A Boo Buie-less Northwestern team faces a lot of questions heading into Northwestern’s quest for a third consecutive NCAA Tournament berth. Ahead of the Wildcats’ first game on Nov. 4 against Lehigh, coach Chris Collins talked with the media at Big Ten Basketball Media Days in Rosemont, Ill.
Note: These quotes have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Men’s Basketball Coaches Panel
Collins on family time as a coach and his daughter going to college: “It’s a little different. I was most worried about mom because, as all these guys will attest, you know, our wives are the rocks of the family. When you are in a coaching household and the things we have to do, the demands on us, the time, it’s got to be a family deal. I was worried about mom a little bit, but she’s great. She said ‘This is a little better than I thought it was going to be’. My daughter, she said ‘I’m going to miss going to the games’, but I said that going to Cameron Indoor and being a Cameron Crazy isn’t a good backup for what she’s got ahead. Just like Franny (Fran McCaffrey, Iowa coach), my son is a senior. He’s a manager. We’re all a part of basketball families. Jake’s dad was a coach. When you get that time, I know Franny had it, Jake talked about hopefully potentially having it. Having my son, he is a senior, it’s going to be a little sad not getting to see him every day in the gym. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Collins on Boo Buie’s Northwestern legacy: “Just as a winner. As someone that came in, his freshman year we went 3-17 in the league. You look at the progression of someone in a day and age where people run from that now. He stayed the course. He got better every year, and his junior and senior year to be a first team all league guy, all-time leading scorer in school history. The only guy to take a Northwestern team to two NCAA tournaments. How can you leave a better legacy than that? Just incredibly special player in our program.”
Collins on the team’s returning leadership: “I think you lean on it a lot. Having continuity, a culture. You talk about guys that have been a part of two top four finishes in the league, two NCAA tournaments, advancing in the NCAA Tournament. A guy like Brooks Barnhizer, an all league caliber player who is now a senior. They’re ready to step up as older guys, and they set the tone every day. The coaches are one thing, but when the players come to the gym and they set the tone for how you practice — the seriousness — it helps us as coaches having those veteran players. I know they’re anxious. As great a player that Boo was, I think they know coming into the year, it’s going to be ‘What can you guys do without him on the floor?’ I think that’s been a motivating force for this core group to say, ‘No, we’re a program now,’ and great players move on, but it’s time for other guys to step up and see if we can stay competitive in a really tough league.”
Collins on Brooks Barnhizer and Nick Martinelli’s playing style: “What’s great about those two guys: they’re kind of like old school ballplayers. They don’t really have positions. They’re tough. They’re competitive. It doesn’t look pretty all the time, but they win, and they get stuff done, and they set the tone for the rest of the team. They both have good size. Their skill sets, they can shoot, handle, pass. It allows us to be a little creative, moving them around the floor and finding ways to have them be successful. Then with Ty Berry and Matt Nicholson, you have four guys that have really been a part of a lot of Big Ten games. So we’re really going to have to lean on their veteran leadership as we head into this year.”
Collins on the new travel opportunities in the expanded Big Ten: “Like Fran said, I think ultimately it’s going to make the league even better. I know the players are excited to go to some venues maybe you haven’t played in before. Honestly you wish you could kind of play everywhere. It’s impossible now with the amount of teams, but the league is so good. I mean, you come into the league. Everyone is like, ‘Who do you think is going to be good?’ My answer is, everyone. You look at the level of coaches in this league, the programs, the traditions, the fan bases. You know, I think it’s never been more open than it is this year. It makes it fun to be a part of the league like that. Probably gives us a little less sleep and makes our hair a little bit more gray. It’s awesome to be a part of this league. You want to test yourself against the best. I know our guys are looking forward to it.”
