West Lot Pirates

We all thought that in 2024 we would be welcoming in 2 new schools from the west coast into the Big Ten. But as the great Lee Corso would say, not so fast my friends! The Pac-12 appears to be no more and the Big Ten will be swelling to 18 teams with the addition of Oregon and Washington to the mix. We also continue our summer previews with a look at Nebraska and Maryland.

As we turn the calendar to August, we find ourselves within just a few weeks of the start of the football season. With all the off field trouble not going anywhere, it's time to take a look at the first six teams on the Northwestern schedule.

As the lawsuits start flying in, we had the great honor to welcome The Athletic's own Kalyn Kahler back to the show to give her thoughts and perspectives from reporting on the increasingly messy hazing scandal.

A week after the hazing scandal broke and Pat Fitzgerald was fired we still have more questions than answers. Tonight, we examine the failures of the Athletic Department in this case and the horrible situation surrounding Jim Foster and the baseball program

Where even to begin. This has been an incredibly difficult weekend for anyone associated with and fans of the Northwestern program. With the investigation into the hazing scandal finishing and leading to the firing of Pat Fitzgerald, we try to work through our feelings, talk about what happened and begin to think about where we go from here.

For so many years, Ohio State ran roughshod over the rest of the Big Ten. But recently, Michigan has swung the pendulum the other way. Does OSU have what it takes to get back on top?

We start off our summer previews by examining the Big Ten teams not on Northwestern's schedule. We kick things off with a look at the defending Big Ten Champion Michigan Wolverines.

We had the tremendous opportunity to catch up with Northwestern Basketball's all-time points leader, MVP of the EuroCup Finals, the Baby-Faced Assassin and all-around great guy John Shurna. Join us in a wide reaching conversation about his career overseas, NU Hoops and much, much more.

With a dominant performance in NC this weekend, the NU Lacrosse team brought home their 8th National Championship! Tonight, we break down this incredible squad and reminisce about their amazing journey. We also reflect on the remarkable performance of the Softball team as their bid to go back to OKC came up just short against Bama.

NU Lax is back in the Final Four for the fourth consecutive year with a decisive win over Loyola Maryland. They'll head out to Cary, NC to take on Denver with a bid in the Championship game on the line. Softball advanced to the Super Regionals with dramatic wins in the Evanston Regional. Tonight, we discuss all this in addition to some news from the Football recruiting trail.

With Softball winning the Big Ten Tournament and Lacrosse advancing to the NCAA Elite Eight, we welcome back the voice of NU Spring Sports, Noah Coffman to dive deep into the details of these two amazing teams.

As Softball and Lacrosse enter the postseason tournaments, we got a very welcome surprise from the world of basketball. Boo Buie is coming back for one more season to build on an incredible run last year. Tonight, we get into why this is such a big deal for the team and for the fans.

The regular seasons of Softball and Lacrosse are winding down but the postseason will welcome a pair of Big Ten Champs to their respective tournaments. We also have news from the gridiron with 4 Wildcats getting drafted and 3 more invited to tryout camps. In addition, we have some new additions to the team emerging out of the transfer portal.

After we check in with the white-hot Lacrosse and Softball teams, we take a deeper look at the state of transfers both coming in and going out of Northwestern.

The landscape of the opportunities for college athletes to capitalize on their Name, Image and Likeness is wild and crazy. To help us get a better handle on what NIL is and how Northwestern is participating, we are thrilled to welcome Jacob Schmidt from TrueNU, Northwestern's NIL Collective.

With the Vernal Equinox in our rear view mirror, our attention turns solely on the Spring Sports. To help us break down the Softball team, we welcome in Ben Rosenberg who has been following/covering this squad since 2018.

Although the road ended in the 2nd round, the Northwestern Men's Basketball team showed out magnificently in Sacramento. From the win against Boise St. in the first round to a marvelous performance against UCLA that came up just short, these guys acquitted themselves exactly how we wanted to see them. Tonight, we marvel at the weekend that was, including major wins from both Softball and Lacrosse.

With the start of March Madness comes the oldest tradition in the history of the West Lot Pirates, our annual Bracketology pod with Scott Sepich. This time, much like back in 2017, we have something else to discuss: Northwestern's position in the tournament, what kind of matchup to expect from Boise State and a possible date with future conference foe UCLA potentially in round 2.

With this Sunday's win over Rutgers, the Cats enter the Big Ten Tournament as the 2nd Seed with a double bye. We try to put into perspective what kind of season this has been for NU and try to figure out how deep into March this team can go.

While the stadium and atmosphere was electric for Senior Night, it was not the result we were hoping for. We look back at Northwestern's 3rd consecutive loss (the first such losing streak this season) and try to project ahead to what we will be seeing in the Big Ten Tournament next week.