It feels weird, doesn’t it?
Northwestern lost, but no one is too mad. It was another close-margin defeat, another loss where victory seemed well within reach, another trip to Ann Arbor where the ‘Cats didn’t return to Evanston with a W, and yet the vibes around this Northwestern men’s basketball season are... quite good?
Part of that is the nature of exceeding expectations. Some (including myself, an idiot) were projecting a near winless season in conference play and almost certainly the end of the Collins era. Instead, roughly a third of the way through B1G play, Northwestern has road wins over Indiana and Michigan State, its first win over Illinois in four years and a suffocating defense that ranks well in just about every metric.