Valley Exhibition Games

by **unifight789** » October 29th, 2016, 8:03 am

UNI played an exhibition game last night beating Bemidji State 71-48. McCloud, Morgan, Lohaus, and Haldaman all with 10. 9 from Jordan Ashton who was the surprise starter from the game.

Has anyone else had exhibition game yet?

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by **SubGod22** » October 29th, 2016, 8:21 am

I believe Wichita plays next Saturday afternoon.

by **Wufan** » October 29th, 2016, 9:59 am

unifight789 wrote:UNI played an exhibition game last night beating Bemidji State 71-48. McCloud, Morgan, Lohaus, and Haldaman all with 10. 9 from Jordan Ashton who was the surprise starter from the game.

Has anyone else had exhibition game yet?

Ashton didn't start did he? I thought it was McCloud, Lohaus, Morgan, Carlson, and Koch.

I watched the first half on espn3. UNI has a great returning core in Morgan, Carlson, and Koch. There is some real talent in the backcourt. McCloud, Halderman, Rhodes, Ashton, Brown and Lohaus all offer something a little different and I would imagine that four of those six will play and be good. Some will take longer to develop than others, but I would imagine a deep and solid guard rotation with some upside.

Koch and Carlson already put the front court of the panthers at or near the top of the Valley. Dahl is big, and might be real good before he graduates, but he has a ways to go. McDonnel and Friedman didn't impress me much.

by **PantherSigEp** » October 29th, 2016, 5:59 pm

Wufan wrote:
unifight789 wrote:UNI played an exhibition game last night beating Bemidji State 71-48. McCloud, Morgan, Lohaus, and Haldaman all with 10. 9 from Jordan Ashton who was the surprise starter from the game.

Has anyone else had exhibition game yet?

Ashton didn't start did he? I thought it was McCloud, Lohaus, Morgan, Carlson, and Koch.

I watched the first half on espn3. UNI has a great returning core in Morgan, Carlson, and Koch. There is some real talent in the backcourt. McCloud, Halderman, Rhodes, Ashton, Brown and Lohaus all offer something a little different and I would imagine that four of those six will play and be good. Some will take longer to develop than others, but I would imagine a deep and solid guard rotation with some upside.

Koch and Carlson already put the front court of the panthers at or near the top of the Valley. Dahl is big, and might be real good before he graduates, but he has a ways to go. McDonnel and Friedman didn't impress me much.

Ashton did start. Lohaus came off the bench as he did last year.

Dahl has some decent footwork for a big guy and you can't teach that size. I heard he's a legit 6'11, nearly 7' after growing a bit more this past year. McDonnell will need some time still as he apparently slipped on ice this past year and suffered a significant injury. He claims to be back to 100% now, which I'm sure is true, but he missed some valuable time practicing, drilling, etc...from spring to summer.

by **Wufan** » October 29th, 2016, 8:27 pm

If I was a Panther fan (and I am in the non-con and post season), I'd be optimistic about the program in the future. They will good this year, but I certainly haven't seen enough to know how good.

by **shockalot** » October 29th, 2016, 9:19 pm

As of now, I think UNI looks to be the team that will give WSU more competition for the regular season MVC championship than ISUr.
A lot of question marks of course for many conference teams, but UNI has maintained a line of talent and intangibles, like character and coaching, that go a long way toward making and maintaining a quality program.

by **mule** » October 30th, 2016, 12:53 pm

UE beat St. Louis yesterday in a closed scrimmage. No details other than it was closer than it should have been.

by **Wufan** » October 30th, 2016, 1:55 pm

mule wrote:UE beat St. Louis yesterday in a closed scrimmage. No details other than it was closer than it should have been.

WSU takes on Aston Louis later this year. My understanding is they are down this year.

by **MSUDuo** » October 30th, 2016, 1:59 pm

They won't be down for long. Ford has a 4 star commit for next year and a 5 star commit the year after that. Of course, things could change and verbals aren't binding...

by **uniftw** » October 30th, 2016, 2:09 pm

Wufan wrote:If I was a Panther fan (and I am in the non-con and post season), I'd be optimistic about the program in the future. They will good this year, but I certainly haven't seen enough to know how good.

As I said in the "third place" poll thread. The talent at UNI for the freshman (RS and true) class is higher than it's ever been as a group, and I'm not sure it's close.

You mentioned McCloud, Halderman, Rhodes, Ashton, Brown and Lohaus.

McCloud is going to be really, really, good. He's athletically where Washpun was last year at 18 years old. Once he gets a feel for the game it's going to be nuts to see a PG with that skill set in a UNI uniform. He threw a no look, thread the needle, pass in the lane to Haldeman for a lay up in the second half and I'm not sure I've ever seen a Panther throw a pass like that.

Haldeman is the new Matty Bo who was the new Marc Sonnen who was the new Johnny Moran. He's not going to dazzle anyone athletically. He's mostly unremarkable. However, he shoots and he shoots well. He knows what he can and can't do. He is an ideal "Jake system" guy.

Rhose - see Haldeman. He won't break anyone ankles. He'll likely lead very few fast breaks. Likely won't fill a stat sheet. He brings intelligence and poise being a junior and having won a JUCO national title. He's nearly the exact opposite of McCloud in style of play but looks like a solid back up for two years.

Ashton starting was a shock to nearly everyone outside of the program. Him looking as good as he did was a shock to everyone as well I think. He should add a nice "calmness" on the court. Grad transfer that played for a S16 team last season. May have a big game here or there but should be a decent role guy. He and Wyatt are likely very similar players and depending on match ups the starter/rotation could change. Both are just going to do what's asked.

Brown is going to be Jeremy Morgan but *potentially better. If he has J-Mo's work ethic he will win DPOY. I think a RS would be great but you don't get a kid from Texas and redshirt him his first winter in Cedar Falls....

Dahl is a big, big man. He's lost a ton of "baby fat" and looks like a post player now. He's got a ways to go but I see him being better than Eglseder was simply beacuse he has better control of his body and none of the leg/feet issues Jordan did as a kid, thus he'll move better. He's raw and will need a year or two to still develop. It helps that Koch is only a JR this year.

I feel much better about the team than I did before the game. I know it's a D2 exhibition, but to see freshman play like they did was nice. Growing pains will still happen. Lay ups will be missed. TOs will happen. Unexplainable losses will happen. On the flip side of that, Morgan and Ashton are the only two seniors this year. We are set up pretty nicely for a few years.