Is UNI really in danger of a Thursday night spot?

[LanceShock]

Still here.

We overachieved like crazy in the non-con and that really covered up the holes that we have. Spending the entire month of December on the road was also a killer. We needed some home/road balance and just weren't able to do it. Jake has said he's never going back to Diamond Head because of the timing and the fact he was assured that he wouldn't have to play the late game in the first round.

We're stagnant on offense because the only way Washpun can be effective is to dominate the ball. Everybody has finally learned to go underneath the ball screen and force him to shoot jump shots and he's been pretty bad since league play started.

Morgan isn't aggressive enough offensively and tends to defer. Jesperson, outside of the Iowa State game, has been pretty disappointing offensively as he doesn't seem to be able to put the ball on the floor at all. Boahannon is a great shooter, but can't get his own. Our bigs are young and just not aggressive enough yet. Defensively, its still UNI defense, we just can't score.

In the end, we'll be a 9-9 type team and avoid Thursday and there should be some fire Wednesday night with Wichita here. Wouldn't surprise me at all if we played really well and won. Chances are good we Evansville the top 2 at least once.

So you are saying that UNI is going to Evansville ... Evansville ... What has the world come to??

Nobody is going to ever Evansville Evansville while Marty is the coach. For them to get Evansvilled, they would need to have a quality enough nonconference schedule to stand a chance at an at large. I think this year's schedule with the team they had returning proves they will never have such a schedule.

[PurpleAcesFootball]

Still here.

We overachieved like crazy in the non-con and that really covered up the holes that we have. Spending the entire month of December on the road was also a killer. We needed some home/road balance and just weren't able to do it. Jake has said he's never going back to Diamond Head because of the timing and the fact he was assured that he wouldn't have to play the late game in the first round.

We're stagnant on offense because the only way Washpun can be effective is to dominate the ball. Everybody has finally learned to go underneath the ball screen and force him to shoot jump shots and he's been pretty bad since league play started.

Morgan isn't aggressive enough offensively and tends to defer. Jesperson, outside of the Iowa State game, has been pretty disappointing offensively as he doesn't seem to be able to put the ball on the floor at all. Boahannon is a great shooter, but can't get his own. Our bigs are young and just not aggressive enough yet. Defensively, its still UNI defense, we just can't score.

In the end, we'll be a 9-9 type team and avoid Thursday and there should be some fire Wednesday night with Wichita here. Wouldn't surprise me at all if we played really well and won. Chances are good we Evansville the top 2 at least once.

So you are saying that UNI is going to Evansville ... Evansville ... What has the world come to??

Nobody is going to ever Evansville Evansville while Marty is the coach. For them to get Evansvilled, they would need to have a quality enough nonconference schedule to stand a chance at an at large. I think this year's schedule with the team they had returning proves they will never have such a schedule.

I would take offense to this line of discussion... if it weren't absolutely hilarious and true.

So you're saying not every school takes 9 years to rebuild a program into a NIT berth?

[Wufan]

Still here.

We overachieved like crazy in the non-con and that really covered up the holes that we have. Spending the entire month of December on the road was also a killer. We needed some home/road balance and just weren't able to do it. Jake has said he's never going back to Diamond Head because of the timing and the fact he was assured that he wouldn't have to play the late game in the first round.

We're stagnant on offense because the only way Washpun can be effective is to dominate the ball. Everybody has finally learned to go underneath the ball screen and force him to shoot jump shots and he's been pretty bad since league play started.

Morgan isn't aggressive enough offensively and tends to defer. Jesperson, outside of the Iowa State game, has been pretty disappointing offensively as he doesn't seem to be able to put the ball on the floor at all. Boahannon is a great shooter, but can't get his own. Our bigs are young and just not aggressive enough yet. Defensively, its still UNI defense, we just can't score.

In the end, we'll be a 9-9 type team and avoid Thursday and there should be some fire Wednesday night with Wichita here. Wouldn't surprise me at all if we played really well and won. Chances are good we Evansville the top 2 at least once.

I think Marshall said we will never play Diamond Head again.

[Aargh]

Well so far, they're 2-2 against supposed Thursday night locks. They're 0-2 against everyone else.

On Saturday, they looked like a Summit team. Seriously.

I would like to know some UNI fans' opinions on this, if they're still around.

Careful with the Summit League references. That conference with powerhouses like IUPUI, Nevbraks-Omaha, and Oral Roberts is currently in the top ten conference rpi. Missouri Valley is 13 in a virtual tie with Ther Big West at 14.

I'd think Jacobsen could pull 13 students out of the stands and avoid Thursday night. It looks like he might not be able to do that with 13 scholarship players this year. MoST is living large right now. I expect they will collapse and allow UNI to avoid Thursday. Something happened to UNI since their marquee wins.

[LanceShock]

Something happened to UNI since their marquee wins.

I have been wondering that myself. Could there be some off the court team chemistry problems? That would be the simplest explanation for what has happened to them.

[Stickboy46]

Something happened to UNI since their marquee wins.

I have been wondering that myself. Could there be some off the court team chemistry problems? That would be the simplest explanation for what has happened to them.

There might be. They did have a player transfer out at semester.

[BCPanther]

Could be an off court something.

Bohannon is really the only vocal leader on this team. Jake said on Monday that he's had to 'be sharper' with this team than any other team he has ever had. If Jake is having to yell at them, that's probably not a great sign knowing how Jake usually handles practices.

[MVCfans]

I'm not sure anyone can confidently predict anything in the MVC this year, but of the 4 Thursday nights spots at Arch Madness, 2 seem reserved for Drake and Bradley.

[glm38]

I'm not sure anyone can confidently predict anything in the MVC this year, but of the 4 Thursday nights spots at Arch Madness, 2 seem reserved for Drake and Bradley.

It's a crazy year for sure. But I would feel confident predicting WSU and Evansvile finishing 1-2 in the league standings. Probably in that order.

To the original question I don't see UNI as a Thursday team. In 9 years Jake has never finished worse than 5th.

[UNIFanSince1983]

Yes we are in danger.

You can't score 41 points at home against Loyola it just can't happen.

I do think depth is an issue. Early in the year Jake was letting the team run and there was flow. Recently there has been no running and no flow at all. I think he is worried about the depth. We are running 8 players, and only have 9 players total that can play. I do think Austin added something to this team as well. I think right now they have just lost all confidence and are playing like it. If they get their confidence back they can make a push to be like 5th, but right now we are an 8th or worse team.