Media Availability
Collins on the team gelling and forming an identity: “I remember going into last year, and there was such a motivation with our team to kind of prove that the first tournament with Boo and those guys wasn’t just a flash in the pan. They were so motivated to prove that we were kind of here to stay. So to get to that second one, it was such a rallying cry. And even though we have a lot of guys back, I think we know the narrative coming into the year. Everybody’s going ‘Can you win without Boo?’ And I think that’s really been a rallying cry with this group. We love Boo, but, obviously there’s no more Covid years, so he had to move on. And so I think our guys are motivated. There’s a lot of guys that have been a part a lot of winning, with Ty and Brooks and Matt and now Nick Martinelli. Luke Hunger got a lot of experience. For us to have six of our top eight guys back, and I think someone showed the most returning percentage of minutes in the league, we got to lean on that. There’s so many talented teams, but there’s going to be a lot of new teams. And our formula’s got to be our continuity, our chemistry. But obviously we’re going to look a little bit differently with the way we play, especially offensively. I mean, Boo was such a catalyst. Had the ball in his hands a lot, and that’ll shift. You know, we’ve got to get it in Brooks’s hands. We got to take advantage of what Nick can do. Obviously, Ty’s ability to make shots and come off screens. And we have a talented guard in Jalen Leach who can put the ball in the basket. So just find different ways to be successful on that end of the floor while still staying true to who we are, being that gritty, tough, competitive defensive unit.”
Collins on the team’s summer trip to Europe: “It was kind of bittersweet. Ty and Matt weren’t cleared yet to play, and then Brooks had a little bit of a toe injury that that he was dealing with. So you have three mainstays that weren’t able to play, which I think actually became an advantage for us, because I played all the young guys. You have a couple freshmen that are trying to get their feet wet in college basketball. We got two transfers, and then guys that are trying to carve out roles. Nick Martinelli, this summer, became kind of the number one guy. We want him to take on more of some of that and take that next step, kind of like Brooks has. Jalen Leach, obviously, is going to (step up) but then guys like Justin Mullins and Jordan Clayton and Blake Barkley, some of those guys that really didn’t have a chance maybe to play a lot last year. We got to play them. And that was good. We got some good game experience. They got some live action, some good film, because we’re going to need everybody. We saw that last year. I mean, who would have thought that Blake Smith would have been needed the way he was needed down the stretch? But we lost Ty and Ryan Langborg missed a couple games, and we don’t go to the tournament if Blake Smith doesn’t help us win at Maryland, and win that last Minnesota game. So we’re going to need everyone throughout the course of the year. And I think just having to play without those three mainstays probably could be a positive going forward.”
Collins on who the new team leader is: “I think naturally, Brooks has kind of taken that on. It’s been fun to see Brooks’s progression, and he’s always welcomed that. He had a really good sophomore year where he came on and ended up playing great minutes for us, and you had Boo and Chase (Audige), and he was kind of the number three. And then we lost Chase and Brooks, I remember, said ‘Coach, I’m ready to be that number two.’ And man, was he ever. All-conference, all-defense, all those things, and now you lose Boo. And he’s like, ‘It’s my time to be number one.’ And he’s been a great leader, his voice, his competitiveness, his spirit, his energy. And then to couple that with Ty. I mean, Ty’s like, there’s no one more enthusiastic than Ty. I mean, he’s, like, the happiest guy you’re ever going to be around. He’s always upbeat. And so he’s a real energetic leader, which is great. You need that every day. And then Brooks kind of brings that toughness, and everybody respects him because of what he’s accomplished. And so I think those two guys. I’ve also seen Matt Nicholson kind of emerge a little bit, which has been great. He’s kind of always been this kind of a quiet guy who just did his job, but I’ve seen his voice start to emerge, which is fun. And Nick Martinelli, we’re really pushing him. He’s a junior now, we need him to really elevate. You saw when Ty went down, I think he averaged 13 (points) a game those last 10 games of the year. So in order for us to be the team, we need Nick to kind of be a double figures guy for us and kind of take that next step as well.”
