Basketball season is nearly here, which means it’s time for one of the most anticipated days of the year: media day!
Inside NU and the rest of the media heard first from Big Ten coaches and players, including first-year Northwestern head coach Carla Berube, senior guard Casey Harter and junior guard Xamiya Walton, on Wednesday at Big Ten Basketball Media Day in Rosemont, Illinois.
Berube, hired from Princeton in March, replaces retired Joe McKeown, who spent the last 18 years with the program. She
welcomes back eight returners and seven newcomers. Here are the main takeaways from the day.
The ‘Cats are hanging their hats on defense
When asked about the Wildcats’ new identity under her, Berube didn’t hesitate to point to the defensive side of the ball.
“We’re hanging our hats on our defense, and you can’t hang every hat on defense, but that is, for me, the foundation,” Berube said. “If you can play good defense, offense can come from that. The offense is always a work in progress. You’ve got to really develop that chemistry on the offensive end.”
Berube told reporters she and her staff spent much of the offseason working on that side of the ball.
“I want Big Ten opponents, conference opponents, to not like coming into Welsh-Ryan and knowing what it feels like in there,” Berube said. “We’ve got such a great fan base that is behind us, and you’re gonna face some really gritty basketball.”
She laid out that identity in plain terms afterward.
“Teams don’t want to come and play us; there’s a toughness,” Berube said. “There’s a togetherness, there’s an unselfishness, there’s incredible communication, great energy that you’re feeling every single day.”
“I feel like a lot of defensive principles are pretty similar program to program, but the little details that she wants us to work on, specific places to be and how to do certain things, are always different,” Harter said. “It’s been successful in practice, so we’re excited to see it translate to games.”
The result, Harter said, should be a more aggressive group.
“I think this year we’re gonna be more aggressive and make it tougher for the other teams,” she said. “We want to be aggressive, we want to be gritty. We want to be on the floor.”
Berube also made it clear that she wasn’t trying to reinvent herself coming from the Ivy League to the Big Ten. She said many of the principles and philosophies she built at Princeton will largely stay intact, with minor changes to actions and coverages.
“It seems to have worked out OK at Princeton,” she said.
That’s putting it lightly, considering her 147–29 record with the Tigers, five Ivy League championships and five NCAA Tournament appearances, including just last season, when they entered as a 9-seed.
“Lift the boat”
With seven transfers and eight returners, Northwestern is effectively starting from square one. Berube said building chemistry with the roster has been a big priority this offseason.
“What was really important is for them to play connected,” Berube said. “It doesn’t just happen overnight. You really gotta spend some time together off the court, on the court.”
Berube said the team’s identity is still taking shape ahead of its first exhibition match against Lewis on Oct. 30.
“We’ll definitely try some different lineups, different players playing together,” Berube said. “It’s all trial and error, especially early in the season, in the non-conference. The non-conference is really to get ready for your conference play.”
Berube took full advantage of the transfer portal, which opened just two weeks after her hiring. Berube’s one word on the experience: a whirlwind.
“I think we’ve done a really good job,” Berube said. “I think we got four really great players in the portal.”
Two of them have already done their part, stepping up to leading roles: junior guard Lily Carmody from Boston College and junior guard Lexi Blue from Kentucky. Sophomore forward Jasmyn Cooper-Derba from Syracuse rounds out the transfer class.
“Lily Carmody, one of our transfers, has really emerged as a great leader,” Berube said. “Lexi Blue, as well, transferred from Kentucky, another strong leader.”
Harter also expressed excitement about the newcomers.
“She’s gonna bring a lot of experience for us, and she’s pretty versatile,” Harter said of Carmody. “She’s super physical, so we’re excited.”
The group has already done its part in establishing its identity, with a new slogan to pair with it.
“We have a saying called ‘Lift the boat,'” Harter said. “It just keeps everybody rising, and no one falls behind. So just keeping the standard that [Berube] set for us.”
“It takes 15 people to win a game, not just one or two or five,” Walton added.
That chemistry has extended beyond practice, with the team tailgating ahead of Northwestern football’s first game at the new Ryan Field and hosting game nights together.
“We love playing board games together, so we all just hang out at each other’s apartments and play games,” Harter said.
Casey Harter gets the face-of-the-program nod, despite her objections
When reporters asked the two players who the new face of the team is with Grace Sullivan gone, Walton didn’t hesitate: “Casey.” Harter pushed back quickly, insisting there was no face of the team. Walton wouldn’t budge.
