The Wildcats are less than a month away from kicking off their 2025-26 campaign at home against Mercyhurst. With eight new additions to the roster, there\u2019s a lot of things changing about Chris Collins\u2019 crew, but the team still has the same goals and expectations. Collins, senior forward Nick Martinelli and senior guard Justin Mullins made the trek down to Rosemont for Big Ten Media Days yesterday. Here\u2019s everything they had to say.<\/p>\n
Note: These quotes have been edited for brevity and clarity.<\/p>\n
Martinelli on the Purdue tandem of Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn: <\/strong>\u201cThey\u2019re both amazing players. I actually have the opportunity to play a little with Braden this offseason. He\u2019s elite, he\u2019s a very good player. I don\u2019t know if I could pick any player in the country over him, I would have to go with Braden Smith. But Kaufman-Renn is not a bad second option, let me tell you that.\u201d<\/p>\n Mullins on Smith and Kaufman-Renn: <\/strong>\u201cI have to agree with Nick. They\u2019re both excellent players worth a lot to their teams, but I\u2019m gonna go with Braden Smith. The way he just was able to lead their team the value that brings to the court, to the team\u2026I\u2019m going with Braden Smith.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinelli on why he was sporting a new mustache: <\/strong>\u201cI honestly don\u2019t know. Yeah, I was just, like, in the shower this morning. I was like, \u2018What are we gonna do today?\u2019 And decided to go with the mustache.\u201d<\/p>\n Mullins on how the players (specifically the seniors) built chemistry with the eight newcomers:<\/strong> \u201cYeah, this offseason we\u2019ve done a lot of things to build our chemistry on and off the court. I think a lot of the stuff we do off the court, like simply just hanging out, spending time together, getting to know each other, those type of little things translate big to on the court. So just doing all of that stuff, welcoming these new guys into our culture, showing them what our culture is about. That\u2019s been the key.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinelli on which newcomer has been most impressive: <\/strong>\u201cI think in terms of value, we really, really needed a big guy to step up out of the transfer portal. And I think AP (Arrinten Page) has done an unbelievable job. The energy that he possesses, the freak athleticism. Every time I\u2019m driving to the rim, I\u2019m looking around being like, \u2018Yo, Where\u2019s he at?\u2019, and that\u2019s a tribute to how hard he\u2019s worked this offseason. He\u2019s just done a great job listening to me and Justin and the coaches about how to take coaching and how to react in certain situations. He\u2019s done a great job so far.\u201d<\/p>\n Mullins on Tre Singleton (the program\u2019s highest-rated recruit ever): <\/strong>\u201cWe\u2019ve seen a lot out of him. He\u2019s a really great freshman, very solid. He loves the game. He puts in a lot of work. When you have that level of dedication as a freshman, it\u2019s scary, you know, like, his ceiling is just so high. And we saw that since day one. So I\u2019m sure he\u2019s just going to continue to keep getting better all the time. He takes coaching great, he takes criticism great. He\u2019s just a great player overall. I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll have a great future.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinelli on how he spent his offseason: <\/strong>\u201cI mean, at the end of the day, we didn\u2019t get done when we wanted to get done. So it was a working offseason for sure. I was obviously doing pre-draft stuff, so I took about a week off after the season. I was right to it. I really wanted to try to impress as much as I could at those draft workouts. And after that, it was getting ready to go for this season. I obviously wanted to expand my game a ton. And I was just getting better little by little, trying to push my conditioning. I know that I might have to have a similar workload this year. And I want to be able to battle even harder than I did last year. I truly think that this team can do a lot of good things. I\u2019m super excited and motivated by this.<\/p>\n Martinelli on what he learned from the pre-draft workouts: <\/strong>\u201cFull transparency, I think that obviously the two things they were looking for in my game, as everyone knows, is three point shooting and defense. But it was a super humbling experience. Coming off a pretty good season, I thought that, you know, I\u2019d get a real look. And I definitely got the sense that I was kind of just there to be a sparring partner with those really high-level guys that teams were looking at. And that\u2019s definitely a humbling experience, a motivating experience for me. Obviously in your own head, you consider yourself as good as anybody else in the country, and you know, going in there and kind of seeing that you\u2019re kind of just there to kind of spar against guys that they\u2019re actually taking seriously, it\u2019s definitely a humbling experience. But, I mean, it was a great experience, nonetheless. It was a dream of mine to walk into those NBA facilities and put on a practice jersey. So it was an awesome experience, but definitely humbling.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinelli on whether he\u2019d bring out a windmill dunk he used in those workouts: <\/strong>\u201cI mean, I can\u2019t make any guarantees, but I\u2019ll try my absolute best.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinelli on using the humbling experience of the workouts as motivation: <\/strong>\u201cYeah, I mean, sports is all about humbling experiences. If you don\u2019t get embarrassed a little bit, you\u2019ll never really grow at anything. So, I\u2019m obviously motivated just a bit by that, but I\u2019m more motivated by a guy like this (gesturing to Mullins) that came in after transferring and has just worked his butt off and taken coaching and listened about how to get better at certain things. And just to see this guy\u2019s jump and see my teammates, you know, that\u2019s really more motivating \u2014 the guys that are in the room with me every single day. This year, there\u2019s a lot of guys that felt like they\u2019ve been undervalued at times, whether it be being recruited out of high school or even before they transferred. I think that we\u2019re super hungry, and every player has a chip on their shoulder this year, and that\u2019s what motivates me.