A Veteran Move: Chris Collins Goes Tarps Off For His Locker Room Celebration After Beating No. 10 Illinois

I want to blog about Northwestern, because, well I don't know how else to say it, they are good this year. At the minimum they are relevant because after beating Illinois last night they have a couple top-10 wins now. We'll get to them in a second, right now we gotta talk about Chris Collins. Going tarps off when you know you're going to get doused in water is a vet move. That's something you can't teach and this has completely flipped my mind on Chris Collins. I always thought he was fine. I mean, I know it's impossible to win at Northwestern and the fact he's brought them to two (soon to be 3) NCAA Tournaments in his 11 years is fucking up there in terms of impressive. But he always just seemed to be Doug Collins' son or something like that.

Nope. Dude is coaching his ass off and making moves like this. He went from crying after wins to now blasting some bare chest. That's something to be applauded. That's growth. We're seeing a new Northwestern and it's a shirtless Chris Collins and Boo Buie. If you're a casual fan and don't know Boo Buie, you're going to fall in love with him in March. 

I know they still lost to Chicago State, but this is Northwestern we're talking about here. They are going to have a terrible loss, even when they are good. The real sign that Northwestern is for real? Their students didn't rush the court. Even for all the nerds like Greenberg, Wilbon, WhiteSoxDave, etc that go there and talk nonstop about it, they didn't rush the court like they always do after a big win. A real sign that Northwestern has arrived as a decent team. A respectable team even. 

You don't last 11 years at Northwestern without having some sort of leadership and that's shown here. Tarps off so you don't ruin a shirt is as savvy as it gets.