2011-12 Big Ten Schedule: Northwestern

Northwestern fans are probably sick of being reminded of it, but the fact remains that the Wildcats have never been to the NCAA tournament. Point guard and team leader Juice Thompson graduated last year, but there is a lot of talent returning from last year's 20-14 team. Senior sharpshooter John Shurna, hand-gesturing center Luka Mirkovic and guards JerShon Cobb and Alex Marcotullio look to lead the Cats to a postseason that doesn't involve the NIT.

Northwestern will first have to make it through a reasonably difficult non-conference schedule and the always-tough conference games. In the early going, they will face LSU on a neutral site, as well as Georgia Tech in Atlanta. There are also a fair amount of what should be easy wins, but Baylor has had some good teams recently. Facing Creighton in Omaha should give the Cats a pretty good road test before the conference games start.

Northwestern only has to play Michigan State and Wisconsin once in the conference, which should boost their chances for a respectable record. The downside of that is that the Cats only play Indiana and Nebraska once as well. It looks like the conference schedule is fairly well-balanced. The toughest stretch looks to be in January with games against Illinois, Michigan State and Purdue at home, and road trips to Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota.

Click on to see Northwestern's full schedule.

2011-12 Northwestern Basketball Schedule