Northern Iowa's basketball team entered this week’s A.P. poll at No. 20 -highest ranking in school history

5teamparlay · Jan 19, 2010

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[FONT=verdana,arial]January 18, 2010
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[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]UNI debuts at No. 20 in AP men's basketball poll[/FONT]
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The Northern Iowa men’s basketball team entered this week’s Associated Press poll at No. 20 – the highest ranking in school history.

The Panthers (16-1, 7-0 Missouri Valley Conference) were also No. 22 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, released today.
It is just the second time Northern Iowa has been ranked.
The Panthers appeared in the AP poll twice in 2006, for a total of three weeks. Their stays in the top 25 ended with losses, first to Creighton and then Bradley. They visit Wichita State tomorrow night.
Texas survived its first week as the No. 1 team in the poll. The second won't be any easier.

The Longhorns (17-0) moved into the top spot for the first time in school history last week and they stayed there Monday, receiving 57 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel. They won 90-83 at Iowa State in their first game in the top spot and then beat Texas A&M 72-67 in overtime in their first home game as a No. 1 team.

Texas headed to No. 10 Kansas State on Monday night, then plays at Connecticut on Saturday.

Kentucky (18-0), which was No. 1 on eight ballots, Kansas, Villanova and Syracuse remained second through fifth. Michigan State, Duke and Tennessee all moved up one place to sixth through eighth, respectively.

Pittsburgh, which moved into the Top 25 for the first time this season just two weeks ago and has started 5-0 in the Big East, jumped from 16th to ninth. Kansas State was 10th, its first appearance in the top 10 since being ninth in the final poll of the 1972-73 season.

West Virginia was 11th, followed by Georgetown, Purdue, BYU, Gonzaga, Temple, Clemson, Wisconsin, Georgia Tech and Northern Iowa, which is ranked for the second time in school history.

The last five were Ohio State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, North Carolina and Baylor. Ohio State and Mississippi State both returned to poll after being ranked earlier in the season.

The Tar Heels (12-6), who lost two games last week and three of four, dropped from 12th to No. 24, their first time below 13th in the poll since February 2006.

Northern Iowa (16-1) moved in on a 15-game winning streak that began following a loss to DePaul in the opening round of the Paradise Jam. The Panthers were ranked for three weeks in January and February 2006.

Ohio State (13-5) was out of the poll the last two weeks but returned following victories over Purdue and Wisconsin. The Buckeyes have won three of four since the return of Evan Turner, who missed six games after breaking bones in his back while dunking. They split the games he missed, so all but one of their losses have come when Turner was out.

Mississippi State (15-3) was 18th in the preseason Top 25 but was gone quickly following a season-opening loss to Rider. The Bulldogs have won 12 of their last 13 games, including their first three Southeastern Conference games.

UConn (11-6) dropped out from 15th following losses last week to Pittsburgh and Michigan that gave the Huskies their first three-game losing streak since closing 2006-07 with four straight defeats. They were 12th in the preseason poll and ranked as high as 10th this season.

Miami (15-3) moved into the poll for the first time this season at No. 23 last week. The Hurricanes didn't fare well as a ranked team, losing to Virginia Tech and Virginia.

Florida State (14-4) saw a three-week run in the rankings end after losing to North Carolina State last week. The Seminoles, who were 25th, followed that loss with a win over Virginia Tech.
[SIZE=+2]UNI in national rankings[/SIZE]
<STYLE type=text/css>table.tableizer-table {border: 1px solid #CCC; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;} .tableizer-table td {padding: 4px; margin: 3px; border: 1px solid #ccc;}.tableizer-table th {background-color: #104E8B; color: #FFF; font-weight: bold;}</STYLE><TABLE class=tableizer-table><TBODY><TR class=tableizer-firstrow><TH>Date of poll</TH><TH>Coaches</TH><TH>AP</TH></TR><TR><TD>Jan. 30, 2006 </TD><TD>24</TD><TD>25</TD></TR><TR><TD>Feb. 6, 2006 </TD><TD>25</TD><TD>25</TD></TR><TR><TD>Feb. 20, 2006 </TD><TD>-</TD><TD>25</TD></TR><TR><TD>Jan. 18, 2010 </TD><TD>22</TD><TD>20</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

EzMoney012 · Jan 19, 2010

Good for them, well deserved

viking611 · Jan 19, 2010

very solid ball club....will give teams fits in the tourney again...

billsfan · Jan 20, 2010

tough loss this evening.....

