<p>Stanford’s basketball team is consistently in the NCAA tournament, and if I’m not mistaken they were a top seed a couple years back. Northwestern has never been in the tournament… big difference. </p>
<p>Another factor that doesn’t help NU athletics is that they are in the Big 10 having to play schools like Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Michigan who are consistently top teams in both football and basketball. Having to compete against top programs makes it harder for them to have success and get noticed. Plus unless they are really good they cant get a bid in the NCAA tournament whereas some teams that are in small conferences get automatic bids to the tournament.</p>