Hopefully next year it will be FOUR, as perhaps DRAKE can bring back the glory days of yesteryear under DR. TOM DAVIS.
For first time, Iowa lands three teams in NCAA Tournament
<!-- BYLINE AND DATE -->By<SCRIPT language=JavaScript>varUsername = "skeeler@dmreg.com";document.write("SEAN KEELER");</SCRIPT> SEAN KEELER
REGISTER COLUMNIST
March 14, 2005
<!-- STORY STARTS HERE -->Wow. Stand up, Bob Bowlsby. Take a bow. You've done the impossible: Make everybody happy.
Well, OK. Everybody back home. Welcome to Iowa: A Place to Grow. Fields of Opportunities......... Iowa State, Iowa and Northern Iowa each got tickets punched to the NCAA men's basketball tournament Sunday.
When we say all aboard the bus to Bracketville, we mean all aboard.
"He's the man," Northern Iowa coach Greg McDermott said of Bowlsby, the Iowa athletic director and selection committee chair. "I think he did one heckuva job."
Spring football is on deck in a couple weeks; Kirk Ferentz's name is already being tossed around in national championship discussions. If you ever dreamed of running for governor, Bob, now's the time.
"This," said McDermott, a Cascade native, "was a great day for basketball in the state of Iowa."
Even old, bitter rivals aided each other in the cause. Iowa State moved up from a 10 seed to a 9 by trading bracket spots with Iowa. Northern Iowa probably doesn't get an at-large bid if not for the scheduling lift it gets from its annual series with the Hawkeyes and Cyclones.
"Without them," McDermott said, "we don't have a leg to stand on."
It's the first time three schools from the state have sashayed onto the Big Dance floor in the same year. Three at-large bids, too. No shortcuts. No magic weekends.
Just like the line from that old Smith Barney commercial, baby, they earned it.
"And to think," McDermott said. "A couple weeks ago, all of us were on the outside looking in or on the proverbial bubble."
Three bids. Three comeback stories. On Jan. 26, Iowa State lost at Kansas State, the Cyclones' fifth straight defeat to open conference play. It was a dreadful night in a dreadful building in front of dreadful fans. A certain Register sports columnist called the Cyclones "a laughingstock."
Whoops.
A few weeks later, Iowa State changed up its defensive strategy and freshman shooting guard Tasheed Carr found a magic stroke. Who's laughing now?
"It just shows that if you're consistent, resilient and push the media out," Wayne Morgan said Sunday after the Cyclones' invite to Charlotte was delivered, "it won't matter."
Touche, coach. Joke's on me.
Meanwhile, Iowa had to overcome more than a few contradictions on its NCAA dossier. Great non-league wins. Great RPI. Losing record in a mediocre Big Ten. The Hawkeyes looked like a college applicant who turns in a 2.2 GPA and a 1500 SAT. Has the kid been performing below his potential in class? Or did he just have one good afternoon?
The selection committee went with the former. Clearly, the victory over Michigan State Friday night helped. It also sent a powerful message: The Hawkeyes could win a big game, against a strong opponent, without Pierre Pierce.
On Jan. 29, Northern Iowa lost at Drake. The Panthers fell to 5-5 in the Valley. A 10-2 start was going to waste. If that idiot columnist were in Des Moines that night, he probably would have declared the Panthers' season dead on arrival.
"We kept pushing to the guys that we needed to be playing our best basketball in February," McDermott said, "and we needed to be playing in meaningful games in February."
The Panthers won seven of nine that month.
Northern Iowa's bid - probably the last given to an at-large candidate - underscored another committee edict: If you're a little school that wants to be rewarded in March, punish yourself in November and December.
The difference between 21-win Northern Iowa and 20-win Wichita State? For one thing, the Panthers' Nov. 24 visit to Cincinnati. While the trip went in the books as a double-overtime loss, it was one the committee would respect.
"When you compare them to the other teams that could be in," RPI guru Jerry Palm said of the Panthers, who crashed his "Last Four Teams In" list Sunday morning, "Northern Iowa had a better year."
In Iowa, it's never about the sizzle. It's the steak. There'll be plenty to meat to chew on at the water cooler this morning. Goodbye, National Invitation Tournament. Hello, history.