Collins on the starting point guard: “To be determined. I think we don’t have kind of that Boo-type point guard. But we have guys who can handle the ball and can initiate our offense. I think Jalen Leach will do some of that. Brooks will have a hand in that. K.J. Windham, who’s one of our freshmen, we’ve been been playing a little bit with him initiating our offense. Jordan Clayton, who’s now a sophomore. It’s going to be by committee. But what’s great about Brooks, and we even did this last year — a lot of people would try to wear Boo down. They would pick him up in the full court. And when you have someone as unique as Brooks, Brooks is always usually our inbounder in the full court. And even last year, Boo would just throw the ball back to Brooks and let Brooks bring the ball up against bigger forwards. And that was a way for Boo to kind of not expend so much energy. So I think you could see more of that with him and Nick. They’re really trying to get after some of our guards with quickness. You have a couple of forwards that have the ability to get the ball up the floor and initiate, but we were so pick-and-roll heavy, and rightfully so. I think we’ll still have some elements to that, but I think you’ll see a little bit more off ball movement to take advantage of some of the things that our better guys (can do). Ty’s ability to come off screens, Brooks’ and Nick’s ability to kind of play in the midrange, play in the post as big wings. That’s what you do as a coach. The one thing that we’re going to have to evolve — in the last two years, we knew in the last four minutes where the ball was going, and that’s a great luxury when you have a closer. Boo was the ultimate closer, and for me, that’s what we’re really working on here in the preseason. We’re trying to get healthy. We really haven’t had our whole team out there. But when you get to those last four or five minutes. How do we close games? You know, what do we do? Who do we play through? You know, that, to me, that’s going to be the biggest adjustment, because these last two years, there was no question, you know, give Zero the ball and let him operate. And he delivered so many times.”
Collins on Northwestern being picked 16th in the Big Ten in the preseason media poll: “I thought it was great. I told the guys yesterday in practice, I said, ‘Obviously, Boo and Langborg won all those games last year, and you guys had nothing to do with it.’ Because if we have the most minutes coming back in the whole league, 63% of our team, but yet we go from third to 16th. I told the guys, ‘That’s what people think of you.’ The guys just kind of smiled. You know, that’s what we’ve been about, though, that’s who we got to be. We’re a chip on our shoulder program. Most of the guys on my team are guys that didn’t have many Big 10 offers. You know, Brooks Barnhizer, no Big 10 offers, Boo Buie, no Big 10 offers. Matt Nicholson, no Big 10 offers. Nick Martinelli, no Big 10 offers. So, you know, we’ve kind of made our hay with guys that people don’t really believe in and don’t really think are good enough or that can get it done. And so I thought it was awesome. It’s the same old story. I mean, the last two years, we’ve been picked down there, and we finished third and second. So, you know, the great thing about basketball, which I love, is basketball is not figure skating, it’s not gymnastics, and it’s not boxing. Judges don’t decide who wins. You decide who wins by being between the lines. And we’ll get 20 opportunities in the league, and we’ll get what we earn. So I think our guys kind of relish being picked at the bottom, because that’s kind of what we’re used to.”
Collins on whether he takes the low preseason expectations personally: “Yeah, all of us. Obviously, Boo and Langborg won all the games because those are the only two guys we’re missing, to include the coaches and six of our top eight guys. So, of course. I always carry a chip on my shoulder. I have when I was a player, I like to coach and recruit kids like that. You know, my motivation growing up was obviously being in the shadow of a famous athlete and a coach and having to be in his sport and try to live up to all the things my father was. That was always the chip that was on my shoulder, and it stays that way today. And I think our players have that, we have that mentality. That’s who we are. We’re a chip on our shoulder, hard nosed, tough, gritty program, and we don’t really care how we’re viewed, you know, we believe in who we are. You know, just like the last two years, we thought we were better than people thought we were were and we went out and we proved it, and we’re gonna have to do that again this year. There’s great teams. For anyone though, to honestly, to try to pick one through 20 when there’s so many guys in this room, I don’t even recognize. There’s so many transfers and a lot of great players. But it’s like, I’m looking at a lot of the players, and I’m like, ‘Man, I don’t know who that is.’ And that’s not a knock on who they are. It’s just so many guys are transfers from other places and movement, and we have to lean on our continuity. The fact that we have six of our top eight back, we have to hopefully turn that into a strength. We’re never going to be a transfer portal program. You know, can we sprinkle in guys that can really help us, like Langborg did? Absolutely, we’re going to continue to do that, but for us to be successful, we’re going to have to get it right with high school recruiting. We’re going to have to bring guys in. We’re going to have to build a continuity and a chemistry with each other, and hopefully be able to beat teams that are put together in one summer. And so our guys are excited. Obviously, we’ve got to get healthy. We’re a little bit banged up. The guys are trending well, we expect to be ready to go by the start of the season, but we haven’t been full as a team this whole summer or fall. So that’s something we’re hoping as we get here closer to the season, we’ll get enough work in to be able to be ready to go once November 4 hits.”
