Since he arrived at Northwestern, Jitim Young has dreamed of leading the Wildcats to the Big Dance.
But now, Young said he realizes this probably won’t be the year NU makes its first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Instead, he and his teammates have turned their energy to a more daunting task: winning two games at the Big Ten Tournament. Because the Cats did not finish the regular season above .500, they must earn two victories at the conference tournament to become eligible for the National Invitational Tournament.
“I’m not ready for this season to be over yet,” the senior captain said. “I still want to hang around these guys as long as I can. Hopefully, we can win some games and prolong the season.”
The Cats have not fared well in the Big Ten Tournament since it began seven years ago. In eight games, the Cats have won just twice, including a 74-64 victory over Minnesota in the opening round last year.
The sixth-seed Cats will begin their quest for a postseason berth Thursday night when they face 11th-seeded Penn State in the opening round at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Tip-off is slated for 4:05 p.m. and the game will be aired live on ESPN2.
NU (13-14, 8-8 Big Ten) split the season series with Penn State (9-18,3-13). In their first meeting on Jan. 28, the Cats fell 63-61 in overtime in University Park, Pa. When the Nittany Lions visited Welsh Ryan Arena on Feb. 14, NU cruised to a 65-52 victory, but lost reserve guard Evan Seacat to a concussion.
Seacat has missed the last three weeks of action because of the injury, and NU coach Bill Carmody said the guard probably will not be available in Indianapolis.
Without Seacat, the Cats carry a thin roster of just six scholarship players, which could factor into the team’s ability to go deep into the tournament.
“That’s going to be a real hard challenge for us — to play two games in a row and we don’t have that big of a lineup,” guard T.J. Parker said. “But you can’t use that as an excuse. You just got to go out and play.”
Young said the Cats are a dangerous team, as they demonstrated during the conference season in wins against Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.
He added that lack of depth would not prevent his team from making a run.
“I’ve got a ton of energy,” Young said. “I’ll put it in them somehow.”
Carmody’s biggest concern doesn’t involve effort or the number of players on the Cats’ roster.
“My biggest fear is we don’t shoot the ball well and they kill us on the boards,” he said.
The Cats are coming off a 63-56 home loss against Michigan — only their second loss in Evanston against a Big Ten opponent this season — in which they shot just 35.1 percent from the field. On the season, NU has connected on about 44 percent of its field goals.
Because this weekend possibly could be Young’s final as a member of the Cats, Parker said, the team is really looking to step up.
“I hope we can do something special for him.”
