't really do much in his minutes, but hey, hope springs eternal.

SF Max Green, 6'6'' Sophomore: The Patriot League Rookie of the Year comes to Northwestern from Holy Cross. Can he be Northwestern's version of Rudy? Wouldn't be crazy, as Green started every game as a freshman and led the team in scoring and nearly led them in rebounds and assist, too. The hope is the Big Ten doesn't stuff him into a locker.

SF Angelo Ciaravino, 6'6'' Sophomore: Allora! One time my wife and I went to Italy and learned how to make pasta from an Italian chef. Highly recommended.

PF Tre Singleton, CG Jake West, PF Tyler Kropp, C Cade Bennerman, SG Phoenix Gill: The Cats bring in five freshman, and I'm not about to try and figure something out for all of them. The highest rated is Singleton, who is a top 100 type out of Indiana.

BoilerUp89: Singleton was a nice get for Northwestern. They pulled him out of Indiana over an offer from Purdue. He has a good inside and outside game and a well rounded skill set. His ceiling isn't the highest due to athleticism concerns but he should be a solid contributor from day 1.

Outlook

Unlike some of the teams projected below them, Northwestern does have a real life great player in Detective Martinelli. You can kind of squint and see a team here. If Max Green can be a good shooter and Reid and Windham make some plays. And if Page looks interested in playing basketball. And if either Clayton or Ciaravino make the Jump to becoming players. That's a lot of ifs.

Torvik projects them to go 15-16 and 7-13 in conference. I can see them beating that.

BoilerUp89: The offense may struggle at times but I expect any Collins defense to be adequate. If the Cats can round up just enough offense, they can put themselves in bubble consideration.