Northwestern basketball commit tweets about potential matchup with Kansas

UPDATE: An athletic department spokesperson, when reached by email, did not confirm nor deny that Northwestern would play Kansas this season. He said that the program would "announce the entire non-conference schedule once everything is set."

UPDATE: Pardon's tweet has since been deleted. Also, Luke Srodulski of Wildcat Digest tweeted that, per a source, Kansas is not on Northwestern's schedule.

Dererk Pardon, a three-star forward from Cleveland who will join Northwestern next fall, tweeted Monday about a potential matchup with powerhouse Kansas during the 2015-16 basketball season.

Pardon tagged Carlton Bragg in the tweet, a high school teammate at Villa Angela-St. Joseph who has signed to play for Kansas.

If this is true, Northwestern will add Kansas to a non-conference schedule that already features a possible matchup with North Carolina at the four-team CBE Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Mo. in late November. Kansas State and Missouri are also slated to play in the tournament.

The move would indicate a complete shift from the strategy Chris Collins implored last season, admitting to scheduling a relatively easy non-conference schedule to allow for his young team to get acclimated to each other and the college game.

It is also, though, consistent with Collins' desire to make Northwestern more of a national brand. A game against Kansas would provide the program with a major stage and increased exposure.

Kansas is also unafraid to schedule fellow power-conference foes in the preseason. In 2014, the Jayhawks played Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan State, Florida and Utah in November and December.

This story will be updated as more details become available.