On November 1st..21-6...Would you Take It..?

[oldschoolcat]

Long time reader....first time poster...

Yes, we should be please where we are at....but reality.....Mac has spoiled us into being hardcore Panther bb fans. Very painful to listen last night and find positives. When I read the play by play a very crucial point was when Santos came in for Coleman.......we lost ground quickly and never really recovered. We have great opportunities in front of us....some rest...some more movement on offense....crucial stops on D. Getting it done at crunch time, this team will be back and make a good run.

[NJ Panther]

First of all this is not the mid-late 90's, thats been left in the way far past. I think why a lot of people are "down" right now (at least why I'm disappointed in the last two games) is this program was finally getting the national attention it deserved. We had the ranking, the ESPN highlights, the newspaper articles, the pundits, and even the Register in our corner. And I for one was buying into the sustained ranking, 4-5 seed, conference title, sweet 16/elite 8, best mid-major not Gonzaga, etc. Now some of that has slipped away, and that really does stink. I'm not blamming the team/coach, nor am I saying that those things were my divine right as a fan or anything, its just disapointing to have what you wished for a long time as a fan, and then watch some of it fall apart. That said, its not over by any means and we can still get back to the mountain top and many of the things previously listed, especially starting with a big win Saturday, winning out, and winning St. Louis. But, for the moment, it stinks to see some of the national accolades and stuff slip away for now, at least for me

[ejacobson]

College Game Night and SportsCenter this AM

So on College game night last night they were discussing the Valley and as usual Gottlieb talked up WSU alot, but in that discussion he said that the Valley still deserves 4 teams and that any of those four and especially UNI are very dangerous teams.

SportsCenter this morning talked about ISUs huge upset of the Panthers and that the Valley is one of the toughest conferences in the nation.

All this shows me what I have thought the whole time, its going to be a tough race to the finish in the Valley. And I think the boys will pull together and hang on. All is not lost. Far from it.

[UNI MadCat]

Oh, my god!! Those of you unhappy with 21-6 must be bandwagon jumpers and not remember the mid-90's. I can think of about 300 teams in the country that would take 21-6.

This is still going to be the best season in the history of UNI basketball. And also this ISU loss is not to a last place team, how good would there record be if Moss had stayed healthy?!

I don't think anyone is disputing your notion that this is going to be the best season... who has said it wasn't???

And honestly, what does being concerned over the last two games have to do with the 90s??? So every time we lose I should say to myself, "oh, that's ok, we lost lots of games when Sam Weaver was here?"

Or how about the opposite, do you feel like USC fans, who've been spoiled of late on the gridiron, should say, "Oh shucks. Well, I'm not upset about blowing this game at all, b/c we won the title the last two years."

Doesn't make sense, does it?

But I digress... the topic of the thread is ridiculous. No one can predict the future, we can only live in the now. Being 21-4 last week, coming off two straight losses doesn't look that good when you know you could easily have been 23-4... so to really expect people to look the question and answer it without bias towards the present is not possible, therefore making the question pretty meaningless to begin with.

AND...

In the past week, if NB, myself and others say one thing that is potentially negative, or more accurately, not 100% positive, we get railed for being "hawkeye fans" or "not true fans" or "bandwagoners".

Not just to you Bcrawf, but to anyone making these accusations, you are only focusing on what you perceive as negative and not focusing on the rest of it... I myself said I wouldn't be happy but also said within the post that in no way am I disappointed. How does that mean I'm a bandwagon jumper?

[PantherAlumMustang]

Thats disrespect if you don't like 21-6

I think you are disrespecting the valley and its quality if you are not happy with a 21-6 season as of right now. I am as unhappy as the next guy about the past two losses, but good teams have them. They just do. Call them flukes, or whatever you want to to make yourself feel better, but college basketball is all about the grind and surviving to show up in the long run. The valley is tough, and if you don't get losses at this point I think we get them somewhere else where we may have snuck out with a win or two. Wouldn't you say that things always have a way of balancing themselves out like that? You beat teams by less than you should have and you lose to teams that you shouldn't have loss to at all. Twenty wins is twenty wins. NCAAs here we come.

