Column: Warner’s message resonates with UNI players

SEATTLE — Kurt Warner delivered the message, and Northern Iowa provided the results.

With a section of KeyArena decked in colorful support of UNI basketball, Warner blended in fashionably wearing a purple shirt. The Cedar Rapids native and three-time Super Bowl quarterback spoke to the current Panthers the night before their game with Wyoming.

'The message was simply dare to be great,' Warner said. 'Don't waste the opportunity to leave your mark. We all dream about this, and you're finally in a situation to play in this game, to fulfill a dream. I think too many guys sit back and they're worried about making a mistake that could cost them game as opposed to saying, 'I'm just going to make the play, I'm going to be the guy.''

In the midst of UNI's 71-54 win against Wyoming in an NCAA tournament second-round game, Warner's message resonated differently among the players and coaches. It became prophetic in the midst of a run that catapulted the Panthers to victory.

Warner's fellow Cedar Rapidian-turned-Panther Wes Washpun carried UNI through a pivotal second-half stretch. Wyoming cut a 21-point UNI lead to seven in barely three minutes. Washpun rallied with a series that sealed the win.

Three times in a six-possession span, Washpun drilled jumpers with five or fewer seconds left in the shot clock. He also knocked down a pair of free throws in that sequence. Every one of his eight points during a five-minute stretch kept UNI's lead in double digits.

Washpun chuckled when asked how he handled the pressure. You know, daring to be great.

'I think we were just trying to run our stuff and get the best shot and go to a late-clock action when it was late clock,' Washpun said. 'We just really took our time with our actions and looked for a good shot, looked for the best shot available and it ended up being late clock most of the time.'

UNI senior forward Nate Buss took Warner's words to heart. Buss hails from Charles City and knows all about Warner's legacy. In the middle of Washpun's run, Buss delivered a power punch. Wyoming's defense clamped down on center Seth Tuttle, who passed out of the double team to Buss on the right wing. Buss connected on a 3-pointer that put the Panthers up 62-48 and forced the Cowboys to call timeout.

Afterward, Buss spoke of Warner's work ethic, dedication, alumni status and success.

'He is an example of how to perform on a big stage,' Buss said. 'He performed at his best when he was at the Super Bowl, during in the regular season, wherever he was at, he was performing at his best. He seized every opportunity that he had, and I think what's we did here (Friday). That's what we took away from him.'

Even UNI's administrators took something from Warner's message.

I would tell you during Wyoming's run, I was thinking back on some of the things he said last night,' athletics director Troy Dannen said. 'It couldn't have been any truer to his word of how that game needed to play out when that run comes.'

On the fifth anniversary of UNI's greatest basketball win, the school's best-known alum honored the current team. In turn, this version of the Panthers honored them both by playing loose and leaving their mark. Just like Warner.

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