Northwestern won’t run out of the tunnel to “Hail to the Victors” when they face Michigan tonight. Even with three former Michigan starters on the Wildcats’ bench, it will be business as usual when the Wolverines face the Cats for the 49th time.

“The bottom line is I want NU to win,” assistant coach Tempie Brown said. “We’re about winning and changing things here and what’s a sweeter way for that to happen then against Michigan, the alma mater?”

Brown, assistant coach Catherine DiGiacinto and director of basketball operations Stacey Thomas all donned the Maize and Blue in their collegiate careers and are now members of head coach Beth Combs’ first-year staff.

Brown graduated from Michigan in 1990, was an All-Big Ten selection and is 10th on the Wolverines career scoring list.

“I think it’s just a coincidence,” Brown said of the three Michigan alums on Combs’ four-person staff. “We came from different eras so I think it becomes more of knowing what it’s like to play in the Big Ten.”

DiGiacinto received her Michigan degree in 1998 and was a team captain her senior year. Thomas joined the team in 1998, DiGiacinto’s final season at Michigan.

The staff connections don’t end in Ann Arbor, Mich. Brown came to NU with assistant coach Jim Sexton from Lehigh, while DiGiacinto coached at Holy Cross last season. Both teams found themselves chasing Patriot League champion Colgate last year — in Combs’ final season.

“We’re all Wildcats now,” Combs said. “It doesn’t matter where you went to school, we’re all playing for the purple Cats right now and that’s what it’s about (tonight).”

Even though both Brown and DiGiacinto said they “bleed purple”, they haven’t forgotten the Blue.

“We definitely share a unique bond,” DiGiacinto said. “During Thanksgiving dinner we were over a coach Combs’ house and we all started doing ‘Hail to the Victors’.”