[MediaPanther]

If people are unhappy with the last two losses, then they should also be unhappy with our 6 total losses. This is suppose to be the greatest Panther season ever, and it would be a shame for people to settle for being just a little bit better than before. I love the Panthers and am not saying anything negative about the team or coaches or their efforts this season, but we should be unhappy about each and every loss. This team has the potential to be A LOT better than any team ever, and I'm going to be cheering them in that direction every game for the rest of the season and expect that we win all our remaining games and show up for the NCAA Tournament with the expectations that we will win multiple games!!

Kaboom!

[BCPanther]

We all get disappointed after every loss. But, when we scream doom and gloom that is not the right approach either. 11-5 in the 5th or 6th best conference in the country. I will take that every year!!

[MediaPanther]

All I'm saying is we shouldn't settle. If the program continues to get better each year we can't continue to settle for 11-5 in the conference. SIU got through the conference a couple years ago with only 1 loss. Granted the MVC is a lot tougher this year, but we should be looking for perfection. There is no reason not to expect it. We are good enough to win every game this year if we play our best basketball. We aren't always going to bring our A game, but we can't go into games thinking that the team may not play their best that night. I certainly would not take 11-5 every year. I want 18-0. I know it's a lofty goal, but that's how the elite teams get their elite status is by wanting what others think is impossible. There is no reason a school like UNI can't become an elite team somewhere down the line. We have to keep expecting more each year and not settle for "good" seasons. I'm not "jumping ship" or "jumping off the bandwagon", I just know what this team is capable of and I know what this program is capable of becoming.

Kaboom!

[Panthers to the Bone]

You can't guage a team's relative success compared to year by year records. UNI has 21 wins against some of the stiffest competition in the country. UNI has never played and won against a more challenging schedule...Period. Last year's win total included only two NCAA Tourney teams: Iowa State and Southern Illinois. This year, UNI will have beaten Iowa (better than last year's ISU Tourney team, IMO), LSU (same team that will probably be a top 5 seed), Wichita State (twice), and Southern Illinois (once) and the opportunity to knock off at least two more NCAA teams (Bucknell and SIU). This year's schedule has been much tougher than last year and previous other successful years. For someone to say we shouldn't settle, despite the success over the course of this year, IMO, is an uneducated, non-informed statement.

Do I want UNI to win out? Yes. Do I want to see UNI win the conference and conference tourney? Absolutely. Do I want to see UNI make a deep run into the NCAA Tourney? Most definitely. But I cannot be who I am as a fan, and not appreciate what has been accomplished this year. This year has not only been fun, but we have been spoiled. I don't think fans are settling for losing more games than winning over the next few weeks, but I do think that the fans defending the team (persay) are just stating that we should appreciate this team, and realize that most teams do not go through a season without losing two games in a row, or hit some sort of slump. It's all about perspective, IMO. Go Panthers!

[BCPanther]

PTTB- Right ON!!

[panther2317]

Well said PTTB. And you think you're not a writer...that my friend was eloquent and well thought out writing. GO PANTHERS!!

[Matt Trump]

Panthers to the Bone is a man amongst boys.

[panther2317]

Boys that drink Mike's Hard Lemonade! (I think I just slammed myself Reed)

[Coachdags]

You can't guage a team's relative success compared to year by year records. UNI has 21 wins against some of the stiffest competition in the country. UNI has never played and won against a more challenging schedule...Period. Last year's win total included only two NCAA Tourney teams: Iowa State and Southern Illinois. This year, UNI will have beaten Iowa (better than last year's ISU Tourney team, IMO), LSU (same team that will probably be a top 5 seed), Wichita State (twice), and Southern Illinois (once) and the opportunity to knock off at least two more NCAA teams (Bucknell and SIU). This year's schedule has been much tougher than last year and previous other successful years. For someone to say we shouldn't settle, despite the success over the course of this year, IMO, is an uneducated, non-informed statement.

Do I want UNI to win out? Yes. Do I want to see UNI win the conference and conference tourney? Absolutely. Do I want to see UNI make a deep run into the NCAA Tourney? Most definitely. But I cannot be who I am as a fan, and not appreciate what has been accomplished this year. This year has not only been fun, but we have been spoiled. I don't think fans are settling for losing more games than winning over the next few weeks, but I do think that the fans defending the team (persay) are just stating that we should appreciate this team, and realize that most teams do not go through a season without losing two games in a row, or hit some sort of slump. It's all about perspective, IMO. Go Panthers!

very nicely stated...agree 100%

[Lone Star Panther]

Well said, PTTB.... Well said!