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On the Prowl: Nickname-a-Palooza- UNI 75, Central College 41
First of all, I would like to thank Panthers to the Bone for pointing out that the first time the Men's Basketball team took the hardwood was indeed yesterday and not next Wednesday as I had previously thought. It turns out that having a day planner is not enough... you actually have to get the dates right.
As a result I arrived about five minutes before tipoff, and settled in. Someone called out my name from below me and I saw two friends of mine waving. After the first called timeout I made my way down below to sit with them. One of them was Jerad Corbin, a fellow PNer and former member of the Pep Band.
The game got into to full swing early on, with the Panthers putting on a clinic on how to get the ball inside successfully. Players like Grant Stout who 6-7 from the floor and finished with 15 points and 6 rebounds will make Coach Jake's philosophy a little easier to carry out this season. As all of this was happening, my friend Jerad was trying to come up with nicknames for the '06'-'07 Panthers. The only one he had truly settled on was Eric Coleman: The Cookie Monster.
"Why 'Cookie Monster?'" I asked, confused.
"Because he eats everything up inside," Jerad replied with a big grin.
The hardest player to give a moniker to would have been Jordan Eglseder, who finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds on 6-8 shooting. Jerad even tried engaging a few students behind us who had gone to Bellevue-Marquette with Jordan.
"We just always called him Jordan," said one kid. This obviously wasn't enough for my compatriot. He eventually settled on "Manute" in reference to the 7 and a half footer from Africa who played in the NBA, but he didn't sound sure of himself.
It's hard categorizing Jordan Eglseder. He may be 7'1" and 255 pounds with an impressive post game to boot, but he plays with the soft kind of touch that some point guards envy. When he was fouled he drained both of his free throws using perfect shooting form from the line. I remembered back to when Coach Jacobson said that everyone was expected to be able to shoot the three this year (except Eric Coleman). Did that mean that Eglseder could shoot the three as well? How do you stop a team whose post players can play inside with grave tenacity and then take it outside and drain a three?
Granted, UNI was playing against Central College, a DIII school who finished 11-13 in the '05-'06 season. There was still plenty of room for improvement. Still, the reasons to feel good about this game were obvious. This team can be as dangerous and as good as it wants to be.
"Eat 'em up!" Jerad yelled at Eric Coleman late in the game. This kind of post play will keep the Panthers in contention all season long.
First of all, I would like to thank Panthers to the Bone for pointing out that the first time the Men's Basketball team took the hardwood was indeed yesterday and not next Wednesday as I had previously thought. It turns out that having a day planner is not enough... you actually have to get the dates right.
As a result I arrived about five minutes before tipoff, and settled in. Someone called out my name from below me and I saw two friends of mine waving. After the first called timeout I made my way down below to sit with them. One of them was Jerad Corbin, a fellow PNer and former member of the Pep Band.
The game got into to full swing early on, with the Panthers putting on a clinic on how to get the ball inside successfully. Players like Grant Stout who 6-7 from the floor and finished with 15 points and 6 rebounds will make Coach Jake's philosophy a little easier to carry out this season. As all of this was happening, my friend Jerad was trying to come up with nicknames for the '06'-'07 Panthers. The only one he had truly settled on was Eric Coleman: The Cookie Monster.
"Why 'Cookie Monster?'" I asked, confused.
"Because he eats everything up inside," Jerad replied with a big grin.
The hardest player to give a moniker to would have been Jordan Eglseder, who finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds on 6-8 shooting. Jerad even tried engaging a few students behind us who had gone to Bellevue-Marquette with Jordan.
"We just always called him Jordan," said one kid. This obviously wasn't enough for my compatriot. He eventually settled on "Manute" in reference to the 7 and a half footer from Africa who played in the NBA, but he didn't sound sure of himself.
It's hard categorizing Jordan Eglseder. He may be 7'1" and 255 pounds with an impressive post game to boot, but he plays with the soft kind of touch that some point guards envy. When he was fouled he drained both of his free throws using perfect shooting form from the line. I remembered back to when Coach Jacobson said that everyone was expected to be able to shoot the three this year (except Eric Coleman). Did that mean that Eglseder could shoot the three as well? How do you stop a team whose post players can play inside with grave tenacity and then take it outside and drain a three?
Granted, UNI was playing against Central College, a DIII school who finished 11-13 in the '05-'06 season. There was still plenty of room for improvement. Still, the reasons to feel good about this game were obvious. This team can be as dangerous and as good as it wants to be.
"Eat 'em up!" Jerad yelled at Eric Coleman late in the game. This kind of post play will keep the Panthers in contention all season long.
