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Coach Jacobson is picking right up where last year ended...what a fantastic job of coaching tonight. I knew Jake was the right guy to replace Mac, but he impressed the socks off me tonight. Excellent gameplan by all the staff, and great in-game decisions/play calls by Jake.
Jordan Eglseder is as advertised. We had yet to see him play against a fellow big man. I couldn't tell who was the McDonald's All-American and who was the 1st Team All-Corn Belt. Jordan moved well and will continue to improve.
Brooks McKowen...still is struggling to find his shot, but the man dictated the flow of the game for 40 minutes. He made Washington beat us at our game. UNI outexecuted and outcoached Washington tonight. They just had some better athletes and skilled players to overcome UNI's gameplan (having the game on your home court didn't hurt either). Brooks had 9 assists. Outside of scoring more points, what else do you want out of him? 9 assists?! A point guard is suppose to distribute and he did that all night. Big ups to Brooks.
Grant Stout and Eric Coleman are still All-Valley performers. They make it look easy. I think we will miss Stout's turnaround jump shot next year. It's simple and easy, but he does it so well. Coleman handled the ball well all night. I still think it was a good decision for him to drive on Hawes, just maybe should have kicked it back out before the shot. Probably could have called a foul there too, but that's neither here nor there.
Adam Viet...we haven't seen the real Adam Viet until now. He's been injured and playing behind a loaded guard corp before. His shot is so sweet (outside of the air ball
). Kudos to Adam for picking up his defensive game in the off-season so that he's not such a liability out there. Don't get me wrong, Adam is still going to be the worst defender on the court when out there, but he did some great things to contribute defensively, AND he was playing smart. He's been down on his luck, but this year it looks like things are turning around. That's huge for him and his hometown of Ackley. If he gets things rolling, you are going to have fans coming out of the woodwork from Grundy County to see their boy Viet stroke the three in 'The Mac'.
We also learned that Travis Brown and Jared Josten can hold their own on defense. Travis is probably not quick enough just yet to be where I'm sure the coaching staff wants him to be, but as he learns to be the primary defender (or secondary), he's going to learn how to get things done. I thought he got called for some ticky-tack foul(s) that probably limited some of his minutes tonight, but he was playing hard and doing a great job as a sophomore on a fantastic set of guards (who were 3 inches taller than him).
We also learned that the 'Fab Five' (throw Kerwin in there) are going to be able to contribute good minutes this year. How calm and cool is Stephen Jones? Adam Koch didn't play as well tonight, but he didn't make any mistakes that I saw either. The whole group of freshmen are going to be up and down throughout the year, but as long as 1-2 of them are on every night, this team is going to continue to get better and go far. Tonight wasn't the night for Kwadzo to shine...Brooks was doing too good of a job setting the tempo, but Kwadzo looked VERY good when in there. The future at point guard is good as gold in his hands.
The player development that was a trademark of Mac carries on in this team...the coaching level didn't drop off at all...the timeouts called and playing calling were money all night...As the team becomes better shooters, the season is going to improve.
We need EVERYONE to pack the Mac Sunday and give these guys a huge round of applause for what they showed this weekend. UW-Milwaukee will present similar tempo issues that UNI has faced already with all three previous opponents...what a great prep for them! Get loud and let's start a home winning streak in our new venue! Go Panthers!
Jordan Eglseder is as advertised. We had yet to see him play against a fellow big man. I couldn't tell who was the McDonald's All-American and who was the 1st Team All-Corn Belt. Jordan moved well and will continue to improve.
Brooks McKowen...still is struggling to find his shot, but the man dictated the flow of the game for 40 minutes. He made Washington beat us at our game. UNI outexecuted and outcoached Washington tonight. They just had some better athletes and skilled players to overcome UNI's gameplan (having the game on your home court didn't hurt either). Brooks had 9 assists. Outside of scoring more points, what else do you want out of him? 9 assists?! A point guard is suppose to distribute and he did that all night. Big ups to Brooks.
Grant Stout and Eric Coleman are still All-Valley performers. They make it look easy. I think we will miss Stout's turnaround jump shot next year. It's simple and easy, but he does it so well. Coleman handled the ball well all night. I still think it was a good decision for him to drive on Hawes, just maybe should have kicked it back out before the shot. Probably could have called a foul there too, but that's neither here nor there.
Adam Viet...we haven't seen the real Adam Viet until now. He's been injured and playing behind a loaded guard corp before. His shot is so sweet (outside of the air ball
). Kudos to Adam for picking up his defensive game in the off-season so that he's not such a liability out there. Don't get me wrong, Adam is still going to be the worst defender on the court when out there, but he did some great things to contribute defensively, AND he was playing smart. He's been down on his luck, but this year it looks like things are turning around. That's huge for him and his hometown of Ackley. If he gets things rolling, you are going to have fans coming out of the woodwork from Grundy County to see their boy Viet stroke the three in 'The Mac'.We also learned that Travis Brown and Jared Josten can hold their own on defense. Travis is probably not quick enough just yet to be where I'm sure the coaching staff wants him to be, but as he learns to be the primary defender (or secondary), he's going to learn how to get things done. I thought he got called for some ticky-tack foul(s) that probably limited some of his minutes tonight, but he was playing hard and doing a great job as a sophomore on a fantastic set of guards (who were 3 inches taller than him).
We also learned that the 'Fab Five' (throw Kerwin in there) are going to be able to contribute good minutes this year. How calm and cool is Stephen Jones? Adam Koch didn't play as well tonight, but he didn't make any mistakes that I saw either. The whole group of freshmen are going to be up and down throughout the year, but as long as 1-2 of them are on every night, this team is going to continue to get better and go far. Tonight wasn't the night for Kwadzo to shine...Brooks was doing too good of a job setting the tempo, but Kwadzo looked VERY good when in there. The future at point guard is good as gold in his hands.
The player development that was a trademark of Mac carries on in this team...the coaching level didn't drop off at all...the timeouts called and playing calling were money all night...As the team becomes better shooters, the season is going to improve.
We need EVERYONE to pack the Mac Sunday and give these guys a huge round of applause for what they showed this weekend. UW-Milwaukee will present similar tempo issues that UNI has faced already with all three previous opponents...what a great prep for them! Get loud and let's start a home winning streak in our new venue! Go Panthers!
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