Collar Tightening

Just last Sunday, the Wildcats of Northwestern appeared to put the nail in the coffin of dreaded longest non-tournament streak of any major conference team with an emphatic win in Madison. Well, fast forward to today and you have a team run at home by Maryland, survived at home against Rutgers and lost convincingly at Illinois.

At 20-8 (9-6), it seems wildly unlikely they get left out on selection Sunday. That said, their 3 last games aren't exactly cakewalks. They go to Indiana, desperate for a win and close at home against Michigan and Purdue. Those are 3 lose able games and now all of a sudden, that first Big 14 tournament game looms large. Maybe.

Northwestern suffered from a common malady many teams unfamiliar with success have, how to handle it. After Marquette beat Villanova, Coach Wojo eerily predicted what happened based on what he saw at his time at Duke. Underdog teams that beat top 10 teams seemingly always follow it with a bad stretch. Marquette was/is a prime example.

Now, does this really happen as much as it seems? Probably not but it does happen. Either way, Northwestern and its fans are probably a bit nervous at the moment.