📵A Big Ten West title?

It just doesn't feel *as* good this year.

What’s up, everyone?

📵Blame the Phones is a little shorter this week. We’ll have a quick check-in on your 2020 Big Ten West champs (?) and a little thing on the the men’s basketball team’s outlook this season.

(Also, I’m happy to break out what could be my favorite Northwestern-related gif, which encapsulates *all* the emotions and attitudes: determination, sadness, shock, sarcasm, knowing a close loss to No. 1 Gonzaga probably earned you a decade of job security, etc.)

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📵Blame the coronavirus

Well, Northwestern’s game against Minnesota is canceled due to COVID-19 issues in the Gophers’ program.

So, what does that mean?

Even after a depressing loss at Michigan State after Thanksgiving, Northwestern appears to be on the verge of clinching the Big Ten West — unless COVID-19 complications cancel all but a couple Big Ten games over the course of the last two weeks of the “regular” season.

It’s happening again. For the second time in three seasons, Northwestern looks to be headed to the Big Ten title game in Indianapolis. The opponent: TBD, but probably Ohio State again, but also it could totally not be … we really don’t know!

And, a quick ode to four days in November I’ll never forget:

For four days in November, we got to dream. Northwestern was a legit national championship contender in college football. From late Tuesday night through Friday, there was a non-zero chance that Northwestern could run the table, find itself playing Alabama or Notre Dame or Clemson and maybe, just maybe, pull a shocker.

That dream ended Saturday afternoon with a lackluster performance against Michigan State. The offense proved to be bad, again, giving the defense a margin for error that was just a bit too small.

Pour one out for those four November days, days we may never see the likes of again.

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📵Blame the Big Ten

So, Northwestern’s men’s basketball team beat 0-4 Arkansas-Pine Bluff by 43 in its season-opener, which doesn’t mean a ton.

Talent-wise, they’re not terrible. And lineup-wise, Pete Nance at center makes a ton of sense … at least against a team like Pine Bluff. And, I could see it giving Iowa and Illinois something to think about with their massive and talented centers having to come out to guard Nance (if only he was better than a career 29% three-point shooter).

So, here’s the issue, though. This team was bad last season. Really bad. And while they appear to be marginally better, the Big Ten as a whole looks better, too.

We know Miller Kopp is good. He’s going to score. He should shoot more! Then there’s Chase Audige, the transfer from William & Mary, who looked decent, too! Boo Buie wasn’t feeling great and came off the bench. A sophomore leap? Maybe! How about Robbie Beran, the 6-foot-9 forward who made 40% of his threes as a freshman? Seems good! Rookie guard Ty Berry looked good, too, dropping 15 points in his collegiate debut.

So Northwestern has some players who are decent and fun.

But they’re going to get rocked in the Big Ten. Again.

Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State, Indiana, Michigan, Purdue, Rutgers, Minnesota, and Maryland all appear to be playing like top-40 teams, nationally, so far this season. That’s 11 of the conference’s 14 teams!

So that leaves Northwestern, Penn State, and Nebraska. Sure, Northwestern can finish 12th. But I just don’t see them being able to be a top-50 unit nationally on either side of the ball. Last season, they finished 150th in adjusted defensive efficiency and 139th in adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom. They return a lot of production from last season, but if that production wasn’t good anyway, is that really a positive?

They have Chicago State tomorrow afternoon and Pitt in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Wednesday night. Then it’s SIU-Edwardsville a few days later before opening the Big Ten slate at home against Michigan State on Dec. 20.

I’m looking at the schedule for the first time right now and my god it starts off brutally hard (current KenPom ranking in parentheses):

• 12/20: vs. Michigan State (10)

• 12/23: at Indiana (17)

• 12/26: vs. Ohio State (13)

• 12/29: at Iowa (12)

• 1/3: at Michigan (22)

• 1/7: vs. Illinois (24)

• 1/13: at Ohio State (13)

• 1/17: vs. Iowa (12)

Yikes. Buckle up … it’s going to be a ride.

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That’s where we’ll end things this week. Thanks for sticking with another edition of 📵Blame the Phones.

Hopefully, I’ll be back in your inbox next week.

Please let me know if you have any questions or ideas. I’d love to hear them.

Take care,
Josh Rosenblat