Northwestern and DePaul Agree to a 5 Year Series

One of the bigger announcements of Northwestern's offseason came in the past week or so, when Northwestern announced that it would be scheduling a 5 year series with DePaul.  With both schools either located in or nearby Chicago, this seemed like a perfect match.  There are many great cross-town rivalry games across the country such as UCLA-USC and Cincinnati-Xavier and though this might never reach those levels, these two teams seem like a great scheduling matchup.

The series will start in the 2015-16 season.  DePaul will get 3 home games and Northwestern will get 2 home games.  This is certainly an unusual part of the scheduling agreement, but Northwestern did get DePaul at home last season and with such close proximity, these might feel more like neutral court games than home games anyway.

DePaul and Northwestern have split their last 14 games with a 7-7 record since 1987.  DePaul won the most recent matchup in Evanston last year.  DePaul last made the NCAA Tournament in 2004.  DePaul went 12-21 last season and Northwestern went 14-19 in Chris Collins' first season in Evanston.

Here is what the two coaches of the programs had to say about the matchup:

"As a Chicago native, I think it's terrific for basketball in the area.  There have been some great games between the teams over the years and we look forward to that continuing." - Chris Collins

"Great for both programs and basketball fans in Chicago." - Oliver Purnell

This should be an exciting series for a growing Northwestern program and BTP will keep you covered on any further updates regarding the agreement.