Tournament season. Before the madness of the NCAA tournament starts, there was the madness of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. Knowing that the stakes were high, the UNI men’s basketball team came to play.
Jeremy Morgan, a junior guard, said, “You know, we were excited. Obviously we won the tournament last year and so we were excited to get back out there. Whenever you go to that, your mindset is to come home with those nets.”
Three teams stood between UNI and the MVC tournament trophy and nets: Southern Illinois, Wichita State and Evansville. But as each day passed, UNI played harder and took down their opponents, never truly giving up.
For redshirt sophomore forward Klint Carlson, of the three games the Wichita State game impacted him the most. “I think it was just because we were battling the whole game from behind. Obviously in the Evansville game we jumped out at that quick big lead. But during the Wichita State game I thought we were resilient, we really pulled together, came together as one and believed in each other and obviously pulled off the win.”
During the Wichita State game the Panthers took a while to score their initial points, letting Wichita State gain a considerable lead. Then, getting into the swing of things, the rest of the game was a back and forth battle that ended in an intense overtime and Panther win.
In fact, a ‘battle’ would be a good way to describe the Panthers’ overall season. Coming out to play for important games and not quite showing up for what seemed to be inconsequential games, this season was a tug of war between wins and losses. Wyatt Lohaus, a sophomore guard, said, “It’s been unique just because there’s been a lot of highs and lows from the beginning of the season, when we knocked off North Carolina and Iowa State, to struggling in the middle. […] it’s just kind of been a rollercoaster. But I think we’re playing well and I think that’s important that it’s happening this late in the season. So it’s happening at the right time.”
But their work wasn’t quite done with the Wichita State game; there was still an Evansville team to take on. UNI had gained a fairly comfortable lead early on in the game, making it appear that it would be an easy win against the Aces, until second half. The Aces quickly closed the gap and, for a moment, stole the lead before everything went to back and forth gameplay. And then, when it looked like the game could potentially go into overtime and with only three seconds left in regulation, Wes Washpun put up a shot.
Time in the Scottrade Center in St. Louis seemed to stand still as the final shot of the MVC championship game went up. The ball hit the rim, bounced, and fell in, sealing the fate of the University of Northern Iowa men’s basketball team -- they won their spot in the 2016 March Madness bracket.
Paul Jesperson, a senior guard, said, “It was a surreal moment. […] It was crazy because it was almost when the shot went up it was like- I don’t know if the whole building did go silent or if I was just like, if noise just stopped for me- […]. And then all of a sudden it bounced, still didn’t hear anything, then it drops through and then the place just erupts. So it was an awesome feeling. I’m so happy for Wes, he’s able to knock that thing in.”
Morgan said, “I just wanted the ball to go in. I knew that Wes was going to shoot that shot though and once he let it go and it looked good, so I was just hoping it’d fall in.”
Even though time seemed to slow on the court, Carlson was thinking ahead if the ball didn’t go in. “I really wasn’t thinking about anything except for hopefully if Wes shoots it and it doesn’t go in I could make a play on the ball, but when he made the move and rose up I knew it was going in. […] He made a great play and then after he made the shot I just ran down and tried to tackle him.”
With the great joy that comes with extending their season comes time for refinement and fine tuning. Jesperson said,“It’s always tough for teams to improve this time of year. You don’t get to go into practice for two, two and a half hours to work on things like at the beginning of the season. Now it’s really just a lot of attention to detail stuff.” This ranges from working on rotations and offenses as well as studying up on film. It is also a time to keep the mental game sharp.
The intensity level rises along with the stakes, as it is now time for the national tournament. And unpredictability becomes the norm. Morgan’s favorite part of the post season was the excitement this brings. “All these upsets in the tournaments, conference tournaments, all the teams that didn’t think they were going to make it get in… it’s just a lot of excitement around this time.”
The competition heats up and it’s either go big or go home. “Everybody we play is going to be giving it their best shot and we’re going to be giving it our best shot, and each game is going to be a battle. That’s what you play for, is games like that,” said Carlson.
The Panthers don’t expect their gameplay itself to vary much from what fans have seen in the regular season. Jesperson said, “We’re going to play with our hearts on our sleeve, we’re going to try to play extremely hard- as hard as we can- and we’re just going to leave it all on the floor. We’re not going to play hesitant or play scared or anything like that.”
But how does the team stay inspired? How do they stay motivated and intense and engaged with the game? Reasons varied between them.
Jesperson was inspired by the strong morals his parents had instilled within him, “They always told me when things aren’t going well to continue to work and it’ll eventually work out for you and when things are going well don’t get too high because stuff may switch on a dime.”
Carlson took inspiration from the seniors of the team, “I find it in the three seniors that we have one this team. Coach Jake talks about them a lot. You know, it’s their last go around and I try to put myself in their shoes. If I was an older guy what would I want the younger guys to be doing? And so that really motivates me every day to come in here and give it my all, because I don’t want to leave them short of anything they don’t deserve.”
Lohaus took it from seeing the fruits of hard work and dedication, “I would just say from past successes and seeing how the work you put in, how it pays off. So really just building off of prior experiences.”
In the past UNI has been described as a Cinderella team.
There was even an article promptly posted after their conference championship win entitled, "Introducing Cinderella: Meet the Northern Iowa Panthers." But I wouldn’t define them as a classic Cinderella team. No, Cinderella has tossed away the slipper and has picked up the sword to slay the dragon. This team has had several dragons to face this season: No. 1 ranked UNC, No. 5 ranked Iowa State, No. 25 ranked Wichita State. Stakes were high, and the Panthers proved themselves worthy of the crown.
“I think our program is at the point now where we’re not sneaking up on anybody. Everybody knows UNI, they know we’re a national name. It’s still a big deal when we beat teams, it’s very exciting, we don’t ever take that stuff for granted, but at the same time like I said, we’re not sneaking up on people now. Everybody knows UNI and everybody knows the type of basketball we’re going to play. I think it’s just a matter of going out there and executing for us,” said Jesperson.
Carlson, on the other hand, thinks that UNI has a little bit of both in their blood, saying, “We had that rough stretch of games where the rest of the nation was probably looking at us like ‘who are these guys that took down North Carolina and Iowa State and Wichita State?’ So there’s a little bit of the Cinderella but also the dragon slayer where we have taken down good teams, really good teams, but it all comes down to us being together and coming together.”
Since the stakes are high, as it is THE NCAA tournament, I believe we can expect the team that comes to play and play hard.
In regards to your bracket, don’t underestimate UNI. Lohaus said, “I don’t know how many brackets we busted last season […], but I definitely think people might overlook us, just look at our record and not see what we’ve been doing lately.”
*Just a note, probably the biggest bracket the Panthers busted last year was President Obama’s when he said Wyoming would surpass UNI in the first round.
But have the Panthers achieved their goals for the year? In regards to making it to the NCAA tournament, yes. In regards to how far they’ll go? It is unclear. Will they reach the heights the 2010 Panthers reached by making it to the Sweet 16?
Will they surpass that and make it to the Elite Eight, or fall early in the tournament? Morgan said, “We go into the tournament with a mindset we’re going to win, that’s why you go to these things. Nothing’s ever certain so we’re just going to go and give it our best shot, you know, hopefully make it far.”
It is unclear with the selections still a mystery until Sunday’s selection show, but I have confidence the UNI Panthers will bring their A-game, and bust a few brackets in the process.
