CHICAGO — Northwestern men’s basketball coach Chris Collins expected there would be some roster turnover this spring beyond the departure of star forward Nick Martinelli to the NBA — though maybe not to the extent the Wildcats experienced.

Collins has taken pride in the development of some of the players who have stuck with the program through the years, including Martinelli. But after the Wildcats finished 15-19 last season and 5-15 in the Big Ten, nine players transferred out, including the top three scorers behind Martinelli: Arrinten Page, Jayden Reid and Tre Singleton.

When all of the player movement wrapped up, Collins was left with just three players from last season’s team: guards Jake West, Angelo Ciaravino and Phoenix Gill. Collins said he didn’t knock the players who left.

“Mostly, I knock myself,” he said. “I didn’t think I did a great job constructing last year’s roster. It’s no use rehashing it all, but I didn’t think I did the best job in putting that team together, which lent itself to more unhappiness and guys wanting to do other stuff and want better fits. I wish all those guys the best. They’re all good guys.

“But looking back now, it’s been a little bit of a refresher for all of us. You get a new group in here and reestablish the things that are really important to me as a coach, as a leader of the program. All the guys that we have in that locker room I know are excited to be here. They want to be at Northwestern. They want to represent. They’re hungry to be here.”

Collins and his staff treated it as a clean slate to figure out what types of players they wanted to target.

Along with players who would fit their culture, they first went after players with experience. Collins felt last season’s team, with lots of freshmen and sophomores, was too young to compete the way he wanted. They targeted positional size because Collins sees that as a trend in the Big Ten. And they went after solid shooters after Northwestern shot 46% from the field and 33% from 3-point range last season.

The Wildcats brought in eight transfers to go with their three returnees and three freshmen.

Forward Jack Karasinski (Bellarmine) and guard LA Pratt (Northeastern) are two of the experienced newcomers. Karasinski joined the Wildcats after averaging 21.7 points and 4.7 rebounds in his fourth college season. Pratt played three seasons at Elon and Northeastern before a foot injury knocked him out early last year.

Forwards Luke McEldon (Mount St. Mary’s), Okku Federiko (Drake) and Colin Smith (UC Santa Barbara), who had offseason ankle surgery, are among the other notable transfers. Four-star freshman guard Jayden Hodge remains out as he recovers from January knee surgery.

West said the experience has helped as the Wildcats try to get the new group in sync.

“The big thing is maturity,” West said. “When you have a group of guys that have been around the game for a while, they hold themselves to a high standard. So whether that’s being in the training room 30 minutes before practice or staying after practice or making sure you’re going in the cold tub, those things are important and those are winning habits.

“So when you have guys that are older and more mature in the locker room, it starts to bring a lot of winning habits to your team, and those younger guys start to latch on to those winning habits.”

West, Ciaravino and Gill have stepped into leadership roles given all of the turnover.

West, a sophomore point guard who came on strong at the end of last season, averaged 5.3 points and 2.8 assists. Ciaravino, a junior from Mount Carmel, averaged 6.3 points and 3.9 rebounds. Gill, a sophomore from St. Ignatius, played in just 11 games.

Collins said it wasn’t easy for them to handle last season’s disappointment and the program’s massive reset, but he was proud of how they did.

“For those guys to reaffirm their belief in our program, their belief in me, knowing that they’re in the right spot for their personal development, for the growth of this program,” Collins said. “For them to come into my office (and say), ‘Coach, let’s get this right. Let’s go out and get some guys, and we want to be the ones to lead the way,’ I’m really proud of them for that.

“And their actions have shown it this summer and this fall, and their games have gotten better because of it. When you step up in leadership and you’re more vocal and you hold yourself more accountable, you get better.”

The Wildcats had some bumps to iron out as they prepare for the season and what will be the first taste of Big Ten play for most of their newcomers. They lost their exhibition opener 70-64 to Illinois State, which made the NIT semifinals last season, and were blown out 94-59 by Iowa State in their second exhibition.

Collins said Northwestern will be stylistically different than last season, when the Wildcats centered their offense around Martinelli and his unique midrange game. Collins anticipates more movement, cutting, off-ball activity and screening.

The Wildcats also will be in search of a scoring leader. Martinelli holds the two best scoring seasons in Northwestern history and averaged 23 points and 6.2 rebounds last season.

“Everyone’s just got to give it everything they’ve got,” Ciaravino said of replacing Martinelli. “We’ve got a lot of shooting this year. Definitely the outside shooting is going to be key for us. Spreading the floor, playing faster, guard play. I feel like all around, everyone’s just got to step it up because that’s definitely a big piece that’s going to be missed.”

One piece of the roster construction picture that Collins faced this offseason — in both retaining and drawing players — is the financial backing to pay them.

Collins, West and Ciaravino spoke at Big Ten media days the week after Northwestern football opened the new $875 million Ryan Field. The Wildcats football team built some buzz in the last year with the stadium opening, big-name staff hirings and transfers and publicized financial commitments.

Collins was asked if he felt like men’s basketball was still a priority. He said he hoped so, noting new Northwestern President Mung Chiang’s interest in and support of athletic programs and athletic director Mark Jackson’s work.

“(Jackson) is committed to doing everything we can to get on par with what everybody else is doing in our league,” Collins said. “Are we there yet? No, we’re not. But hopefully we can keep pushing and get to the point where we feel we can be competitive from a resource standpoint with the rest of our league. And I’m confident that we can.”

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