The Year After isn't quite The Year Part II

EVANSTON, Ill. -- If you have a theory as to why The Year After Northwestern's first NCAA tournament appearance has been such a slog, offer it up.

• They lost their edge to a March Madness hangover.
• Individual aspirations boxed out team goals.
• They responded poorly after losing their grittiest player.
• Being displaced from their home arena -- and its practice amenities -- impacted their unique bond.
• Reliable veterans became less reliable.
• They struggled with new expectations, including a preseason ranking, and being the hunted.
• Whatever your reason, you're probably right.

Northwestern players and coaches, to their credit, own all of it. While last season was one for hyperbole, as seemingly every game, win and basket --well, one in particular-- drew outsized attention, The Year After has been all about humility and harsh truths.

The harshest: Barring a major push this month or, more likely, a Big Ten tournament title, Northwestern won't return to the NCAA tournament after becoming the last major conference school to break into the bracket last year. The Wildcats sit at 14-10 overall (5-6 Big Ten) with an RPI of 99 and an empty nonleague résumé.

How did Northwestern get here, from national darling last season to one of the nation's biggest disappointments this season?

"I don't think anyone's to blame," coach Chris Collins said. "It's a lot of human nature elements when you go through what we went through. We fell into some of those traps."

Seemingly the best part about Northwestern finally reaching the NCAAs was that the story didn't have to end last March in Salt Lake City. Almost all of the main characters were back, including four starters: All-Big Ten guards Bryant McIntosh and Scottie Lindsey, all-conference defender Vic Law and center Dererk Pardon, whose basket against Michigan essentially punched Northwestern's tournament ticket and was nominated for an ESPY. Ten letter winners returned. Collins, who had taken Northwestern where Bill Foster, Tex Winter and other coaches could not, was a year older and wiser.

The Cats also had never started a season with so much hype and "no blueprint" of how to proceed. Collins warned that a new book was starting, not another chapter. "A new journey, a new pursuit, a new hunger," he said last summer -- but the hunger was lacking.

"It was almost like the Cubs' [World Series] hangover," assistant coach Brian James said, referring to 2016 world champions' falling short of 2017 expectations.

The coaches noticed some issues in preseason practices. They also trusted their veterans, who reassured them that they'd be ready when it counted. In hindsight, that was probably a mistake, but Northwestern was returning 267 combined starts and a core that had been part of the program's winningest stretch. Few groups in college basketball more deserved the benefit of the doubt.

"The guys were working hard," Collins said, "but when we were making our climb, you kind of sensed that chip on our shoulder, that edge to earn respect, to be good. I noticed we had lost a little bit of that. Going back in time, of course, I wish I would have cranked it up a little bit more, but when you have a lot of older guys, you're also getting the message, 'Hey, they just want the season to start, and once we start playing games, it's going to be a different group.'"

The first sign of trouble came Nov. 19, as Texas Tech smacked Northwestern 85-49. The Wildcats trailed by double digits the final 35 minutes, 43 seconds, suffering their worst loss under Collins.

Defensive issues that surfaced in the season opener -- Northwestern gave up 51 points to Loyola (Md.) in the second half of a 79-75 win -- became an unwanted trend. Northwestern slipped to 168th nationally in defensive efficiency, after finishing 42nd last season. The perimeter defense wasn't great, and Northwestern allowed a layup line to Penn State in a 78-63 loss. Fouls regularly piled up. Even when Northwestern dug in during a road game at Georgia Tech, a miscommunication on defense led to the winning basket for the Yellow Jackets as time expired.

The team clearly missed four-year starter Sanjay Lumpkin-- "He guarded everybody's best player and half of your man," James said -- but the problems went deeper.

Although the defense has improved lately, the offense has been choppy, lacking flow. Northwestern became 3-point-reliant despite poor results. Despite leading the Big Ten in free-throw-shooting percentage, Northwestern has struggled to get to the line, attempting 10 or fewer free throws in eight games. The Wildcats have failed to score 50 points three times.

"Not only have we seen some slippage in our team, but we've seen some slippage in our individual progress," James said. "Are our players better this year than they were last? That's one thing coaches continually question. Two or three of them are better, and two or three of them aren't as good as they were last year."

McIntosh, the Wildcats' all-time assists leader and most consistent scorer, had to juggle distributing the ball to those wanting enhanced roles while also seeking his own opportunities.

"It was easier last year because we knew going into the year, we had played together so long," he said. "... Plus, we just wanted to win last year, so we were going to do whatever it took. Now that we've won, guys are like, 'OK, we've won, we can win now, now I want a little bit more.' That's part of human nature."

The team's singular pursuit of history created a uniquely tight locker room. Those bonds aren't gone, but the circumstances around this season have strained them.

As the school has been conducting a $110 million gut-rehab of Welsh-Ryan Arena, the program has been displaced. Collins and his staff operate out of a university-owned house. Practices take place seven blocks away at the Blomquist Recreation Center, where, minutes before a recent practice, students were completing their treadmill workouts as players trickled out of a makeshift locker room. Home games are played at Allstate Arena, a cavernous building with multiple tenants that sits 13 miles west of campus, near the runways of O'Hare International Airport. Every home game means hour-long bus rides and occasional stays at an airport hotel.

"There's nothing similar to last year except for a majority of guys in the locker room," athletic director Jim Phillips said. "That's not an excuse for us not to have a good year, but every team is different."

Northwestern is 10-3 at Allstate, but it's not quite the same. James counts three home games last season, including the Michigan triumph, in which the fans "just willed us to win."

Players and coaches relived those games and others Jan. 19, the night before hosting Penn State, at their airport hotel as they gathered for a sneak preview of "First Dance," a Big Ten Network documentary on The Year. The doc chronicled Northwestern's mostly miserable history in basketball, Collins' pledge for a breakthrough and the 2017 tournament run.

Asked for his main takeaway, McIntosh said: "How together we were. We played for one another."

He didn't sound wistful, but more than anyone, the point guard has the team's pulse and knows what's missing. After the Jan. 5 loss at Penn State, McIntosh said, "I thought we'd come out fighting and have a lot of energy, be really passionate, and we weren't. I'm just a little disappointed, kind of questioning what was going through everybody's head."

Since a no-show Jan. 14 at Indiana, the Wildcats have played hard, if not always well, going 3-2 with two road wins. They've implemented a 2-3 matchup zone that can be extended, forcing players to communicate more. An often-stagnant offense came to life during the second half at Minnesota on Jan. 23 and the first half at Wisconsin last week.

Still, it probably will take a magical week at Madison Square Garden, site of this year's Big Ten tournament, for Northwestern to deliver a tournament encore. Before last year, the Wildcats had never even reached the semifinal of the event.

"A lot of people are ready to throw dirt on the grave," McIntosh said, "but we're hanging on for dear life right now."

In the bigger, program-building picture, Collins hopes the lessons of this season will be as impactful as the history made before it. The long-term outlook remains promising with new facilities on the way and a solid 2018 recruiting class, headlined by ESPN 100 forward Pete Nance. While Northwestern might look like a one-hit wonder, making the NCAA tournament never was the end goal under Collins. Championships are. The Wildcats are now seeing how far away they are.

But there's still time left in The Year After, and a chance to send a transformative group of seniors out the right way.

"I would love to go back and change some things, but we live and we learn," Collins said. "The thing about it is these guys have been so influential in making our program relevant. I don't want them to lose sight of that.

"I just want them to go down with the kind of fight they've had their whole careers."