\u201d<\/p>\n Mullins on how the team plans to replace the lost perimeter production from last season: <\/strong>\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s been one person. I think it\u2019s simply just next man up. We all understand when we lose great players like that, that as a team, we all have to step up. And you know, there is no really filling their shoes to the fullest. But now, we all just take a step up, our role increases, and we just do what we have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinelli on his role on this year\u2019s team compared to last year\u2019s: <\/strong>\u201cIt\u2019s just a little different. When we were doing that (referring to himself and Brooks Barnhizer pushing each other in practices), we were young guys just trying to figure it out. And now I\u2019m in a different position of leadership, where guys are looking to me to be a role model. So I definitely think a lot of my focus has been on the team and the things that guys needed. If they need any advice, I\u2019ve been through it. I\u2019ve had such a great opportunity having leaders such as Boo (Buie) and Robbie (Beran) and Ty (Berry), that have taught me so many things, and I just want to pay that forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinelli on Angelo Ciaravino\u2019s growth: <\/strong>\u201cAngelo has done a great job thus far in the summer and fall. I think Justin can attest to this. He\u2019s definitely made a big jump. And Angelo\u2019s being a guy from Chicago, we were working out a ton together \u2014 me, him and Justin, just getting after it. On a Wednesday morning, mid-August, everyone\u2019s already probably on their way to school. You don\u2019t want to wake up and go run sprints and get working, but he was here every single day, you know, grinding his tail off. And I think that it\u2019s going to pay off in dividends.\u201d<\/p>\n Mullins on which part of his game he wants to improve the most: <\/strong>\u201cDefinitely on the offensive side, I took shooting very personally. Just remembering last year, I was kind of left open a little bit on the threes at times. I took it very personally. So that was just something I wanted to attack, just being that solid shooter that can just make the simple catch and shoot threes. So, yeah, that was the biggest thing I was working on.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinelli on the team being picked 15th in the conference\u2019s preseason poll:<\/strong> \u201cI didn\u2019t know that, but I definitely think, as I said before, you can look at that and be like, \u2018Oh, this is what motivates me.\u2019 But a number doesn\u2019t motivate any of us. As I said, as I\u2019ll continue to say, we motivate one another. Our coaches, the guys that are in there every single day seeing the work that\u2019s being done, those are the guys that motivate us. Obviously, we want to be thought of highly by people who are making predictions about how we\u2019re going to be this year. But at the end of the day, it doesn\u2019t change anything at all, whether or not we\u2019re 15th or 1st or 18th. We\u2019ve been predicted to be the lowest every single year. And I think we\u2019ve done a good job just leaving it aside and focusing on what we have to get done.\u201d<\/p>\n On how the defense is responding to losses of players like Barnhizer and Matt Nicholson: <\/strong>\u201cI think Coach Collins, and even our assistant coaches, do a great job of just grounding us. Letting us know that without defense, we kind of just fall apart. That has to be our solid foundation. So we just continued to work on it, continued to get guys up to speed that we need to. I think just doing that, we\u2019re going to be in a good place.\u201d<\/p>\n Mullins on how the team has made up for the losses of strong rebounders like Nicholson: <\/strong>\u201cI think with the incoming freshmen we have, and also the transfers, especially AP, we have some rebounding coming in. Definitely. We have some defensive guys that can really get after it, like Jayden Reed, for example. So I think we\u2019ll really be fine. Like I said, we\u2019re just kind of getting guys up to speed on the defense, and I think we\u2019ll be fine with the rebounding, as far as where we left off a few times.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinelli on what he saw during Barnhizer<\/strong>\u2019s pre-draft process: <\/strong>\u201cI think that day when he was drafted was an emotional one for all the people that have been around him, because we know how much he had been through. And yeah, he\u2019s come back, and we\u2019ve hung out and kicked it a couple of times. Just to see that joy back in his eyes for the game of basketball is something. It\u2019s super awesome to see as a guy that grew up with him and grew in our games, but also as human beings. You begin to understand how a person rolls and seeing last year, during the end of the year, when his mental got just a bit off, just because he wasn\u2019t able to play the game that he loves, it was a little sad. But him getting drafted, it just shows you what type of perseverance you have to have. A guy like that has fought for every little thing in his life. Even every practice, you know, fighting for every last ball, every last rebound, diving on it, diving on the floor. That\u2019s just the type of guy he is. I wasn\u2019t surprised, truly. I wasn\u2019t surprised that he got picked. I was happy that he got picked, excited to see it, but I was not surprised whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinelli on what he\u2019s learned from Buie and Barnhizer about leading the team: <\/strong>\u201cI got to experience it firsthand, how they led. So that was something that I\u2019ve gotten to take with me. But, yeah, Boo and Brooks have been around a ton, you know, and we\u2019ve sat down and talked. They just love to talk ball, and I love to talk ball. So I\u2019ve gotten a lot of advice, even about the draft process and things like that from them. So before doing that in the spring, I got to talk to them a lot about it. But yeah, leadership was something that Boo especially was super honed in on, and he\u2019s really helped me in that aspect.