“If I had to pick individually, it’s Casey,” Walton said. “She embodies everything that our team is.”
Berube backed up that sentiment.
“Casey doesn’t take a play off,” Berube said. “You have to rip Casey off the floor if she’s doing too much. She always wants to be in the gym. She always wants to get better. She plays incredibly hard. She’s all over the court. She runs hard, she defends hard, she attacks the basket hard.”
Berube’s one critique was that Harter needs to be more vocal.
“She certainly is a leader by example, but can she talk more? Absolutely,” Berube said. “She’s an integral part of our team, and she competes in everything she does.”
Walton also pointed out Harter’s dependability.
“She’s very reliable, consistent,” Walton said. “Having somebody out there that you can always rely on every night, getting into her spots, scoring, playing defense and doing the little things.”
During the offseason, Harter spent her time preparing to take over the scoring load left behind by Sullivan, who finished 13th in the country last season with 21.4 points per game.
“Last year, obviously, Grace took a lot of the load, scoring-wise,” Harter said. “So I’d say just working on being more of a three-level scorer, getting to my midrange more, but also just being able to run in transition and finish.”
Walton trades off-ball duties for the point
Caroline Lau, who led the nation in assists per game last season with 8.4, graduated and moved to Manchester Basketball in the U.K. Much of the offense now falls to Walton, who spent much of her offseason adjusting from her off-ball role last season.
“I was more dominantly off-ball, so really sinking into that point guard role and being able to run the new offense,” Walton said.
Harter was complimentary of her backcourt running mate on her offseason progress.
“Xamiya is great because she’s a point guard, but she also is just very calming out there,” Harter said. “It’s big to have a point guard that takes control of the floor and just stays calm under pressure. She’s done a great job already in the offseason working on controlling the offense, getting us set, getting us organized.”
Berube was impressed with the pairing too.
“These two know each other very well,” Berube said of Harter and Walton. “That’s a great backcourt.”
Walton is growing more and more comfortable in Evanston, welcoming a familiar face to the locker room: her younger sister, first-year guard Xyanna Walton.
“It’s been fantastic,” Walton said. “I feel like I’m getting flashbacks to high school and elementary school, so it’s a lot of fun. Definitely not something a lot of people get to do, so I’m enjoying every moment.”
Berube’s eyes are on the NCAA Tournament, eventually
It’s pretty clear that last season was far from perfect for the Wildcats. Northwestern finished the season 8-21, went 2-16 in conference play and ended on an 11-game losing streak.
Berube said that she’s made sure that the team hasn’t spent any time revisiting the past.
“We’re facing forward, not looking back,” Berube said.
Despite Northwestern not winning more than nine games in a season since 2021-22, Berube has big goals as she begins her time in Evanston.
“To be back in the NCAA Tournament, to be at the top of the Big Ten conference, to get Welsh-Ryan packed again with fans that really enjoy watching us play, that there’s a buzz around town about Northwestern women’s basketball,” Berube said. “This is a destination. This isn’t a place where players are coming in and out. We want players to stay at Northwestern and really care about what’s written across their chest.”
In the short term, she’s not measuring progress through the record.
“Of course, we want to win games,” Berube said. “But what that win-loss record looks like, that’s not really important to me right now. It is taking those important steps forward.”
The team fully supports those big goals, taking on the underdog this season with pride.
“We’re excited to be that underdog,” Harter said. “We’re gonna take it to heart and come out and fight every game.“
Berube has plenty of support in the fight, including her predecessor, McKeown, who has offered advice on navigating the Big Ten and even the best golf course to play in the area.
“Every conversation is great and usually comical. He’s a really funny guy, a great guy,” Berube said of McKeown. “He loves Northwestern. It’s such an important part of his fabric.”
She’s also taking inspiration from some of Northwestern’s most successful coaches, including field hockey’s Tracey Fuchs, lacrosse’s Kelly Amonte Hiller and softball’s Kate and Caryl Drohan.
“There’s no better place to be right now in college sports,” Berube said, “the way that we can give both an incredible degree and then this awesome athletic experience.”
The Wildcats begin their season against Milwaukee in Welsh-Ryan Arena on Nov. 3, shortly after the Lewis exhibition on Oct. 30. Wins may be the measuring stick eventually, but for right now, Berube’s first test is whether the roster can start to look like the team she described.
