We’re going team-by-team across Big Ten men’s basketball to assess where everyone stands and how things could shake out in 2026-27.
Northwestern suffered its first losing season in four years in 2025-26, finishing 15-19 overall and missing the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season. Chris Collins had his team fighting hard until the very end, and the Wildcats’ wins over Indiana near the end of the regular season and in the Big Ten Tournament may have been the biggest reason the Hoosiers missed the tournament as well. NU has undergone quite a bit of roster turnover this offseason and will hope the changes work out.
WHO’S GONE:
- Nick Martinelli (23 PPG) (exhausted his eligibility)
- Arrinten Page (10.2 PPG) (transfer — Providence)
- Jayden Reid (10.1 PPG) (transfer — Memphis)
- Tre Singleton (7.6 PPG) (transfer — Iowa State)
- Max Green (4.3 PPG) (transfer — Charleston)
- Jordan Clayton (3.9 PPG) (transfer — UMass)
- K.J. Windham (3.5 PPG) (transfer — James Madison)
- Justin Mullins (3.2 PPG) (exhausted his eligibility)
- Tyler Kropp (3.1 PPG) (transfer — Washington State)
- Cade Bennerman (redshirt) (transfer — North Carolina)
- Blake Smith (transfer — Oral Roberts)
- Gus Hurlburt (exhausted his eligibility)
WHO’S BACK:
- Angelo Ciaravino, G, Jr. (6.3 PPG)
- Jake West, G, So. (5.3 PPG)
- Phoenix Gill, G, So.
WHO’S NEW:
Transfer portal
- Jack Karasinski, F, Gr. (21.7 PPG at Bellarmine)
- LA Pratt, G, Gr. (17 PPG at Northeastern)
- Colin Smith, F, Gr. (11.9 PPG at UC Santa Barbara)
- Luke McEldon, F, R-Jr. (11.7 PPG at Mount St. Mary’s)
- Okku Federiko, F, Jr. (8.6 PPG at Drake)
- Ryan Soulis, F, R-Jr. (5.8 PPG at Columbia)
- Aleksej Kostic, G, So. (4.4 PPG at BYU)
- Dylan Williams, G, Gr. (2.1 PPG at Penn)
Freshmen (Rankings from 247Sports)
- Jayden Hodge, G (four-star, No. 90)
- Symon Ghai, C (three-star, No. 179)
RETURNING MINUTES: 39.9 percent (per barttorvik.com) (eighth in the Big Ten)
Why it will work
Collins has frequently been able to get the most out of his teams. Northwestern has never had the amount of talent nor the financial support of the Big Ten’s power players in men’s basketball, but Collins has fielded competitive groups nonetheless over the last decade. Last year, the Wildcats posted the second-best assist-to-turnover ratio (2.014) in the country, with the second-fewest turnovers per game (8.6) as well. NU won’t beat itself if Collins can do anything about it.
Karasinski and Pratt put up big scoring numbers last year, albeit well outside of the sport’s top echelon. But that sort of production can help mitigate losing Martinelli, as well as all the other pieces who transferred out.
Why it won’t
Northwestern just lost so much, between the Big Ten’s leading scorer graduating and the team’s top secondary option (Page) transferring. The Wildcats turned to the transfer portal, out of necessity, to fill out most of their roster — and it’s a lot of players without power-conference experience. NU is a relatively lower-pressure environment to play in within the Big Ten, but it will still be a big step up for a lot of those guys.
No matter how things go, expect Northwestern to remain competitive and give some top-half Big Ten teams some scares or upsets. If Karasinski and Pratt pan out, if Hodge is able to make an immediate impact, and if some of the other transfer portal additions become useful pieces, NU could surprise some people. But that’s a lot of ifs, and a bottom-half or bottom-third finish in the conference standings looks more likely.
PREVIOUS OUTLOOKS:
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Michigan
- Michigan State
- Minnesota
- Nebraska
- Ohio State
- Penn State
- Purdue
- USC
- Wisconsin
- Maryland
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
- Find us on Instagram, X, and Facebook
- Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no cost to you.