\u201d<\/p>\n Mullins on the younger backcourt players (specifically KJ Windham, Jayden Reid and Jordan Clayton): <\/strong>\u201cWe\u2019ve seen a lot from those guys. Our expectation is that we\u2019re going to have a great back court full of solid guys who can handle the ball, make open shots, make the right plays. All of those guys are good guys. I can\u2019t really put it on like one guy who\u2019s gonna, you know, take over. We can\u2019t say that, we\u2019re not that type of culture. But what we can say is that all of those guys are great players, and they\u2019re all capable of being great backcourt players here.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinelli on playing at the Greenbrier Invitational ahead of opening conference play: <\/strong>\u201cIt\u2019ll definitely help prepare us. There\u2019s a ton of really good mid and low major teams that have talent that really give us a run for for our money, but these teams (Virginia and South Carolina) obviously have the size, the strength, that you kind of get used to in the Big Ten. It\u2019s a super defensive minded league, so you get a little bit of that with those teams. But, yeah, I mean, it\u2019s just a great opportunity for us to see where we\u2019re at. And for these eight new guys, we\u2019re gonna see how we react to struggles, failures, being down in the game. So I think that it\u2019s massively important for us. What do you think, Justin?\u201d<\/p>\n Mullins on the same subject: <\/strong>\u201cI agree, yeah. It\u2019ll definitely be a test before we really get into Big Ten play. And, yeah, it\u2019ll show us where we stand. So yeah, we look forward to those games.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinelli on the guiding principles he believes will get the team back to March Madness: <\/strong>\u201cEverything starts at the root. And I think the root of the guys that I\u2019ve surrounded myself with in the Northwestern program that have been successful is just having that killer mentality. Practice, you know, it might not be the sharpest at times, but we need to expect that it\u2019s going to be hard-nosed basketball every single day. And that\u2019s what I love. I love getting my nose in there against whoever. You talked about, you know, maybe us not being as big or as able to rebound, but we have guys that can fly, that are going to just throw their bodies in there to grab rebounds, and that\u2019s the type of guys that I want to play with.\u201d<\/p>\n Mullins on the same subject: <\/strong>\u201cWe\u2019re just teaching them really how to be the ultimate competitors on the court. That\u2019s what got us to March Madness. And we understand that. That\u2019s what we need to do to get back there. So, you know, me and Nick, we really just are trying our best to just lead the young guys, the transfers, show them what the culture is about, so we can get back there.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinelli on which game he\u2019s most excited for: <\/strong>\u201cI mean, I\u2019m really looking forward to practice tomorrow. But, yeah, I\u2019d say Iowa State, that exhibition game, just to get out there. We\u2019re all so amped up just to get out there. And, yeah, as a senior, I\u2019m just taking it one day at a time. He knows (pointing at Mullins). You know, we\u2019re taking it one day at a time. We\u2019re trying to enjoy as much as we can. You know, as difficult as practice can be, it\u2019s such a blast being out there every day.\u201d<\/p>\n Mullins on which game he\u2019s most excited for: <\/strong>\u201cYeah, you really try not to look ahead when you\u2019re a senior. Really soaking up the moment, knowing this is going to be your last season at it. But if I had to pick, I would say Oklahoma State. Playing at the United Center. Being a Chicagoland type of guy as a kid, you just want to play at the United Center. Every kid who plays basketball in Chicago has that dream. So I\u2019m super happy to get to play at the United Center for my senior year. I\u2019m sure Nick is excited too.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinelli on what he wants his senior class\u2019 legacy to be: <\/strong>\u201cI think just upholding those values that were there when I got there, that got us to March Madness. When I leave here, I don\u2019t want that to be the last March Madness that we make. I want my kids to see Northwestern teams making March Madness. I want to see it myself. I want to be at those games. And I want to be a real \u2014 and Justin can attest to this \u2014 just be a true mentor for these kids that have come in so that they can be mentors to those that follow them. I know Coach is going to do an amazing job. All the coaches are going to do an amazing job getting these guys ready to go. But just leaving that in the locker room, that culture that we have, that brotherhood that we have, there\u2019s truly nothing like it.\u201d<\/p>\n Mullins on the same subject: <\/strong>\u201cYeah, just leaving that legacy and that culture that Nick just talked about. We would obviously love to end on a March Madness. But we want to leave it by becoming a program that, you know, makes March Madness every single year. We want to continue to keep that culture here. So, yeah, that definitely will be something big for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinelli on his workload on compared to last season: <\/strong>\u201cI\u2019m just really honed in on doing my job. You know, if Coach wants to throw me out there for 40 minutes, I\u2019ll give it my absolute best. And I\u2019ll try to do everything he tells me during that 40 minutes. And if not, if it be 30 or 20 or 10 or five (minutes), I\u2019m going to be in there every single minute, giving it my all. So that\u2019s really all I can tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinelli on why he came back to Northwestern as opposed to transferring:<\/strong> \u201cCoach talks about it all the time. People, with the transfer portal, people are struggling to find a home, and I wanted to have a home to come back to. It\u2019s definitely suited me well, you know, the way that they developed me as a player and a person that has truly been special. I couldn\u2019t have done it on my own. They were on me every single day, expected the best from me every single day. If I had left, you know, who knows what I would have been today? And he (Mullins) knows how hard it is to be a transfer, to pick up on things, to try to fit into the camaraderie of the team. So yeah, I\u2019ve definitely benefited from staying here.