Panthers take their seed in stride, concerned only about UNLV

CEDAR FALLS - There was no we-wuz-robbed, no spitting up the seed in disgust.

The Northern Iowa men's basketball team didn't offer the slightest disappointment that it was given a No. 9 seed in the NCAA tournament, though many had projected the Panthers to be at least a bit higher.

And the prospect of playing Kansas, the top seed in the entire tourney, in the second round of the Midwest Regional should the Panthers defeat Nevada-Las Vegas Thursday at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City? So be it.

“We're trying not to focus on that,” said UNI senior forward Adam Koch Sunday. “We've got a tough game right off the bat.”

The Panthers went 28-4, won both the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles, and were ranked 18th in the RPI after coming home from their tourney triumph in St. Louis. But a No. 9 seed it is, and off UNI will go to the NCAAs for the second-straight year and fifth time in the last seven seasons.

Northern Iowa Coach Ben Jacobson saw nothing about his team's seeding from which to take umbrage.

“I talked to the guys when we got back from St. Louis and said I think we could be a seven or eight seed, but don't be surprised if we're a six or a nine. I'm not surprised at all.

“I can't imagine the difficulty the selection committee has. We look at everything from our point of view, but 64 other teams are looking from their point of view and the selection committee's got a hard job. I'm sure they worked extremely hard to do the right things leading up to today.”

Besides, barring the first win by a No. 16 seed over a No. 1, the No. 8 would still have to play the No. 1 if it beats the No. 9 in the first round.

UNLV was 5-5 against NCAA tourney teams. Northern Iowa played just two fellow NCAA squads, beating Siena and Old Dominion in Cedar Falls. UNI was the only Missouri Valley team to get an NCAA berth.

The Panthers were one-and-done in their last four NCAA trips, including a 2005 trip to Oklahoma City where Wisconsin was the victor. But this is the highest seed UNI has had in its sixth NCAA appearances. It's the first time the Panthers aren't playing a team from a BCS conference.

UNLV (25-8) tied for third in the Mountain West Conference at 11-5. Four teams from that league got NCAA bids.

The Runnin' Rebels had a six-game winning streak snapped Saturday night when they lost 55-45 to San Diego State in the Mountain West tournament title game in Las Vegas.

UNLV is coached by Lon Kruger. This is the Rebels' third NCAA berth in six years under Kruger, who formerly coached at Kansas State, Florida and Illinois. His record at UNLV is 137-61. The Rebels reached the NCAA's Sweet 16 three years ago.

Like UNI, the Rebels have a 10-player rotation and several different players who can hit a 3-pointer when given the chance. The two clubs take and make roughly the same number of threes per game.

UNLV is an up-tempo team that averages 73.3 points a game while being among the nation's top 10 teams in turnover margin. UNI, meanwhile, is second in the nation in scoring defense at 54.3 points, and has the eighth-fewest turnovers per game in the country.

One of the few Panther players who didn't act all excited for when Northern Iowa's pairing was announced early in CBS' selection show was junior guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe.

“We won the conference tournament and did what we were supposed to,” Ahelegbe said. “We have some more things to do now.”