When Northwest Missouri State came to Duke and fell behind by 19, the Bearcats didn’t panic. They are an experienced and very good team and they rallied at the end.
At Northwestern, former Duke guard and assistant Chris Collins went through an analogous situation though it wasn’t precisely the same.
Merrimack is the newest D-1 team in the country and they’re 1-1 with the win coming at the expense of the Wildcats on Friday.
It was shocking and no doubt depressing for Northwestern but it shouldn't be a total shock.
Northwestern graduated some of its best players and is in rebuild mode and has had two tough years, at least partly due to injuries.
And Merrimack is unknown, so far of the beaten path that BC transfer AJ Turner said they “sounded familiar - the campus is not far from Boston - and we understand some oddsmakers didn’t even bother for this one.
It’s a shocking thing to read and it looks awful but like NWMSU, Merrimack had a big advantage: experience.
That’s a winning program and they have a nice core back. No shame in losing to a team like that.
All Collins and his team can do now is work hard and get better. And we think they will.