\u201d<\/p>\n Mullins on Tyler Kropp\u2019s experience at the FIBA U19 World Cup this summer: <\/strong>\u201cHe brought the competitiveness with him over from there to practice. He\u2019s just a competitive player, a dog. He likes to get after it. And I think that\u2019s going to be his biggest thing, is just having that motor, bringing that over with him. Continuing to have that motor, that\u2019s just going to help him have a great freshman season.\u201d<\/p>\n Mullins on where he got his suit for media days: <\/strong>\u201cI\u2019ll shout out to the suit supply on Rush Street, Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n Martinelli on the same subject: <\/strong>\u201cYeah, I\u2019m gonna shout out Gus Hurlburt. I called my mom a couple days ago asking about my suit, and apparently I had ripped my suit pants. So I called Gus, I said, \u2018Yo, I need a suit.\u2019 He said, \u2018I got you, come over whenever and grab it.\u2019 So shoutout to Gus.:<\/p>\n Martinelli on his eagerness to get back on the court for live competition: <\/strong>\u201cThat first four minutes, you\u2019re just, like, you\u2019re just itching to play. You\u2019re nervous. There\u2019s all the emotions that are involved. That\u2019s for every game, but the first game especially, when you don\u2019t really know. You\u2019ve put in the work, but you don\u2019t really know what it\u2019s gonna produce. And so, yeah, getting out there and just seeing where you\u2019re at, and then adapting after that, it\u2019s huge. It\u2019s definitely a bit of a sigh of relief getting out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Mullins on the same subject: <\/strong>\u201cYeah, there\u2019s like 30 practices before the first exhibition every year. So it\u2019s like, by the time you get to that point, you\u2019re so eager to just play against somebody else who\u2019s not your teammates. So yeah, we\u2019re definitely excited to play Iowa State and see what we\u2019re about. It\u2019s the ultimate test. We\u2019re very excited.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins on the decision to sign a contract extension: <\/strong>\u201cAt the end of every season, I\u2019ve always tried to do self-reflection. About where the program was at, where I was at individually, what\u2019s going on with my family. Everything that\u2019s going on. And you have those discussions to see \u2014 Am I still happy? Am I still where I want to be? Am I still hungry about what I\u2019m doing? And certainly, for me, a lot of my life has changed. I\u2019m an empty nester now, my kids are out of the house. So you start to think about what your goals are, what you want to do. And honestly, at the end of the day, the legacy piece means so much to me. Being a part of Northwestern, I kind of feel like the program is my baby. And it wasn\u2019t something that I was ready to leave. I was still hungry about what we were doing. I was still passionate about what we were trying to build, how we could get better. My heart was always leading me towards staying at Northwestern. That was where I wanted to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins on what he was looking for out of the contract extension: <\/strong>\u201cI think more than anything, it was to make sure that we were on par with what our competitors were doing, resource-wise. I mean, you guys have seen, we\u2019ve done an incredible job with facilities. But now, from a resource perspective, are we investing in a comparable level towards what we have to try to be within our conference? That doesn\u2019t mean we have to be at the top of the list, but you have to be in the ballpark in order to compete, especially in today\u2019s day and age, with investment in players, investment in the resources and the program. Fortunately for me, Mark Jackson has been nothing but phenomenal since he\u2019s been here. And not only Mark but the upper leadership of the board of trustees and everybody wanting this thing to keep moving in a positive direction. I think everyone sees the progress we\u2019ve made, especially over the last three years, and I think we want to keep it going. So to be able to have those conversations about, okay, if we want to (keep it going), what is it going to take? So I think more than anything it was just being able to take care of staff, being able to have the resources in place \u2014 in my opinion \u2014 to be able to stay competitive and relevant in the Big 10 conference.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins on the state of the team: <\/strong>\u201cI\u2019m excited. Knock on wood, we\u2019re pretty healthy other than training camp bumps and bruises. We\u2019ve been able to have our full complement of players on the floor pretty much every day. It\u2019s an interesting team for me, and one that I\u2019m learning a lot about. We have Nick, who everyone knows is a known commodity, one of the best players in the conference. And then I feel like we have a lot of guys who are good players. Certainly eight new guys that are learning a new system and kind of trying to find their way, and four returners that have all gotten better. So literally every day in practice, I\u2019ve been mixing and matching lineups every day, putting new guys together. Not just for them, but also for me. You know, I\u2019m trying to learn about this team and what kind of team we want to start. How do we want to close? What guys play well together?<\/p>\n I think we can play big at times. I think we can play smaller and quicker. You know, last year, we didn\u2019t really have a true point guard, right? I mean, Jalen Leach was a terrific player \u2014 he had never played point guard in his life. All of a sudden, now the ball\u2019s in his hands. KJ Windham had never played point guard in his life. Jordan Clayton had never played point guard in his life. So now we\u2019re able to add a couple of guys, Jayden Reid and Jake West, that are point guards. And I think that\u2019ll help those other guys play more of their natural positions and do the things that are gonna help them be even more successful.