CBS Sportsline MVC preview

[tcondon]

CBS picks UNI to finish 5th in the conference. Ben Jacobson picked as a 1st teamer.

http://www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/7844921

[JCPanthers]

Northern Iowa
Top three: G Ben Jacobson, G Erik Crawford, G Brooks McKowen.

On the decline: It's likely that nobody in the Missouri Valley has more backcourt depth than the Panthers, but it's just as likely that nobody in the conference has less frontcourt experience. Northern Iowa lost its starting center and power forward from last season's second-place team, which is why SportsLine.com expects this tumble to the middle of the pack.

I'm sorry, but I don't think UNI's frontcourt will be as bad as people think! Look for big things out of Grant Stout and Eric Coleman as these two have a chance to be something special.

[Marc Wigim]

Two things to consider:

1. CBS is constantly dogging on Iowa, so I imagine it's probably that much worse for us.

2. There's nothing wrong with playing the role of the underdog. When people don't respect you, that's when you can do the most damage.

[The Coletrain]

Let's be honest, the MVC is turning into a very good mid-major. From top-to-bottom, it's a very competitive league that's only getting better. The Panthers could be an improved team from last year and still legitimately finish fifth. But I think that will be more so because there will be a jumble of teams at or around the top this year versus the SIUs and Creighton's up top and everyone else scrambling between 3rd and 6th. There are, IMO, legitimately 4-6 teams in the MVC that could compete for a post-season berth as we begin this season. While at least 3-4 will be in the NIT versus the NCAA, I think this league is showing itself to be competitive with just about any of the other mid-major conferences.

Now I personally think 5th may be a little too low for us, but if you look at it from the uninformed major media's standpoint, I can see their case. But I think they're giving Dr. Tom way too much credit to put him ahead of UNI. If any of those other teams should be ahead of UNI outside of the big three (SIU, Creighton, WSU) it should be SW Mo St. It will definitely be a tougher go this season as most of the bottom of the conference should be improved.

[Marc Wigim]

Yeah. Dr. Tom doesn't have much in the way of anything out in Des Moines this year. Besides, hasn't he started carbon-dating yet?