By every major metric, Northwestern enters this season as a top-20 team.
The Wildcats are 19th in the initial AP Poll and 20th in the USA Today Coaches poll. With the top five scorers from last year’s NCAA Tournament team and some new pieces being added to the mix, those voting-based rankings make sense.
But for an advanced statistical look at the hype surrounding Northwestern, I’m more focused on a different ranking. Despite peaking at 30 last season, Northwestern is 18th in Ken Pomeroy’s preseason 2017-18 college basketball ratings system.
We’re going to take a look at how KenPom evaluated the Wildcats last year, what the team can improve on and why Northwestern is so highly ranked heading into this season.