<\/p>\n And I think we have the opportunity to have more depth. I say opportunity. Everyone says they\u2019re deep this time of year, right? It\u2019s easy to say that in October. I think we have the opportunity to have more depth this year, which will be newer for me, too. You guys know, you\u2019ve followed us. We\u2019ve always played a shorter bench, you know, and I\u2019ve never been afraid to play guys 35, 37, 38 minutes in a game. I think I would love to be in a position where we could get Nick\u2019s minutes down a little bit, where he could be fresher at the end of games. Play more guys, and to do that, play a little bit faster. Our tempo\u2019s been slower at times because of guys playing heavy minutes. I think with our speed and quickness, I think there\u2019s going to be opportunity to play a little bit of a faster tempo, maybe play a couple more guys. But for me, that\u2019s going to be an adjustment, you know, playing nine, 10 guys in a game versus eight. And their play is going to dictate that. I tell the guys that all the time. And I think we\u2019re going to have the kind of team, honestly, where Michigan State was like this last year. They probably had the most depth in the league, played 10 guys, and on a nightly basis, you never knew who that leading scorer was going to be and they ended up winning the league. Now, I think Nick will be our leading scorer, but day to day in practice, there\u2019s different guys on our team that emerge. And so the lack of clear separation, to me, hopefully, will be a positive. And you guys know, when there\u2019s competition in practice and competition for minutes, it makes guys be better. It makes guys be more detailed. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve seen so far. And I\u2019m excited about it.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a new group. That group we had together for the last four years, it was awesome. It was amazing. But we kind of knew \u2014 Ty Berry, Matt Nicholson, Boo (Buie), Nick (Martinelli), Brooks Barnhizer, Chase (Audige) \u2014 we had that group of guys that kind of grew together. And now other than Nick, everybody else is gone. So it\u2019s a new team, new energy, new guys, a lot of young guys, which brings a lot of energy and is exciting for me to teach. I love teaching, and so to develop these young players has been a fun process for me as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins on the basketball team\u2019s relationship with revenue sharing head Christian Sarkisian: <\/strong>\u201cChristian\u2019s been great so far, and he\u2019s been really good in trying to learn more about the basketball landscape. He\u2019s got great experience being in the NFL and understanding that there\u2019s similarities with both sports, but there\u2019s also differences. The agents that are involved with basketball are different than the agents that are doing football, in a lot of cases. But he\u2019s been a really good resource. He\u2019s dove in with us. Chris Lauten, who\u2019s on my staff, he\u2019s been my director of basketball operations. Before he came with me, he worked in the NBA in the G-League office, and he\u2019s kind of been our liaison with Christian and doing a little bit more in that regard in terms of planning for revenue share. As we now transition from collective to revenue share, planning and putting together the numbers and seeing how we have to be smart. With a salary cap comes decisions that have to be made \u2014 when you\u2019re offering guys salaries and contracts, you have to make smart decisions on how you put your team together. So I feel comfortable with our position that\u2019s in place. Ideally, at some point, I\u2019d like to have our own basketball GM. We\u2019re not there yet, but hopefully down the road we can get to that point. And that\u2019s not a knock on Christian, I\u2019ve been pleased with the job he\u2019s done and he\u2019s really tried to dive in with us and see how he can be helpful. What it does too, it takes (revenue sharing decisions) off my plate. The last couple of years, it\u2019s a tough dynamic for a coach when I have to be the coach and then I\u2019m also the one heavily involved in contract negotiations. I mean, that\u2019s a tough thing. I want to be the coach, I don\u2019t want to be the GM. I want to help with decisions that are made, but to have Christian in place to be able to talk to these agents and go through the money aspect of things has been a big help.<\/p>\n Collins on how he dealt with losing last year\u2019s team in the offseason: <\/strong>\u201cI would have loved to say that I rested a lot, but it\u2019s almost impossible in today\u2019s landscape. I didn\u2019t rest until the month of August. Now, the month of August, I got a little bit of rest, but I don\u2019t think everyone realizes how chaotic it becomes as soon as your season ends in today\u2019s landscape. The moment you lose your last game, that\u2019s when the real season begins. Everyone\u2019s trying to steal your players. Everybody wants more money. What do we have to do in the portal? What are we doing with high school recruits? How are we getting everybody\u2019s money in? All that stuff comes to the forefront as soon as the season ends. And then that leads right into summer training, which was the middle to the end of June. So then we go into our summer training all the way through June and July, and we have July recruiting. Now in August, I rested a little bit. I played some golf, got away with my wife a little bit. She was mad at me. We didn\u2019t get a vacation in the spring, so I had to give her some time in August, and that was good with us with the quarter system. That\u2019s where it really came in, because we don\u2019t start until mid-September. So it gave me a little bit of rest. And I feel great now. I\u2019m recharged. I\u2019m refreshed. I\u2019m ready to roll. But I wish there were more breaks for us. There just aren\u2019t right now in today\u2019s landscape, which stinks, but it\u2019s just the way of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins