Decades from now, will anyone remember Northwestern’s 2017-18 season?
When the players return to campus to be feted and the video montage ends with the dog-pile celebration after the win over Michigan at the “old” Welsh-Ryan Arena, will fans even recall the inglorious follow-up?
Oh, yeah, that was the season they played at Amazon Fieldhouse, out by O’Hare. Wait, what was it called back then? Right, Allstate Arena.
Only hardcore fans will remember how this season ended: with seven straight losses, late-game ineptitude against Penn State at Madison Square Garden and Bryant McIntosh tearing up while answering questions on the podium.
Later, in the locker room, McIntosh beamed as he thought more about the good times and what’s next for him.
“I hope to continue to play,” he said. “(I’ll) see where the ball takes me.”
McIntosh, Scottie Lindsey, Vic Law and Gavin Skelly formed the greatest recruiting class in NU history. But McIntosh believes — hopes, actually — they will lose that distinction.
“They’re better than our class,” he said of the group bound for campus in a few months. “It’s the best class we’ve put together, and I’m really proud of it.”
NU basketball is about to look very different. And given the need to hit the reset button on the program, that is a very good thing.
Start with its home. Northwestern is pouring $110 million into Welsh-Ryan Arena, shrinking capacity to 7,039 seats by replacing bleachers with chair backs, adding amenities and, presumably, replacing the Cold War-era restroom sinks.
Demand has been so high for season tickets, which the school has capped at 4,000, that there’s a waiting list.
McIntosh said he wishes he could play one more game in a Wildcats uniform, joking that Law and Dererk Pardon have squabbled over who will get the first shot in the new arena. Law and Pardon will form the nucleus of the 2018-19 team, two proud veterans who have combined to play nearly 2,800 minutes of NU basketball.
Also returning is Barret Benson, whose game lived up to his sensational hairstyle on only two occasions this season. But they were the final two games at Iowa and against Penn State, during which Benson hit 8 of 9 shots, grabbed 19 rebounds, blocked six shots and committed one turnover in 55 minutes.
Anthony Gaines looked like a legitimate Big Ten player down the stretch, saying: “The game slowed down, my reads were better, I got more confidence and the guys encouraged me to take my shots.”
Aaron Falzon should be hitting 40 to 45 percent from 3-point range, given his fluid stroke. He’ll need to strengthen his legs and regain confidence. Jordan Ash is a useful backup point guard.
As for Isiah Brown, who got benched midseason and appeared to enrage Collins by committing back-to-back turnovers Thursday, his future is up in the air.
Expect four new rotation players. The 6-foot-7 A.J. Turner, who practiced with the team this season after transferring from Boston College, is described as a big, versatile wing who moves well without the ball and can shoot.
Three freshmen will play, and all are ranked between 83rd and 109th on the 247Sports.com national composite list. Most important will be point guard Jordan Lathon, whom Collins described as “super athletic.”
Collins called forward Pete Nance “long, skilled and athletic” and Miller Kopp “a rugged wing who can shoot the (heck) out of it.”
McIntosh, who has played with Nance and Kopp, said: “Pete is going to be unreal … his length, his athleticism. Miller, he’s a baller. As history evolves, it will go down as the best class in Northwestern history. Due to what we accomplished, they aren’t there yet, but they can get here.
“We’ve allowed this program to make a jump. We’re excited to see what they do with it.”
Scheduling note: Northwestern will play in the Wooden Legacy tournament in late November in Anaheim, Calif. Miami, Seton Hall and Utah are also in the eight-team field.
The Wildcats are looking to play in a new tournament in Naples, Fla., in 2019.
Closing thoughts: “The lesson from the season is dealing with adversity,” Lindsey said. “We didn’t deal with it right for most of the season, and toward the end we figured out how hard we had to work. We lost a sense of the blue-collar work ethic we had last year. At the beginning of the season, we played (as if) we’d arrived; by the time we figured out we hadn’t, it was a little too late.”
Said McIntosh: “It’s human nature that when you get success, you want more. Some of that was individually, and it changes the whole dynamic of the team. It’s nobody’s fault; it’s just reality. Now that we got set back, the main thing again will be winning. When you win, everybody gets theirs. It’s a good life lesson.”
Both plan to play pro ball. Does McIntosh think he has a shot at the NBA?
“It would have to be the perfect fit,” he replied. “I’m not going to be a starting point guard, more than likely. That’s just reality.
“But I do believe in myself and the fact that I could be a T.J. McConnell or a Matthew Dellavedova — a guy who can come off the bench and just be solid, a guy who can help teams win.”
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein
Sluggish finish to a disappointing season as Northwestern loses to Penn State »