UNI basketball off to fast start in early practices

CEDAR FALLS - It's really early. As in: five-practices-old early.

But Northern Iowa men's basketball coach Ben Jacobson likes what he sees so far from his Panther basketball team.

The group ran full throttle in practice at the Wellness/Recreation Center in Cedar Falls on Wednesday, and has been able to do that in each of its handful of practices to begin the 2015-16 season.

'The thing that I like already is the competitiveness that the older guys showed a year ago, for most of the time when we were playing, has showed up already this year,” Jacobson said. 'From those guys, there's not a lot of looking around to try to figure out what to do, when to do it, how hard to do it. They're just doing it. That I've liked.”

The Panthers didn't require a ton of instruction from their 10th-year head coach throughout the two-hour practice. The self-leadership and knowledge that's carried over from the Missouri Valley Conference tournament champion, NCAA Tournament-bound team last season has allowed them to get off to a much faster start.

That's allowed Jacobson and his staff to become much more comfortable more quickly as coaches. They can spend more time on trying new things or polishing what they already know instead of fundamental teaching.

'From a coaching standpoint, it allows me to remove myself just enough to where I can watch what they're doing, as opposed to standing right on top of them and trying to figure out for them where to go, what to do or how hard to do it,” Jacobson said. 'For me, I like that. I like being able to watch. Wes (Washpun), Bo (Matt Bohannon), Jeremy (Morgan), Paul (Jesperson), Wyatt (Lohaus), Ted (Freidman), Klint (Carlson) have all done a great job with communication. There's enough guys that I can continue to coach the way I like to, which is: cut them loose in a drill and watch them.”

It should come as a shock to exactly no one that Jacobson said these early practices are all about 'setting the tone defensively.”

It's UNI's hallmark under him, and that won't change. Getting the young guys to buy into that is a top priority, and Jacobson said he's seen it take hold.

'We have to have the newer guys understand that defensively, we've got to find a way to come up with stops and we've got to rebound,” Jacobson said. 'We have to figure that out. We have to do that. Our drill work right now leads itself into those two things. We're playing a little offense right now, but most of the drill work we're doing - whether it's one on one, two on two or three on three - is leading itself to, ‘OK fellas, we're going to defend and we're going to rebound.'”

Health-wise, the Panthers are sitting in a good position, with just Taylor Olson (foot) and Paul Jesperson (foot) nursing injuries. Olson's status hasn't changed from Media Day, where Jacobson said he fluctuates back and forth from available to unavailable as he makes his way back.

Jesperson, he said, has a target date of 'around November 1” to get back to full participation. The senior still is in the immobilization phase of his rehab, with a walking cast, but certainly isn't far from the team and was courtside throughout practice.

Apart from getting (and staying) healthy, this next month will determine a lot, including who does or doesn't red-shirt. With having a good head start to the season, Jacobson can also get into identifying who those may be.

'I like to get as close to November as we can for two reasons that come right to mind: one, let's see where these freshmen fit in. Let's give them long enough to compete and see where they fit on a depth chart. And also, to see where our team is from a health standpoint,” Jacobson said. 'If (Jesperson is) back earlier than (Nov. 1), great. If it extends a little bit, we'll look at these freshmen longer. The thing I don't ever want to do - unless we know already, hands down - is have them come to practice every day starting in early October thinking, ‘Oh, I'm just going to red-shirt.' I want them to come in and fight.”

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