on the possibility of NCAA Tournament expansion:<\/strong> \u201cI\u2019m not against that. I\u2019m an old-school guy, I don\u2019t want to expand so much that you feel like everybody\u2019s getting in. I still think there\u2019s a merit of having a successful year to get yourself in. But what they\u2019re talking about with adding eight more teams or whatever it may be, I\u2019m okay with that in this landscape. And who knows, we\u2019re probably not done yet. I mean, where is this all going to go, with the power fours? In the long run, I\u2019m a big fan of the NCAA Tournament the way it\u2019s currently constructed, and having the mid-major programs and the small league teams that win their leagues. And I hope it can stay that way for a long time because I think there\u2019s beauty in that event. But with the money involved now and where things are headed, who knows where this thing\u2019s gonna be in 10 years?\u201d<\/p>\n Collins on how the program utilizes the transfer portal:<\/strong> \u201cYou guys know, with the transfer portal we really try to identify real needs for us in our roster. The first need was, we needed point guard play. We were losing Jalen Leach, played a couple guys in KJ (Windham) and Jordan Clayton that were more combo type scoring guards, that did a solid job. But we needed to address the point guard position. Jayden Reid, to me, was a big get for that. Two years of experience at South Florida. He brings an element of speed and quickness that we really haven\u2019t had. Boo was quick, but this is kind of a different level. He (Reid) can play 94 feet both ends. He can pick up the ball, pressure the ball, which will allow us to extend our defense a little bit, which I\u2019ve been wanting to do. His ability to get by guys, get into the lane, hopefully create some easier shots and not have so much of a grind on the offensive end when you have a guy who can break people down and he can make threes. But I love the fact that he\u2019s got two years of high-level experience. He\u2019s been on a good team. He\u2019s been successful. I think he\u2019s going to really be ready to step in and be an impact guy for us from Day One.<\/p>\n Max Green was another guy we really coveted in the portal. Wait until you see him. I mean, Max has got great size, he\u2019s almost 6\u20197\u201d. He\u2019s really tall and he can really score the ball. When you lose a guy like Ty Berry, Ryan Langborg, guys that are just real weapons on the perimeter, he gives us that. Max can really shoot the ball and he\u2019s got good size on the wing, so I think there\u2019ll be switchability defensively with his size. And his ability to not only score, but he\u2019s got really good offensive instincts.<\/p>\n And then obviously everyone knows we had to address the front line as well. Arrinten Page was a guy we just really felt good about as we did a deep dive. His talent is undeniable. And certainly he\u2019s been at a couple of places and hasn\u2019t fully come to fruition, but if you dive into some of the stretches he\u2019s had\u2026he\u2019s 6\u201910\u201d, 6\u201911\u201d, really athletic, really good skill set. And he\u2019s a guy where this is his third spot. So I think he understands the urgency of \u2018It\u2019s time for me to really step forward now as a junior and consistently be a good player.\u2019 So all three of those guys were guys we felt we really needed to get. We feel like all of them will be impact players for us and have an opportunity to have a big role on this year\u2019s team.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins on the importance of Martinelli coming back rather than entering the NBA draft: <\/strong>\u201cNick coming back, obviously, it was the number one thing we needed. But people that have followed our program know that I\u2019m a big fan of everyone exploring the process. Boo\u2019s done that in the past, Brooks Barnhizer did that last year. I thought it was important for him to go on some workouts to see what it\u2019s like to prepare himself for next year, but also get the feedback from the NBA people, about some of things that, for him to be an NBA player, what he needs to be able to do. Which is great because he\u2019s such a worker. A lot of the time, I probably told him all of those things, but when you hear that from NBA GMs, NBA coaches, it rings a little bit clearer. But I know Nick is two feet in with what we\u2019re trying to do. He\u2019s trying to win. And I think the biggest thing for him is the leadership component. Nick is one of those guys \u2014 he\u2019s a frontline soldier. He\u2019ll run through the wall for his group. You guys know that. He\u2019ll throw his body around. He\u2019ll do whatever is necessary. But he wasn\u2019t a very vocal leader. He was just a great player and a great fighter for us. Now he has to be that vocal leader. And I think those last 10 games last year, when Brooks and Jalen went down, it forced him to take that role on. And I\u2019ve seen a lot of growth in him this summer using his voice, being good with the younger guys, being good with the new guys and being that vocal leader that we need him to be in addition to being our best player.\u201d<\/p>\n On Tre Singleton:<\/strong> \u201cYeah, we love Tre. Tre has such a good demeanor. Nothing really fazes him too much. He doesn\u2019t get overly rattled in a good way or in a bad way. He goes about his business. He\u2019s physically ready to play, he\u2019s 6\u20197\u201d, 6\u20198\u201d, 230 pounds, very skilled. I think him and Nick together are going to play really well off of each other. I think we can do some creative things with those guys, with their skill sets and moving those guys around. He\u2019s ready to play right away. And we knew that, that\u2019s why we recruited him. I always temper myself with freshmen because it is a whole new ballgame. But you look at what he did last year, taking his team to a state championship, what he was able to do on that stage in Indiana. All he\u2019s done is get better and better every year. Those are the kinds of guys I love, guys that keep getting better. I\u2019d be surprised if he wasn\u2019t one of the more impactful freshmen in the league, but that\u2019s going to be on him. It\u2019s a big jump, but he\u2019s going to be in positions to have a big, big impact on our team this year.