The Carla Berube era has officially arrived in Evanston.
Northwestern women’s basketball will turn the page on a new chapter in program history Tuesday night, when it takes on Milwaukee at 7:00 p.m. CST in its season opener — the ‘Cats’ first-ever regular season game with Berube at the helm.
In anticipation of the season ahead, here are the Inside NU women’s basketball insiders’ predictions for NU’s 2026-27 campaign:
Adam Sutro: 15-17 (5-15 B1G) — 15th in B1G
MVP: Lily Carmody
MIP: Kat Righeimer
Most Impactful
Newcomer: Lily Carmody
First of all, shout out Veronica Burton — WNBA champion for my hometown Golden State Valkyries.
Second of all, I’m all in on the Carla Berube era of Northwestern women’s basketball.
Everywhere Berube’s gone, she’s been a winner. The New England native posted a .800 winning percentage during her 17 years at Tufts, before taking a job at a Princeton program that had gone 22-10 the year prior. In just one season, Berube bolstered the Tigers’ winning percentage by .275, going 26-1 in the 2019-20 season. She would finish her tenure in New Jersey with a .835 winning percentage, taking the Tigers to five-consecutive NCAA Tournaments.
While I don’t think the success will translate as fast when Berube makes the jump to the Big Ten, I do think that Northwestern will see its best season since 2022, the last time it had a winning record.
BartTorvik.com’s preseason women’s college basketball efficiency projections outlines 13 wins for the ‘Cats, with three coming in Big Ten play. I think the ‘Cats will do what they’re expected to do in their non-conference schedule, and then pick up two UPSET wins over conference opponents -– in addition to the three games Torvik expects them to win — finishing the season just a couple wins away from a winning record.
And something else: give me Lily Carmody to be the team’s MVP. She averaged 12.8 points per game last year as a sophomore at a Power Five school (Boston College), despite attempting less than 10 field goals per game. The Carmody-Harter guard duo has true potential to be a dangerous Big Ten backcourt this season.
Drew Christmann: 14-18 (4-14 B1G) — 16th in B1G
MVP: Casey Harter
MIP: Xamiya Walton
Most Impactful Newcomer: Camdyn Nelson
Just like the men’s team, the women’s program had a lot to replace, plus the added challenge of finding a new head coach. Carla Berube’s first season at Northwestern kicks off Tuesday, and she has no small task after being hired this spring. Berube went into the transfer portal looking to replace last year’s team’s biggest contributors, including Grace Sullivan’s 21.4 points per game and Carolin Lau’s nation-leading 8.4 assists per game. Despite that, Northwestern still finished with fewer than nine wins for the fourth-straight season, with a record of 8-21, including losses in the last 21 of its 23 games.
But despite the uphill battle and my own predictions, I’m cautiously optimistic about this group. My MVP pick, Harter, has improved every year in Evanston and had a great debut against Lewis, scoring 24 points on 9-for-18 shooting, and she’s shown she can show up in big games with 20 against USC in last season’s loss.
Junior guard Xamiya Walton is my most improved player pick because of the role she’ll have to take on this season. Walton shot 38.7% from deep last season and will now have to take on more ball-handling with Lau gone. But I don’t think she’ll be alone in that regard, mostly because of my pick for most impactful newcomer, sophomore guard Camdyn Nelson, who played high school basketball with Lau and had a near triple-double in her Wildcat debut with 10 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
If those three can click by February, with help from other newcomers like Lily Carmody and Lexi Blue, plus Kat Righeimer back for her junior year, this team can finish higher than expected.
Anya Weerapana: 14-18 (4-14 B1G) — 16th in B1G
MVP: Casey Harter
MIP: Xamiya Walton
Most Impactful Newcomer: Lily Carmody
I am going to take a big chance here and say that Harter, Walton and Carmody are going to form the team’s “holy trinity” of players. Though they are in no way, shape or form replacements for the gaping holes left by Caroline Lau and Grace Sullivan in the twilight of the Joe McKeown era, they are going to be instrumental in Berube’s new reign as coach.
Like the others above me have said, Walton’s clear advantage comes from her three-point shooting capabilities. Walton’s main weakness has nothing to do with her own talent; rather, it’s a problem endemic to this Northwestern team: height. At 5-foot-7, Walton needs to navigate a sea of players much taller than her. To do so on a team that is asking more of her this year than ever before seems like a qualifier that lends itself naturally to carrying that MIP slot.
Harter is in a similar position to Walton in terms of her ceiling limit this season. She tallied 261 points last year leading the Wildcats’ returners. She’ll be a good one to watch in terms of overall team performance — I suspect that how Harter does and leads will largely reflect how the Northwestern team performs as a whole.
Speaking of Harter, let’s talk about Carmody. These two are going to be a lethal combination in Berube’s arsenal, and I’m really excited to see them work together. I’m partial to Carmody because she transferred from Boston College, a few minutes from where I’m from, and also because I think the addition of a strong Power Four guard is something this team has desperately needed. The added bonus of Carmody’s ability to pull strong games out of her back pocket — she tallied a season-high 27 points last season against SMU — will only make this Northwestern team stronger.
Charlie Jacobs: 16-16 (6-12 B1G)
MVP: Xamiya Walton
MIP: Xamiya Walton
Most Impactful Newcomer: Lily Carmody
To be honest, I don’t know as much about this women’s basketball team as the other writers who wrote entries here. What I will say is that Carla Berube has proven that she can win. There is momentum for the program after Veronica Burton helped lead Golden State to a WNBA title in the second season of the franchise. And even though there are a lot of questions with this roster, this year could be the perfect stepping stone for Berube to show the first glimpses of her influence.
I think Xamiya Walton will elevate to be the best player on this team. If her three-point shot is consistent, even shooting above 38% on about 4.5 attempts a game, that would be enormous for this Northwestern team that shot just 30.1% from deep last season (17th in the conference). Walton was the team’s best 3-point shooter last season, and she’ll only see her opportunities increase. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a few games where she gets hot and knocks down five or more triples to help Northwestern surprise some teams.
Lily Carmody should immediately make an impact as well. Last year for Boston College, she shot 47.2% from the field on just under 10 attempts per game while averaging 12.8 points per game. She should also see an uptick in usage despite starting 29 games last season, and her combined with Walton and Casey Harter should make for a fun backcourt. I’m betting on the coach here, which is something that has been proven to be a big deal in professional and collegiate sports. Even if one roster is more talented than the other, coaching can mean that much more.
