Heading into its Midwest Regional in Stillwater, Oklahoma last Friday, Northwestern didn’t have a ton to lose. With No. 5 Oklahoma State and No. 18 Iowa State having established themselves as the prohibitive favorites to lock up the region’s two automatic bids to the NCAA Championship, the Wildcats were projected to finish a distant third. It appeared that they wouldn’t have much of a chance at securing an at-large bid barring anything crazy.
Yet, that may have helped the ‘Cats race more freely at Oklahoma State. Northwestern finished third in the 32-team field, but the top of its lineup thrived.