2 Valley games today

[tornado]

Missouri State plays UC-Irvine later, but UNI has already beaten South Dakota State 72-55.

Continuing a very disturbing trend, Northern Iowa hosted yet another 300+ RPI Valley opponent (309) in South Dakota State, and
as one might fully expect, the turnout was terrible. The announced attendance was 2359, but it wasn't all due to the weather.
This is by far their lowest home attendance of the season and now gives UNI an average of just 3435 per game.
They are now only a thread out of last place in Valley attendance (Indiana State = 3223), but to have four Valley teams averaging less than 5000 is sad...
(Indiana State, UNI, Drake, and Illinois State).

The Jackrabbits provided minimal opposition as UNI pulled away early to a 20+ pt. lead and cruised.

Senior Travis Brown seems to be getting less playing time, even though the opponent is a cupcake.
Travo got only 11 minutes today and yet he is the only kid on the team that shoots over 37% from 3-pt (40.0%), and his scoring in points per minute played and rebounding in rebs per minute played place him in the top 3 or 4 on the team.
I'd love to know why the kid doesn't play, but wins over South Dakota State, North Dakota, Chicago State, Texas Southern, and Denver don't exactly make me think it's because they needed to stick with the starters!

[PTTB]

Missouri State plays UC-Irvine later, but UNI has already beaten South Dakota State 72-55.

Continuing a very disturbing trend, Northern Iowa hosted yet another 300+ RPI Valley opponent (309) in South Dakota State, and
as one might fully expect, the turnout was terrible. The announced attendance was 2359, but it wasn't all due to the weather.
This is by far their lowest home attendance of the season and now gives UNI an average of just 3435 per game.
They are now only a thread out of last place in Valley attendance (Indiana State = 3223), but to have four Valley teams averaging less than 5000 is sad...
(Indiana State, UNI, Drake, and Illinois State).

The Jackrabbits provided minimal opposition as UNI pulled away early to a 20+ pt. lead and cruised.

Senior Travis Brown seems to be getting less playing time, even though the opponent is a cupcake.
Travo got only 11 minutes today and yet he is the only kid on the team that shoots over 37% from 3-pt (40.0%), and his scoring in points per minute played and rebounding in rebs per minute played place him in the top 3 or 4 on the team.
I'd love to know why the kid doesn't play, but wins over South Dakota State, North Dakota, Chicago State, Texas Southern, and Denver don't exactly make me think it's because they needed to stick with the starters!

Good stuff as always tornado.

UNI's attendance was pretty poor today. Students gone, hangover from football season that ended last weekend, and the weekend before Christmas. However, the weather was ridiculous. We were in a blizzard warning...blizzard warning! I seriously have 2 feet of snow in my front yard next to my driveway and sidewalk. Our attendance has been down this year from the get-go. Some probably has to do with the football team, some with increased ticket pricing, and others with a down economy. FWIW, our new luxury boxes are looking good! HA! (seriously)

UNI finished a 2-for-1 series with SDSU today. SDSU was within 5 of Minnesota with 12 to go just last week. They aren't as bad of a team as one would expect. With that said, UNI jumped on SDSU early and often. UNI has had a tough road schedule. At UIC, Iowa, Wyoming, and neutral against Auburn and Marquette. No real patsies out there. UNI has a young team. With a young team, you have to put together a schedule that allows you to find success early. UNI has had that in most of their home games. With no starting backcourt mate having played D1 basketball last year, there are going to be some struggles, especially away from home. I think all young teams face that (again, especially on the road).

UNI did a much better job attacking the basket. Kwadzo is becoming more consistent at doing this. He's the one who has to do this for UNI, in order for them to be successful. As for Travis Brown only getting 11 minutes, it's because he picked up two early fouls in the 1st half, and then got breathers in the 2nd half (finished with 4 fouls). He's still averaging 15.5 min/game, but even though he is shooting 40% from 3, he is only averaging less than one make per game. Ali Farokhmanesh shot the ball better today than he has recently. He shot 50% in JC, so hopefully that will start to pick up.

Overall, UNI's still a mixed bag. Their post play got deeper with Adam Rodenberg becoming eligible. Lucas O'Rear sat out of today's game with a bum ankle. He will be back for next week's game against InSU. He probably could have gone today if needed (was dressed). UNI is averaging 10 guys at 10+ min/game. That will probably be pared somewhat as the season goes on, but they have begun to build depth, which was something that was absent in most of the McD years (although they were top heavy). I think, so far, the season is going about as I thought. They would win at home (probably should have won vs. Iowa State), and then struggle with inconsistency on the road. They were up with under 4 at Wyoming, tied or leading against Iowa and UIC in the 2nd half on the road (I believe this is what I read), and then obviously was never in it against Marquette.

Eglseder didn't play in any of the pre-season until the 1st game (probably has a total of around 10 full practices since coming back). O'Rear has been suspended/hurt for half of the games. Dunham is just now getting back to 100% after having a bum ankle the first month. And, Carlton Reed tore his patellar tendon 2 weeks before the season started. So, they have had their share of adversity early. I can only hope that this team will begin to play more consistent. Being at home for 2 weeks should help (from Wyoming last Saturday to at SIU New Years Eve). Today was a step in the right direction.

FWIW, regarding UNI's schedule, they have not had any 'buy' games. UNI has home and homes or 2-for-1's with everyone on their schedule except for the two Chicago Invitational games of Chicago State and Texas Southern.

[tornado]

as you maybe saw in another thread, I kinda lumped UNI together with Bradley and a few other teams who had some early optimism, but now due to injuries might be battling to stay out of the lower half of the MVC.
Actually I think there are 6-7 such teams with only ISU, CU, Drake, and maybe Evansville looking like they have a solid chance to be in the top of the Valley.

http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=10367