Northwestern Wildcats legend in the making Boo Buie will likely see his college career come to an end this weekend. The #9 seeded Wildcats (21-11, 12-8 B1G) will meet #8 seeded Florida Atlantic (a Final Four team last season) in the NCAA Tournament’s First Round on Friday in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Buie, who passed John Shurna in midseason to become the program’s all-time leading scorer, ended the year as the only player in the Big Ten to finish in the top five in both scoring (18.9 ppg) and assists (5.2 apg).
For the whole season, he’s averaging 19.2 points per game this season and 5.1 assists per game, the only power conference player in the nation averaging 18+ points and five+ assists this term.
He improved his three-point percentage from 31.6% (64-for-201) in 2022-23 to 44.3% (85-for-192) from deep in 2023-24, which leads the Big Ten and ranks fifth nationally.
“Be in love with the grind no matter what.”
Boo Buie’s letter to Northwestern is a must-read before March Madness.
READ: https://t.co/UlyA1oG8l4@booboo_buie x @GoU_TrueNU pic.twitter.com/FSL3IaHfO9
— TrueNU (@GoU_TrueNU) March 20, 2024
NU is going to back to back NCAA Tournaments for the first time in their history, having posted back-to-back 21-win campaigns (also a program first).
And on the court, it was Boo Buie who truly led them there, making him easily a NU hoops Mt. Rushmore. I’d take it a step further, and say in my opinion, he’s the program G.O.A.T.
However, it is highly unlikely his college career continues beyond this weekend, as the winner of Friday’s game will face the winner of the First Round game between No. 1 UConn (the defending national champions) and No. 16 Stetson.
Given how banged up they are, it is very difficult to pick them to beat anybody right now, let alone a #1 seed/the defending national champs.
That’s because they have two starters who are done for the season, due to injuries.
We have known for quite some time that Ty Berry was donezo, and we all inferred/understood that Matthew Nicholson was done for the remainder as well.
Just this morning, at the team’s media opportunity, we received confirmation of that. After a great season, filled with exciting performances by a bunch of guys that were fun to watch and easy to root for, they look short-handed and spent.
And that is a shame because we would love to see Boo Buie keep playing on as long as possible.
He leads the nation with eight games of 20-plus points and seven-plus assists. The Albany, N.Y. native will have a nice professional career somewhere, but it just won’t be in the NBA.
He just doesn’t have any NBA Draft stock, at all, and that’s a shame, because we would love to see him continued on in the league.
Most guys who stay in college as long as he has aren’t NBA prospects, typically, but in the future we will remember what a phenomenal college player he was.
This will be Northwestern’s third ever appearance in March Madness, all of which have come in the Chris Collins era. They went 2 and out in both of their previous appearances (2017, last year).
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Twitter.