UNI roots run deep

It's not new information to say this year's No. 9/11 Northern Iowa men's basketball team is unique. Records, results and trophies make them different from most teams in program history.

But this team is uniquely different from just about every other Division I college basketball team in the nation because of its roots. The proximity many shared as alums of Corridor high schools is well documented, but the UNI roots go deeper.

At one time or another, nine Panthers played for the same AAU team, the Iowa Barnstormers. Nate Buss, Max Martino, Seth Tuttle, Wes Washpun, Kasey Semler, Klint Carlson, Jeremy Morgan, Wyatt Lohaus and Taylor Olson either played together or were in the program from middle school through high school. It's a shared bond that has brought them to new heights on the court and made them a family off the court.

'We just trust each other. It's a different level of trust when you've grown up with somebody and played with them, know their strengths and weaknesses, and you get in there and know how much they work all summer,' said Washpun, who played in the Barnstormers program from seventh grade through graduation from Cedar Rapids Washington. 'You get in a tough situation, and you can throw it out knowing where a guy's going to be and that they're going to make the right play.

'I've heard how some other AAU teams weren't that close, but we were like brothers, all of us. We still talk, we still try to get together (with players who went to different schools) when we can. It was a really close-knit family.'

Program founder and co-director, Jamie Johnson, started the Barnstormers in 2003, and has had countless players play college basketball at every level — and successfully. Kyle Nikkel (Morningside), Kyle Lamaak (Mount Mercy) and their teams are going to the NAIA National Tournament. Patrick Burmester (Truman State) helped lead his team to back-to-back 20-win seasons for only second time in school history.

Iowa Hawkeyes Jarrod Uthoff (a Cedar Rapids Jefferson grad) and Josh Ogelsby — who went to school with Washpun at Washington and introduced him to the Barnstormers — were in the program. Former UNI players Matt Morrison and Jarod Syndergaard were Barnstormers. And even Ali Farokhmanesh played with the program for a couple tournaments when Johnson and Co. put together a 19U team between Farokhmanesh's senior year of high school and freshman year at UNI.

But for so many to end up in Cedar Falls and still playing together is fun to see for Johnson and other coaches of those players, Jamie Pettigrew and Greg Stephen.

'In all honesty, it's a little bit of a surprise and astonishing when you look at it on a grand scale,' Johnson said. 'Everybody's got their pipeline where they get a guy here, a guy there or maybe one guy a year from a certain program goes to a Wisconsin or a Duke or whatever. But to have nine guys at a program like that is unique and pretty cool.'

UNI Coach Ben Jacobson and Johnson have known each other dating back to Johnson's time before the Barnstomers, working in the recruiting scene, and have developed a trust where Jacobson can know if the Barnstormers have a player who stands out or if Johnson lets him know there's someone playing well, he's worth a look.

Johnson said he and his fellow Barnstormers coaches are 'not pimping somebody or trying to sell something. We're just letting them know we have someone they might find valuable.' From Jacobson's perspective, he seeks out talent from Iowa high schools and all AAU programs, and knowing how the Barnstormers do things and the players they produce makes the relationship important.

'I think obviously the Iowa high school players are extremely important to our program, so it fits in that regard, that it's a really good AAU program in our state,' Jacobson said. 'We've gotten to know their coaches, we've gotten to know their program very well, and they do a first-class job. They work hard with the guys, they run their program very well, so it fits from that standpoint.

'All the AAU programs in the state do a good job with their programs and with their teams. The fact that the Iowa high school players fit so well with us matches up with what the Barnstormers are doing.'

The Panthers' competitive spirit drives them in practice, and that family-type bond allows them to get the most out of each other — whether through encouragement or calling each other to the carpet when it's needed.

'You grow up together, you grow up with the same values, with some of the same interests and with the same priorities. It's how teams grow so close.'

- Nate Buss

UNI forward

For a guy who's new, the fact that the incumbent players knew them already makes the transition easier — as was the case with Lohaus, Morgan, Semler and Olson.

'From knowing each other beforehand, it makes you closer,' Lohaus said. 'The closer you are with your teammates, the more you're going to demand from them and the more you're going to get after them. It definitely helps growing up with them and playing with and against them before we get here.'

And like any team, there are good-natured arguments as to which Barnstormers team was best. Buss and Martino played together; Morgan and Olson were together for a few tournaments; Lohaus and Carlson played together, and Tuttle, Washpun and Semler were together with Ogelsby and Uthoff for a 2011 17U group that Johnson called the best that's come through the program.

Tuttle is quick to let everyone know that's the case, too. He said it's likely almost everyone currently on the UNI roster either played with or against each other in AAU ball — his favorite recollection being beating Matt Bohannon and Marcus Paige's Martin Brothers team.

That competitiveness is just a small part of what makes this team so close.

'I think it's in there deep,' Tuttle said. 'Our Barnstormers team played Deon (Mitchell)'s team in Las Vegas (at Fab 48) — which we won. Our AAU team played Paul Jesperson's team almost every single tournament — which we won.

'I would imagine there are other teams with programs that have roots with an AAU program, but ours with the Barnstormers is ridiculous. Obviously that says a lot about the program that they're getting the best players in Iowa to play with them.'

When it comes to on-court success, the former Barnstormers at UNI all said there's no doubt at all their time together in AAU has played a pivotal role in why the Panthers are as good as they are now.

Martino echoed Washpun's assessment that this team has become a family and said he links it mostly to the time they all spent with each other off the court as much as on it. Morgan said the roots they share has created a respect, chemistry and comfort among them other programs simply can't have.

Jacobson sees the link from the sideline, too, and it's not a secret he loves the fact that his guys are so close and have such a history together. The link isn't going away, either, as two of the three recruits coming to UNI next year are Barnstormers in Spencer Haldeman of Western Dubuque and Dubuque Senior's Luke McDonnell.

'Teams that play together for a long time get to know each other really well, and you can see it on the court,' Buss said. 'You can see it in how fluent we move on offense, how well we work together on defense and how good our communication is. It also shows off the court. Everyone gets along really, really well.

'You grow up together, you grow up with the same values, with some of the same interests and with the same priorities. It's how teams grow so close.'

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