5teamparlay · Feb 9, 2010

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/ar...asketball-Panthers-climb-to-No.-19-in-AP-poll

february 8, 2010:

UNI men's basketball: Panthers climb to No. 19 in AP poll
Updated 12:22 pm

The Northern Iowa men’s basketball team reached new heights when the Associated Press poll was released Monday, landing at No. 19 in the weekly rankings.

It was the best showing ever for the Panthers (21-2), who moved up to the NCAA Division I level in 1981-82.
“It is something new for our program, to be in this kind of territory,” senior forward Adam Koch said, “but that could be gone this week, if we lose. We’ll just keep going at it hard and see what happens.”

Northern Iowa’s previous-best AP poll appearance came last month, when it debuted at No.20 before losing 60-51 at Wichita State.

On Wednesday, Drake will try to become the second Missouri Valley Conference rival to upset the Panthers.

“It clearly validates them as one of the best teams in the country,” Bulldogs coach Mark Phelps said. “Anyone would agree, when you play a top 25 team there is an excitement about the possibility of having good success and winning a game like that.”

5teamparlay · Mar 23, 2010

http://www.cbssports.com/columns/story/13102231/meet-northern-iowa-legit-tourney-contender

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</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2><HR></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE width=675><TBODY><TR><TD width="100%">Meet Northern Iowa, legit tourney contender

<TABLE class=storyHeader style="BACKGROUND: url(http://sports.cbsimg.net/images/authors-318x86/8450.jpg) no-repeat left top; HEIGHT: 91px" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=storyInfo style="PADDING-LEFT: 95px" vAlign=top>March 23, 2010
By Gregg Doyel
CBSSports.com National Columnist
Tell Gregg your opinion! </TD><TD class=storySponsor><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SCRIPT type=text/javascript>var cbsiad224_100 = ** 'SP' : "224", 'POS' : "100"};if (location.search.substring(1).indexOf('DCLK')>-1) document.write('<input type="text" value="cbsiad224_100" style="width:400px">
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OKLAHOMA CITY -- Northern Iowa has played the upset card, and played it like a champ, but that hand is finished. There will be no more upsets by Northern Iowa, and not because the ninth-seeded Panthers won't beat No. 5 Michigan State on Friday in the Sweet 16.
Northern Iowa might well beat Michigan State on Friday -- but it wouldn't be an upset. Not any longer. Not after the Panthers pulled off the biggest upset of this NCAA tournament, and one of the biggest upsets of any NCAA tournament, with that 69-67 victory against No. 1 overall seed Kansas on Saturday.
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</TD><TD width=15> </TD></TR><TR><TD width=250>Jordan Eglseder is a rare 7-footer with a good shooting touch. (Getty Images) </TD><TD width=15> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>You only get one of those, you know. Beat Kansas, especially the way Northern Iowa beat Kansas -- thoroughly, wire-to-wire, without the sniff of fluke or fraud -- and you announce yourself as a different kind of presence. Win a game like that, and it's something like a religious experience. You are, in fact, born again.
Northern Iowa went into that Kansas game as a No. 9 seed. A little guy looking for the upset.
Afterward, Northern Iowa was reborn as a legitimate contender for the national championship. And when a legitimate contender for the national championship wins again, it's not an upset. It's what legitimate contenders do. They win games. Big games. Games like Friday against co-Big Ten champion Michigan State in St. Louis.
I'm not predicting a Northern Iowa win over the Spartans. I'm damn sure not predicting a UNI loss, either. I'm just saying: A win wouldn't be an upset. It wouldn't be a surprise. There is a law of the jungle here, or if you prefer a law of the schoolyard, and it goes something like this: Beat up the biggest bully, and you take his place. Maybe you're not going to be sadistic and mean like that bully had been, but if you take out the toughest kid, you become the toughest kid. Or one of the toughest kids.
That's Northern Iowa. You know that now, right? It's OK if you didn't know it after the Panthers' first-round game, a 69-66 victory against eighth-seeded UNLV. Beating UNLV doesn't mean you're the biggest bully on the block. It means you've beaten UNLV. Nine teams beat UNLV this season. Barely-.500 Southern California beat UNLV. So did 14-17 Utah -- twice. It's a nice achievement, beating UNLV, but it's not an enormous deal.
Beating Kansas? That's enormous, even if the Jayhawks were overrated. It's OK to suggest that now, so long as you admit you're saying it in hindsight -- which I am. Before this tournament started, I had Kansas winning the whole thing. Kansas has All-America candidates at point guard and center, and me and you and the polls and the NCAA tournament selection committee were impressed by that, but in hindsight Sherron Collins is too prone to bad decisions and Cole Aldrich is borderline one-dimensional.

