After Chris Collins and his staff informed their two commits in the class of 2021, Brooks Barnhizer and Julian Roper, that Casey Simmons was nearing a decision on his college commitment, the two immediately reached out to Simmons. Barnhizer and Roper’s efforts paid off when they found out that Simmons committed to Northwestern via Twitter.
Once Simmons’ committed to Northwestern, 247Sports, among a host of other college basketball recruiting sites, ranked Northwestern’s 2021 class the third best in the nation.
Currently, the recruiting class ranks fourth nationally, slotted in behind USC, Louisville and Michigan.
Still, for the first time since the Wildcats reached the tournament in 2017, there is palpable excitement around Northwestern’s basketball program.