Collins on the timeframe for injuries to Berry, Barnhizer and Nicholson: “All three progressing great. You know, both Ty and Matt, those were major. They both had surgeries, you know, Ty on a meniscus, Matt on a foot. We wanted to make sure that we were really diligent and not speeding up their recovery too much. Our medical team has done an amazing job, our trainers, our doctors. Ty is probably the closest of the three right now. He’s doing a lot in practice. Matt is getting closer as well as Brooks, and the time frame is that that they’ll all be ready to go November 4. What that means in terms of first practice? They’re all doing a little bit of something, but in terms of being fully cleared, you know, they’re all not quite there yet. But the expectation is that come November 4, all three of those guys will be ready to roll.”
Collins on Nick Martinelli’s offensive improvement: “I mean, he’s really tried to improve his shooting. He’s so good in the paint, right, with those floaters and hooks and getting to his spots and all that. And I think the next evolution for him, he’s got to consistently make that open three. That’ll open that other stuff up even more. So he spent a lot of time in the gym. He’s such a worker. You know, I would be surprised if his percentage didn’t go up. We’re really working on him with the ball, becoming a little bit better with the ball, being a little bit more of a playmaker, not only to get his own shot, but as a passer. You know, when you become one of the primary offensive options, you’ve got to be a distributor as well. So the foreign trip was great for him, because he had the ball in his hands a lot. You know, Brooks wasn’t out there, Ty wasn’t out there. We were playing through him a lot overseas. And, you know, there was good and there was bad, but it was really good to kind of put him in positions where he had to be a real go-to guy. I think it really helped him.”
Collins on Bo Ryan’s induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame: “Yes, yeah, amazing. I mean, I’m a basketball historian and my dad’s a coach and my dad’s in the same class, so I’ll be there. So it’s going to be awesome next weekend in Springfield. Glad Coach Ryan is going to go in, to be there for his induction as well. You know, when I came into the league —it’s crazy, I mean, it’s wild for me to think about. Now, I think…maybe Coach Altman, I don’t know his years, but of the returning Big 10, I think I’m the fourth longest tenured in the conference, behind (Purdue coach Matt) Painter, (Michigan State coach Tom) Izzo and (Iowa coach Fran) McCaffrey. Which is crazy for me to think about, because when I came into the league 12 years ago, you had Coach Ryan, you had Coach (Thad) Matta at Ohio State, Coach (John) Beilein at Michigan, these guys that were just legendary figures in the game, and the best of the best as coaches. And being in the Big 10 and having a chance to compete against Coach Ryan’s team for a number of years, your appreciation for what he did even grew. The way he built his teams. They were there every year, year in and year out. You knew Wisconsin was gonna be in the top four. They always won at home. It was great to have the opportunity to compete against him. I respect him so much. I was born in the Philly area, so we were always joking, he’s a Philly guy, so I’m really happy for him. I’m really excited that I’m going to be there, and can’t wait to give him a hug and welcome him into the Hall of Fame.
Collins on the Big Ten’s 25-year national title drought: “I think it’s something that a bunch of us who’ve been in, we talk about it in our coaches meetings. I think we all believe we have the best top to bottom league in the country. When you look at top all the way to the bottom, and it shows itself in our standings. I think one of the things, and you know, Matt’s team was obviously a one seed last year, but what you’ve seen a lot, at least recently, is because we’ve beaten each other up so much during the year, our seeds end up not being great. We end up getting all teams that are within the five to nine seeds, which makes the road a lot tougher. So I think that’s part of it. I know for us, and we got injured at the end of last year, but these last two years, I thought we had really good teams, but we were eight and seven seeds. And we’ve won that first game, and then all of a sudden you’re playing UCLA with (Jaime) Jaquez, or you’re playing UConn, who’s a national title team. It’s hard to beat those teams. But I think it’s something we all take to heart. I think as coaches we know in order to really solidify ourselves as the preeminent league in the country, you’ve got to win in the tournament, and you’ve got to get to the Final Four and win national championships. And we were all rooting for Matt because we knew how good that team was that competed against them. As the competitive juices flow in our coaches room, I know we all want to have the opportunity to get back there and win. So it’s something we talk about and we bring up. And hopefully this year will be the year, you know, I think there’ll be a lot of great teams, and hopefully we can get over the hump with that this season.”