For first time, Iowa lands three teams in NCAA Tournament
<!-- BYLINE AND DATE -->By<SCRIPT language=JavaScript>varUsername = "skeeler@dmreg.com";document.write("SEAN KEELER");</SCRIPT> SEAN KEELER
REGISTER COLUMNIST
March 14, 2005
<!-- STORY STARTS HERE -->Wow. Stand up, Bob Bowlsby. Take a bow. You've done the impossible: Make everybody happy.
Well, OK. Everybody back home. Welcome to Iowa: A Place to Grow. Fields of Opportunities......... Iowa State, Iowa and Northern Iowa each got tickets punched to the NCAA men's basketball tournament Sunday.
When we say all aboard the bus to Bracketville, we mean all aboard.
"He's the man," Northern Iowa coach Greg McDermott said of Bowlsby, the Iowa athletic director and selection committee chair. "I think he did one heckuva job."
Spring football is on deck in a couple weeks; Kirk Ferentz's name is already being tossed around in national championship discussions. If you ever dreamed of running for governor, Bob, now's the time.
"This," said McDermott, a Cascade native, "was a great day for basketball in the state of Iowa."
Even old, bitter rivals aided each other in the cause. Iowa State moved up from a 10 seed to a 9 by trading bracket spots with Iowa. Northern Iowa probably doesn't get an at-large bid if not for the scheduling lift it gets from its annual series with the Hawkeyes and Cyclones.
"Without them," McDermott said, "we don't have a leg to stand on."
It's the first time three schools from the state have sashayed onto the Big Dance floor in the same year. Three at-large bids, too. No shortcuts. No magic weekends.
Just like the line from that old Smith Barney commercial, baby, they earned it.
"And to think," McDermott said. "A couple weeks ago, all of us were on the outside looking in or on the proverbial bubble."
Three bids. Three comeback stories. On Jan. 26, Iowa State lost at Kansas State, the Cyclones' fifth straight defeat to open conference play. It was a dreadful night in a dreadful building in front of dreadful fans. A certain Register sports columnist called the Cyclones "a laughingstock."
Whoops.
A few weeks later, Iowa State changed up its defensive strategy and freshman shooting guard Tasheed Carr found a magic stroke. Who's laughing now?
"It just shows that if you're consistent, resilient and push the media out," Wayne Morgan said Sunday after the Cyclones' invite to Charlotte was delivered, "it won't matter."
Touche, coach. Joke's on me.
Meanwhile, Iowa had to overcome more than a few contradictions on its NCAA dossier. Great non-league wins. Great RPI. Losing record in a mediocre Big Ten. The Hawkeyes looked like a college applicant who turns in a 2.2 GPA and a 1500 SAT. Has the kid been performing below his potential in class? Or did he just have one good afternoon?
The selection committee went with the former. Clearly, the victory over Michigan State Friday night helped. It also sent a powerful message: The Hawkeyes could win a big game, against a strong opponent, without Pierre Pierce.
On Jan. 29, Northern Iowa lost at Drake. The Panthers fell to 5-5 in the Valley. A 10-2 start was going to waste. If that idiot columnist were in Des Moines that night, he probably would have declared the Panthers' season dead on arrival.
"We kept pushing to the guys that we needed to be playing our best basketball in February," McDermott said, "and we needed to be playing in meaningful games in February."
The Panthers won seven of nine that month.
Northern Iowa's bid - probably the last given to an at-large candidate - underscored another committee edict: If you're a little school that wants to be rewarded in March, punish yourself in November and December.
The difference between 21-win Northern Iowa and 20-win Wichita State? For one thing, the Panthers' Nov. 24 visit to Cincinnati. While the trip went in the books as a double-overtime loss, it was one the committee would respect.
"When you compare them to the other teams that could be in," RPI guru Jerry Palm said of the Panthers, who crashed his "Last Four Teams In" list Sunday morning, "Northern Iowa had a better year."
In Iowa, it's never about the sizzle. It's the steak. There'll be plenty to meat to chew on at the water cooler this morning. Goodbye, National Invitation Tournament. Hello, history.