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Aldrich is a great defender, but he's mediocre, at best, on offense. If he enters the 2010 NBA Draft, he'll be the same high-pick, low-production disappointment as Arizona's Jordan Hill in 2009, and last year I mocked Hill with a Charmin reference -- before he even entered the draft -- as an NBA prospect. Arizona fans crushed me for it, but I was right. Look, I don't claim to know a lot about basketball prospects, but I know a soft, offensively limited big man when I see one. I saw it in Jordan Hill. And I see it in Cole Aldrich.
Enough about Kansas, which went out with a whimper. Northern Iowa flicked Kansas in the nose and watched the Jayhawks, like so many bullies before them, back down. I'm done with Kansas.
Let's talk about this 30-4 Northern Iowa team and recalibrate what we know about the Panthers. A Cinderella team, or whatever insulting cliché you want to call them? Wrong. Maybe a few days ago it was OK to think so, but not anymore. Not after Kansas.
Northern Iowa has unconventional but legitimate weaponry, including a 7-foot, 280-pound center who doesn't move all that well but has feathery touch from the perimeter. Jordan Eglseder sank two 3-pointers against Kansas, which is bizarre for a guy who had made just one all season, but it's not like he can't shoot. He has now made 15 shots from 3-point range in his career -- that's 15 more than Aldrich, for example -- and he shoots 73.5 percent from the foul line. Eglseder is a big man who can shoot.
Ali Farokhmanesh is a tiny man who can shoot. The 6-0 son of an Iranian volleyball star, Farokhmanesh has made Northern Iowa's two biggest shots of the tournament -- a rushed 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds left to beat UNLV, and a contemplative 3-pointer with 35 seconds left that sealed the win against Kansas.
Kwadzo Ahelegbe is a stocky, strong, quick point guard. Johnny Moran is a skinny, low-scoring, low-assisting, high-impact third guard who drilled the 3-pointer with four minutes left that gave Northern Iowa a 59-53 lead. Adam Koch is a 6-8 power forward who produced one of the more underrated plays of the Kansas game, an offensive rebound with 1:20 left and Northern Iowa leading 61-56. Koch grabbed the missed shot, pivoted away from the Kansas size under the basket, then pivoted all the way around to complete the 360-degree circuit. Now he was alone in front of the rim and -- the hell with it -- Koch dunked it to make it 63-56.
You're not going to see many of these guys, or any of these guys, in the NBA because Northern Iowa doesn't have that kind of physical talent. The Panthers wouldn't make much of an impression walking through the airport or going through a pregame layup drill.
But sooner or later the whistle blows and the game begins, and if Northern Iowa hasn't made much of an impression 40 minutes later, well, you don't know what a great college basketball team looks like.

For more from Gregg Doyel, check him out on Twitter: @greggdoyelcbs