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins on the team\u2019s lack of a traditional center rotation (Page is the only player on the roster listed at 6\u201910\u201d or taller): <\/strong>\u201cThe reason why is because we have big wings. I think you can sometimes get away with a little bit more of an undersized big if you have bigger wings. Tyler Kropp\u2019s a kid at 6\u20199\u201d that I think is going to be able to definitely hold his own at our level. Especially if he\u2019s playing with Nick Martineli and with Tre Singleton or with Nick Martinelli and Justin Mullins, or Angelo Ciaravino, who\u2019s added 15 pounds of muscle at 6\u20197\u201d. A kid like Max Green might be your two guard at 6\u20197\u201d. I think when you\u2019re positionally big at other spots, sometimes you can get away with it. It reminds me a little bit of our first tournament team. Dererk Pardon was 6\u20197\u201d, you know, he was a center at 6\u20197\u201d. But Vic Law was 6\u20198\u201d. Scottie Lindsey was 6\u20197\u201d. Sanjay Lumpkin was 6\u20196\u201d. Bryant McIntosh was a 6\u20193\u201d point. So we were able to get away with a 6\u20197\u201d center then because we had bigger positional size, and he was a tough, battling guy. And I see that in Tyler Kropp. I think you\u2019ll see lineups at times where even Nick could be the five. I think we\u2019re playing around with that a little bit where we play Nick as a small ball five, and that becomes a tough matchup for other teams. And you know, we trap the post so that we don\u2019t see a lot of one-on-one situations in the post. I think we\u2019re playing around with it. Obviously we would have loved to have two, three, four seven-footers. Everybody would. But I think we\u2019ve got to go with what we\u2019ve got, and I feel comfortable because of our positional size that we can play a little bit smaller at the five, knowing that those other guys can help out.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins on Jayden Reid (5\u201910\u201d) adjusting to the size of the Big Ten: <\/strong>\u201cHe\u2019s a tough kid. He\u2019s a New York City kid, so he\u2019s kind of been the kid that\u2019s always played against bigger guys. He played at a highly rated high school team. He was at (Long Island Lutheran) High in Long Island, which is a nationally ranked team. He went down to South Florida, made an impact there. He\u2019s tough-minded. I\u2019m not worried about it. I mean, people thought Boo was undersized at six-foot, and I think if you\u2019re tough, if you have fight to you, I think that height can be a little bit overrated sometimes. So I\u2019m comfortable with him. I think he\u2019ll translate. I think he\u2019s ready to be a quality point guard in the Big Ten.\u201d<\/p>\n On where KJ Windham will be in the lineup (backup point guard, starting shooting guard, or something else): <\/strong>\u201cI think there\u2019s going to be all of the above. I don\u2019t think anything\u2019s been determined. I think naturally, the way the game is played, you have multiple ball-handlers. Some of the best teams play two point guards. When we were at Duke, we had Chris Duhon and Jason Williams. We won the national championship. Tyus Jones and Quinn Cook, they won the national championship. That was two 6\u20191\u201d point guards. So I think those guys (Windham and Reid) are going to play together, and they can play off of each other and handle the ball. I think inherently for KJ, he\u2019s got a scorer\u2019s mentality. And I don\u2019t mean that negatively, I want to use that. We saw that we need his scoring, we need his ability to shoot the ball and make plays. But he\u2019s still gonna play pick and rolls, and he\u2019s still gonna enter offense, and there\u2019s still going to be times he\u2019s going to be the point. But I feel with Jayden and Jake West, those two guys are true point guards by nature. And it just adds. The more guys you have that can make plays, the better. And I think you\u2019re going to see all kinds of different lineups. And it\u2019s still to be determined. I mean, those two guys (Windham and Reid) are playing together. KJ\u2019s playing with Jake some. There\u2019s some times where KJ\u2019s the point and he\u2019s playing with Max and Angelo or Max and Justin. We\u2019re playing around with stuff every day. I\u2019m not really a position-baed coach. I mean, what position was Brooks Barnhizer? What position is Nick? I don\u2019t think Tre Singleton has a position, I mean, he\u2019s a do-it-all kind of player. So I\u2019m less worried about who the point is. I just want guys that can all pass, handle, shoot, that can make plays. I\u2019m excited to see KJ. He finished the year really strong. A lot of that was because of the injuries, right? It gave him an opportunity for us to say \u2018Okay, we\u2019re going to play him out of necessity,\u2019 and he really responded and played well. I\u2019m excited to see the jump he\u2019s going to make this year now that he\u2019s a sophomore.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins on his preferences for timing college basketball games: <\/strong>\u201cYeah, I want quarters. I mean, I don\u2019t get it. I\u2019ve been beating the drum forever. We\u2019re the only basketball game in the world that doesn\u2019t play quarters. Internationally, men, women, high school \u2014 we\u2019re the only game in the world that plays halves, and I just, I don\u2019t know. I would be a big fan of the 10-minute quarters. I think that\u2019s the next progression, but we\u2019ll see when we can get that in.