10 Copyright (c) 2009 Yahoo!, Inc. All rights reserved. en-us 126 15 http://sports.yahoo.com http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/sp/b/ysp_logo_rss.gif Latest news and information about the Northwestern Wildcats. http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/teams/nbd <p><p>Northwestern finished in ninth place in the Big Ten. But with the possible exception of Michigan, which nearly reached the Sweet Sixteen in its first NCAA appearance since 1998, nobody in the league enjoyed a bigger, better rise than the Wildcats.</p> <p>NU jumped from 8-22 overall (and 1-17 in a relatively weak league) to 17-14 overall and 8-10 in a powerful Big Ten that sent seven teams to the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats set a school record for wins over Top 25 opponents (three), tied the school record for regular-season wins and earned the school's first postseason bid since 1999.</p> <p>How did this happen? It started with the Wildcats retaining nearly 90 percent of their scoring and rebounding from the year before. Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:00:36 PDT ncaab urn:newsml:sports.yahoo,sportsxchange:20080101:ncaab,article,teamreports-2009-ncaab-nbd:1 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:00:36 PDT