Have you been keeping your eye on Northern Iowa? If not, maybe it’s time to start. This year, they are prepared to bring the spotlight to the Missouri Valley Conference. They defeated Wichita State with an eye-opening 67 to 52 in the 2010 MVC tournament title game. During the standard season, the Panthers were able to go 15 to 3 in conference play. Clearly, the conference tournament as a whole wasn’t much of a challenge for the team as they were the victors in all 3 games. This year, they are headed into the 2010 NCAA tournament with a record of 28-4. Their leading scorer is center Jordan Eglseder at 12.0 ppg.
The season began with the Panthers at 1-1, shortly thereafter to arise as victors from another fifteen matches. Perhaps their most sobering defeat was that of the match at Evansville, in which they lost by a simple one point, with a final score of 9 to 21. Quickly recovering, however, Northern Iowa moved on to win their next four games.
It appears as though the Panthers are going to be this year’s upset team (once again) when trying to complete your brackets. Northern Iowa has returned this year with five starters who were on the prior year’s team. They’ve proven their abilities to make a shot from just about anywhere – so long as they’re about 28 feet from the basket. Jordan Eglseder, the Panther’s senior center, coming in at just about seven feet tall, loves to defend low. On average, he scores approximately twelve points per game, with 7 to 8 rebounds as well. Kwadzo Ahelegbe, the team’s junior guard, only was able to manage about 10 points per game – but he’s blessed with the feared shooter’s touch, which might just offset your bracket if you don’t keep that in mind.
One thing to always keep in mind is Northern Iowa’s defensive abilities. The Panthers have, since January of this year, only failed to prevent sixty points or above three times. The team would be right at home in an NCAA game, due to the fact that they spend the majority of the time shooting from the free throw line. This is something to think about as the end of a tournament approaches.
Unfortunately, the Panthers don’t have that spark when it comes to rebounding. Currently, they are under about thirty three boards on average. Although a presence down low, Eglseder could easily be stopped by a team that houses two or three men of a larger statute who will be able to easily slow things down for the Panthers.
If you’ve been wondering whether or not Northern Iowa is an Elite Eight team, I’m going to have to say that they are not. However, I can’t say that I would be shocked if they encountered a few more victories during the current NCAA tournament. It looks like the perimeter shot will eventually be their downfall.
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