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***ARTICLE*** Men's Basketball Media Day Summary

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  • ***ARTICLE*** Men's Basketball Media Day Summary

    Scenes From Media Day

    Basketball season is just around the corner. This year’s Panthers have many wondering what’s in store. At the end of the year there will be just two seniors leaving, which leaves a lot of hope for the future. If you think that makes this year a rebuilding year, you’re mistaken. This team is just as hungry and fired up as ever.

    Expect a new Panther offense to take the floor. With new personnel comes a new approach to the game. Three guards playing significant minutes this season had a combined total of none last year. Kwadzo Ahelegbe, Ali Farokhmanesh, and Johnny Moran will be kicking up the Cats’ tempo up a couple of notches. “You’re gonna see the ball on the other side of the floor with… thirty seconds on the shot clock,” said Ahelegbe with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek.

    “We feel like we can play at a faster pace, we think shoot more three point shots, we think that’s going to be an area we can really improve our basketball team. Last year at times it was hard to do some things offensively, and we had to rely so much on our defense,” Coach Ben Jacobson explained Wednesday. Jake has a lot of confidence in these three young guys and hopes that the Panthers’ offense becomes a point of strength. There are issues that do need to be addressed, however.

    “We didn’t get better through the months of January and February,” he said. “That may be the most important thing for us as we go through this season. Looking back at last year, that’s an area that didn’t happen for us. We were too inconsistent in January and February.”

    There was also the issue of leaving too many fans disappointed in the McLeod Center. “We need to protect our home floor. That may be the thing over the past two years that we haven’t done. I’ve liked our defense and at times our offense has been very good. We’ve won basketball games on the road in tough environment, we’ve beaten some good times at home, we’ve done a lot of good things. The one thing is winning games on our floor. We’re 21-10 in the last two years. We’ve had 31 opportunities at home, and if we’re 27-4 or 26-5, we’re in the postseason. That has to change for us. If you’ve got a basketball team that can go on the road and win games, and you can be within three or four games of postseason play and it’s the home games that keep you out, that needs to change.”

    UNI is preparing to become a guard-centered team. Expect to see a four guard set often times this season. Guards from last year are a year older, and much has been made of the new guys Coach Jake has brought in. It’s likely that the guard play for the Panthers will become a strength this season. What does that do for the post?

    “First year we had Grant (Stout) and Eric (Coleman), last year we had Eric. They were always there for us, and now it’s me and Jordan. I have bigger roles right now. There’s nobody else to fall back on,” said junior forward Adam Koch. Jordan Eglseder, currently nursing a nagging ankle injury, will be a very big part of that. “(Jordan’s) a bit of a mismatch problem… he’s such a big inside presence. You can’t replace that at all when he’s out of the line up.”

    November 15 will be here sooner than later, and the team can feel the buzz in the air. “I’ve got to slow myself down because I’m so anxious,” Kwadzo Ahelegbe said with a smile. Coach Jacobson talked about him emerging as one of the emotional leader’s of the squad in years to come, and it’s easy to see why. His upbeat attitude will provide a spark this season that will come in handy in the grueling Valley slate. Grueling as it may be, that doesn’t mean this team will back down.

    “Absolutely no excuses,” Coach Jacobson surmised.

    "Once it starts, it never ends."
    -Eldon Miller
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