Collins on preparing for Dusty May (new Michigan coach) before the FAU game: “Incredibly difficult. You know, Dusty is a terrific coach. Loved what he did there at FAU, obviously the Final Four run. Really didn’t get a chance to dive in to his team until we drew him. And you know, when you watch film and you watch the stuff they run, the way his team’s guarding, you know he’s going to be a terrific coach in this league. He fits really in with the Big 10, you know, his teams played like a big 10 team. He’ll do a great job at Michigan, and we were lucky to win, you know, it was a great game, overtime game. Fortunately, Langborg went crazy in overtime to win the game. But have a lot of respect for him, and I know he’s going to do great things at Michigan real quick.”
Collins on Vlad Goldin (Michigan center who played for May at FAU): “Yeah, I did see him. I did recognize him. I told him I was not happy that he was in the room. I was hoping that that tournament game was the last time I would have to play against him. Heck of a player, man. Just, what, 70% field goal percentage. I mean, so efficient, so tough, so big, strong, skilled, but that’s the Big 10. I mean, we’ve been a big man League, you know. I mean, you look in the last five years, you know, everybody’s had just the best of the best inside, and he’ll fit right in. I mean, he’s going to be, he’s going to be a terrific big in this league.”
Collins on Northwestern’s success at home: “We need that support. We need the students to keep coming out. It’s been a huge part of us kind of getting to this level. Winning on the road is so hard. And you know, I think that that’s why we really hadn’t gotten over the hump in a lot of those years. You look, and we’d be 5-5 at home, or 6-4. And when you do that, it puts so much pressure then on getting a lot of road wins, which are just so hard to come by. So last year, being able to go nine and one in Welsh-Ryan. Iowa came in and beat us. But you know, the game we lost — we had no Berry, no Nicholson, no Langborg. So I’m not saying we would have won, but you know, we were really undermanned in the one game we did lose in the league. But you know, the home court advantage is real. And I really thought last year in the league, to include the Dayton home game, I thought there were probably three, four, maybe even five, games in the conference where we could have easily lost if our fans didn’t pull us through. And the way the students are coming out, the energy in that building. I think I saw one of the posts someone said, might have been Andy Katz, but I don’t know, said that we had a top five environment in the Big 10. Wow, how times have changed, right? I mean, when I first started coaching, there’d be more road people than purple in the building when I first started. So to see Welsh-Ryan the way it is now, the energy, to see it become a real home, we have to keep that, because it’s only getting harder. You know, with UCLA, USC, Washington, Oregon, this league isn’t getting any easier, and you have to win at home. And you’re not going to win at home if you don’t have a great crowd.”
Collins on the new traveling in the expanded Big Ten: “I think excited. I mean, really for us, everyone’s going to go on a one time trip when you go west. It’s going to be harder for them, you know, they’re going to have to come east four or five times. For all of us in the central or eastern, you go out once. We’ll go to the northwest this year, but I think navigating that trip will be new. You know, we play in Washington on a Saturday. We’re playing Oregon late on a Tuesday night. So when do we get out there? You know, what do we do in between games? We generally never have two-game road trips, so that’ll be a little bit hard, different for our guys. Usually it’s go play the game, charter home. You know, you’re gone for one day. So, being on the road for five days. How do we do that trip? What do we do? That’ll be new, but I think the guys are excited, you know, to play in venues you’ve never played in. I mean, how cool that we’ll be in Welsh-Ryan, have UCLA and USC come to town and have those be home conference games. I think it just adds to the excitement of the league. And I think it’s something our guys are looking forward to.”