<\/p>\n I just think it adds to the strategy, right? I like the quarters, too, because it could reset the fouls. In a 20-minute half, you get in the bonus with 15 minutes to go. Now they\u2019re shooting free throws. In quarters, you can reset the fouls every quarter. I like the ability to advance. I think it adds strategy to defense and offense. One step at a time. We\u2019ve got coach\u2019s challenges this year, so that\u2019s one step I think will be added help, and hopefully we can get there (to a quarter-based game) over the next couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins on his expectations for the returners, specifically the sophomores (Windham and Ciaravino): <\/strong>\u201cI hope great seasons. Both of them had really good offseasons. I talked about KJ, his growth from the end of the year, he had a really good summer for us. And then I thought Angelo maybe had as good a summer as anybody in our program. We talked about his physicality \u2014 and he\u2019s such a great athlete \u2014 but he lost a lot because of the physicality. He got knocked around, he went through the Big Ten. And he really got in the weight room. He\u2019s added about 15 pounds of muscle from last year, and it shows. His athleticism now is really showing out more because he\u2019s playing through contact a lot better. I\u2019m excited to see his growth.<\/p>\n I thought Justin Mullins had a really good summer for us, just getting confidence. He was a really good defender, but I\u2019ve seen the offensive confidence kind of come in the offseason, which is good. I thought Jordan Clayton, him playing in the last 10 games last year was great for him. He\u2019s really solid, stable. He\u2019s had a good offseason. We have options. We have options. And for me, that\u2019s why I\u2019m not really locked in on a rotation. I mean, I know Nick\u2019s going to be in there, but other than that, I couldn\u2019t tell you right now. I think we\u2019re going to be the kind of team, and I\u2019ve been preaching it with our guys, where we\u2019ve got to be okay if a certain group of guys get it going on a certain night where other guys\u2019 minutes might be down. And it might be your night one night and his night one night. I mean, Michigan State won a conference championship doing that last year, with 10 guys playing. I think we can be wired like that. Now, it might end up where there becomes separation and that might happen too. But right now, I see a lot of guys on a day-to-day basis doing a lot of good things. And there\u2019s a lot of different ways we can go and that\u2019s new for me. We really haven\u2019t had that, that kind of learning my team. I think the exhibition games are going to be huge. I love the fact now that we can play these two exhibition games with fans, and I\u2019m going to use those to play different lineups and kind of see what we\u2019ve got as we head into the regular season.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins on balancing the program\u2019s present contention and building for its future: <\/strong>\u201cIt\u2019s all about winning this year. And with that, how do we develop young players? But we have to have the urgency \u2014 with what Nick Martinelli has been to this program, I know it\u2019s really important to him. Legacy, like I talked about, legacy is important to me. It\u2019s important to him. It\u2019s why he came back. I don\u2019t know that any other players played in three NCAA Tournaments in our program history. He\u2019d be the first. I know that\u2019s important to him. Think about Nick \u2014 he\u2019s been in the program three years. He\u2019s been to two tournaments out of three years and last year, who knows, if we don\u2019t lose Brooks and Jalen\u2026that\u2019s a debate for another day. But he\u2019s eager to get back. And we\u2019re in win-now mode. But to your point, while we\u2019re in winning-now mode, are we continuing to develop for our future? And that\u2019s going to be a big part of what we do as well because that\u2019s our secret sauces. We\u2019re not going to be an eight portal guys in, eight portal guys out type of team. We\u2019re going to be a high school recruitment team that mixes in a few portal guys. And that\u2019s how we\u2019re going to continue to build. That\u2019s what we did with this teams. But we\u2019re trying to win. Make no mistake, this isn\u2019t a rebuild situation. We\u2019re trying to load up to be competitive this year and put ourselves in the position to be postseason-worthy in March.\u201d<\/p>\n On how the program\u2019s success has boosted recruiting: <\/strong>\u201cWell, I have to speak in generalities because the NCAA rule is that I can\u2019t talk about them by name. But what I can say is that our success, and our players\u2019 individual successes, has led to more excitement on the recruiting trip. I mean, Tre Singleton, I don\u2019t know that he comes to Northwestern if he doesn\u2019t see what Brooks and Nick have done as this hybrid forwards. There are point guards that wanted to come here because of watching Boo Buie, things of that nature. When you have really good players that do really good things, and then you win, it leads to recruits taking notice of what you\u2019re doing. And the environments \u2014 Welsh-Ryan. These guys are coming to games now and it\u2019s electric in Welsh-Ryan. I mean, those are all parts of our program that have elevated our recruiting. And it\u2019s been great because that\u2019s where we want to be, in a ballgame where we\u2019re recruiting guys that talent-wise, belong in the Big Ten, and not just guys that we\u2019re taking flyers on that we\u2019re going to try to develop. So we have noticed that excitement on the trail. People are taking notice of what we\u2019re doing. Seeing Brooks get drafted, thinking \u2018Man, I can go there and be a draft pick.\u2019 Those are things that really help your program and have really helped our recruiting.<\/p>\n On why Purdue can win the national championship: <\/strong>\u201cUm, because they have Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn, Fletcher Loyer, and one of the very best coaches in all of college basketball. So when you have great talent and great coaching, you can win it all. They\u2019re going to be a great team. I\u2019m glad we don\u2019t play them until the last game of the season, so we can sit back and watch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wildcats are less than a month away from kicking off their 2025-26 campaign at home against Mercyhurst.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":292494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,1317,1337,1338,149821,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-292493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-northwestern-wildcats-basketball","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115351062028588443","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}