Final Week

[glm38]

Good luck to both WSU and UNI in their mid week games tomorrow. That will hopefully set up an EPIC game on Sat in Wichita.

[glm38]

I didn't care about the UNI game any more than any of the other games last year.

I would care about Saturday's game the exact same amount if it was Loyola ranked #10 and tied for first in the conference. It's not more exciting for me because it's UNI.

The above has to be false in order for it to ever be a rivalry.

Totally agree here.

It's a big game on Saturday because of several reasons. Gameday is in town. A Valley title is on the line. A game against a Top 10 ranked team is happening. It's not big because it's UNI. It could be any team and I would feel the same way. UNI has been mediocre the last several years. If they consistently were at the top and in national relevance longer than 1 year stretches, then things could get interesting. But as it is, UNI is like a 2011 Missouri State in terms of a "rivalry".

I do agree with you to a certain degree. However Jacobsen is still a young coach and seems to be growing more proficient in his position as time goes by. UNI may always go in cycles as opposed to sustained excellence. But I would argue they will probably shorten those cycles as long as Jacobsen is there. And they are already light years ahead of a one hit wonder like the Bears in 2011. If both Marshall and Jacobsen stay in place I'd be willing to bet a true rivalry will come about.

[Championz]

You may have a point glm, but I'm a bit skeptical about the consistency thing. I guess we'll find out next year what the Panthers do.

An interesting statistic to ponder. UNI hasn't won in St. Louis since 2010. Not 1 game. That's pretty crazy.

[unipanther99]

Also remember, the low point in UNI's "cycles" still involve winning seasons. UNI has 12 winning seasons in a row, nobody else is close to that. Granted our highs haven't been as high as WSU's, but we've been consistently good and occasionally great.

[UNIFanSince1983]

Most teams at this level go in cycles. It is simply because getting impact freshmen to our schools isn't likely.

Our cycles have gotten long because we got to a point where we are getting big recruiting classes like every 4 years. So 2010 we had tons of Seniors. We bring in a big recruiting class in 2011, and then we have a great team again in 2015 their Senior year. Now this year we have another decent sized class again. Hopefully though we built up enough in between that we won't fall off quite as much as we did between these big classes. Hopefully there is an impact player or two in this group so we can keep it up next year since we do return quite a bit even with losing quite a bit.

I am curious to see what happens at Wichita when Ronny and Freddy are gone. These are two rare freshmen that did make a big impact along with impact transfers. I would think with all the national attention WSU has been getting being consistently good the last 3 years that they should be able to bring in more impact players that don't normally come to a Valley school. It is impossible to tell what the future holds now, but I think WSU for sure and hopefully UNI have positioned themselves for some good sustained success.

[uniftw]

You may have a point glm, but I'm a bit skeptical about the consistency thing. I guess we'll find out next year what the Panthers do.

An interesting statistic to ponder. UNI hasn't won in St. Louis since 2010. Not 1 game. That's pretty crazy.

Already chronicled with the McD thing, no matter how you want to downplay the effect that had on the post play at UNI for a couple years.

Remember that 2011 (the year after the S16) UNI was something like 19-6 and a half game out of first place after beating ISUr. Lucas O'Rear was the only post player that year (McD's freshman year and the year before Tuttle) and UNI lost 8 of of it's last 10 to finish the season and was only a 3 point loss to CU in St Louis.

We then had to rely on, essentially, 1 post player for the first 3 years with Tuttle. This year we finally have some depth that can give decent minutes at the 4 and 5 and shockingly UNI is pretty good again. Look at 09/10 and 08/09, those teams were highlighted by the post play.

There's some depth, even if to be tested, built up that UNI hasn't had since that S16 season. I don't see another season like last for a very long time, unless something crazy happens.

[unipanther99]

An interesting statistic to ponder. UNI hasn't won in St. Louis since 2010. Not 1 game. That's pretty crazy.

A WSU fan commenting about UNI's success in St. Louis is like a UNI fan commenting about Loyola's attendance.

[Wufan]

The cyclic nature of non blue-blood basketball is certainly a phenomenon that UNI needs to avoid.

First step is to get a coach that is capable: UNI Check

2. Retain said coach: UNI Check

3. Consistently recruit at a high level: Still waiting

Gonzaga is the only examples of this from the smaller conferences. Gregg Marshall signed Toure Murry, David Kyles, and Garrett Stutz in his first class. In their final year, Marshall signed Cotton and Baker, and VanVleet the next year. Throughout those years Marshall filled gaps by landing high talent JUCOs (difference between Marshall and Jacobson is the ability to get one or two year impact guys consistently). Once VanVleet and Baker are gone it will be up to Marshall to prove that he's capable of performing at a high level through 3 recruiting cycles, at which time WSU and VCU will join the ranks of Gonzaga.

Interestingly, we happen to have three top 100 players joining the roster next season.

[Redbird23]

After Tonight...

Wichita by 14
Birds by 8
Missouri St by 4
Drake by 7
UNI by 11

1-UNI*
2-Wichita State*
3-Indiana State*
4-Illinois State*
5-Evansville
6-Drake
7-Loyola
8-Missouri State
9-Southern Illinois
10-Bradley

[rlh04d]

An interesting statistic to ponder. UNI hasn't won in St. Louis since 2010. Not 1 game. That's pretty crazy.

A WSU fan commenting about UNI's success in St. Louis is like a UNI fan commenting about Loyola's attendance.

That would only be true if UNI had good attendance this year. At least WSU won once