The 2026 Ratings are posted over at kenpom:
- Northwestern Page
- B1G Page
- kp currently has Northwestern's Adjusted Efficiency Margin as +14.12. That's calculated by projecting how many points a team would score per 100 possessions against the average D1 defense (AdjO) and subtract what it would give up per 100 possessions against an average D1 offense (AdjD). In short: AdjO - AdjD = Adjusted Efficiency Margin. The higher the better.
- kp likes NU's defense: it projects that it would give up only 97.4 points per 100 (48th best in D1), while scoring 111.5 per 100 (60th best in D1)
- That would put Northwestern at 57th overall out of 365 D1 teams.
- In '25, they were projected at 51st in preseason, and finished at 44th
- The biggest pre-season to post-season jump was '23 - preseason 70th, and ended 38th - a 32 level differential. Runner up? '17 - preseason 61st, ended 38th - 23 level jump.
- kenpom projects the Cats will finish 8-12 in B1G play in 15th place.
- kenpom ranks conferences by estimating what it would take for a team to go .500 in conference play. With that lens, the B1G is 2nd toughest overall, as it projects that a team would have an +18.76 Adjusted Efficiency Margin in order to go .500 in conference play.
- The SEC is projected as the toughest overall, +20.01.
- Schedule-wise, the Cats are projected to play 23 Tier A+B Games, with 13 of them in the "A" category (that's considered a Top 50 opponent - which also factors playing a Top 100 team on the road)
- Last year, the Cats played 24 Tier A+B Games (14 of them were "A" games). However, that also included Big Ten Tournament games, so it's possible the 'Cats could play even more than currently projected.
- Non-Conference split: in the upcoming '26 season, kp rates 5 of the 11 noncon games as Tier "B" (zero Tier A).
- In '25 only 3 non-con games were rated as Tier "B"