Collins on the questions he’s been asked at media day: “Most all of them, some of the other coaches I haven’t been asked about, but all the other stuff — transfer portal, NIL, new travel, West Coast teams, life without Boo. You know, we’ve heard a few of those, that’s been a common one. Injuries on our team. So that’s been kind of the common theme so far. (On the most unique question): Rick Pizzo asked me what it felt like to be an empty nester. you know? So my youngest, we took her to college in August. So that was, I wasn’t quite prepared for that. I’m new to it, I’ve only been an empty nester for about a month and a half now. So that was a good one. It provoked a little thought. Those other ones, you know, those answers are just kind of ingrained in my head. So the ones that provoke a little thought, those are the good ones. The off-basketball ones, you know, are kind of fun. I’ve been around the game my whole life. So I feel like the basketball stuff, I’ve been in so many press conferences and broadcast venues and everything. So, you know, I think just through osmosis, I feel like answering basketball questions kind of becomes old hat.”
Collins on how Northwestern is dealing with NIL: “I will say that we’re all in on the investment on it. And obviously Mark (Jackson) coming in, new AD. He’s been a part of USC football and Villanova basketball. So, I mean, for him, he’s all in. And he gets it. He knows where the landscape is. He wants to push the envelope. You could always be better. You know, we want to stay true to NU and who we are. And, you know, are we going to always have the money that some programs have? No. But are we going to be competitive? Yes, and I mean, there’s a lot of NU grads that like the fact last year that we were the only Big 10 school to win a bowl game and win a tournament game. The only school in the conference, lot of NU grads liked that. You know, they like wearing their purple around. And so in order to do that, we got to keep investing. And the coaches can’t do it alone. We got to invest in our players. We’re building the multi 100 million dollar football stadium. So if you’re going to build that, and you don’t invest in players, then it’s not going to work. And so, we’ve been very competitive in that space. I think for us, you know, every year is different. For us, as soon as we lost last year, our number one goal was to get our team back. So our top six priorities were to get the six guys back, you know, that everybody was trying to steal that were rotation players in our program. And so our retention was number one. And then it became, you know, recruiting, portal, high school kids and all those things. We have to adapt, you know. Do I like everything that’s going on? No, of course, I’m jealous of the players, you know, because I I wish I could have had these opportunities, but I’m very confident that that all of us at NU, our administration, university leadership, are going to be behind the investment of us. And obviously it starts with the revenue sports, right? I mean, there’s no bigger supporter of David (Braun) and what he’s doing than me, because football is going to set the tone. If they can go out and be competitive and win, it’s going to then set the tone for me, and then we got to do our job, which is going to set the tone for the rest of the department. And so I think we’re on the right track. We have to continue to push the envelope. I think we were a little bit late in terms of getting the infrastructure with the collective and all that. Jacob Schmidt, who runs it, is unbelievable, does a great job with True NU and I’m excited for where we’re going. And it’s going to change even more. I mean, that’s what’s great, you know, with what’s this house settlement, is there going to be revenue sharing? What’s the number going to be? What’s going to happen to collectives? There’s so much open ended things that are that are still out there, that we don’t know. But what I do know is that Mark Jackson and our administration and our donors and everybody’s all in, and that’s a big reason why I want to keep doing it at NU, right? If I didn’t feel that, I wouldn’t want to be here, because you want to be competitive. And we’ve worked hard to be at a place now where we’re competitive in our sport, and we want to stay there, and we can’t stand pat, so we got to keep pushing the envelope in those areas.”
Collins on the Big 10 being a national conference: “It’s crazy for me because, I mean, I’m old-school. It’s hard for me to have Maryland in the Big 10 because I’m an old-school ACC guy, so I remember those. But you have to adapt. It’s the new age of college sports, and we have to get away from old-school thinking. And that’s hard for me, because I’ve always been an old-school guy, but you got to kind of say, this is the way it is. It’s probably going to be even more, there’s going to be more expansion. It’s going to keep changing, and we got to keep adapting to keep ourselves in the mix.”
