Could this be the year Northwestern finally makes it to the NCAA Tournament? There’s a real chance that could be the case as 2016-17 has a different feel to it for the Wildcats. Usually by this point, Northwestern is crumbling under the pressures of Big Ten play, but it’s 5-2 in conference action and both Scottie Lindsey and Vic Law are playing lights-out basketball.
Chris Collins led the Wildcats to their first win in Columbus over Ohio State since 1977 on Sunday afternoon and that just goes to show what kind of season Northwestern is having. They have improved to 16-4 overall and are just a half-game out of first place in the conference standings. If Lindsey, Law and Bryant McIntosh continue to play well, the Big Dance could come a-calling.
Purdue could very well be the best team in the Big Ten, but it’s hard to tell when the Boilermakers have losses at home against Minnesota and a road defeat against Iowa on their conference resume thus far. Those are the games conference champions need to win, but the lack of solid guard play could be wearing on Caleb Swanigan and Isaac Haas in the post.
Swanigan and Haas can only do so much, but they did help lead Purdue past Illinois by 23 points and Penn State by 25 points last week. Surprisingly, they didn’t move up at all because the top two teams in last week’s power rankings also won their games. The Boilermakers are one of three Big Ten teams currently in the AP Top 25, proving that they are legitimate conference title threats.