2024-2025 Around the League and Other Games of Interest

[BCPanther]

The only way a UNI guy can get to the tournament is to transfer.

It must just absolutely suck to be this miserable all the time.

[JD720]

McCollum to Iowa is official.

https://www.kcci.com/article/hawkeyes-iowa-basketball-hires-drake-head-coach-ben-mccollum/64264398

[UNIpanther99]

Good for him, good for them - he will be a lot more classy than the last guy.

I hope Drake hires the next Kurt Kanaskie.

Considering McCollum's past non-conference scheduling habits, I don't see a path for the return of games between UNI and Iowa. Unfortunate, but it is what it is.

[clenz]

Good for him, good for them - he will be a lot more classy than the last guy.

I hope Drake hires the next Kurt Kanaskie.

Considering McCollum's past non-conference scheduling habits, I don't see a path for the return of games between UNI and Iowa. Unfortunate, but it is what it is.

If Hardin nails this hire again, he is gone within the next 2 calendar years at the latest.

That will have given him:
Niko Medvid - 1 year and went 17-17 but the fact he got to 17-17 with what he took over is insane. He would have won big there if he stayed a while.
DeVries
McCollum
Another hit on a basketball coach

He also will have hired
Stepsis who won multiple league titles and got them to the playoffs
Woodley - who lets be real will win at D+

Their men's soccer coach, who is doing pretty well considering it's a soccer program in Iowa.
Pohlman for WBB who is something like 93-40 as HC since she took over
Hired Diehl to lead their softball program in 2023. A once proud program that fell back a bit. Diehl won something like 73% of her games at Indian Hills. She won't repeat that at D+ but I wouldn't expect them to be a sub.500 team for long under her, at least in conference play.

Those hires, especially the men's and women basketball, football, and to an extent volleyball if a B10/SEC/B12 is looking at him will be major selling points. Along with what he's done with their facilities.

[GoPanthers85]

If Hardin nails this hire again, he is gone within the next 2 calendar years at the latest.

That will have given him:
Niko Medvid - 1 year and went 17-17 but the fact he got to 17-17 with what he took over is insane. He would have won big there if he stayed a while.
DeVries
McCollum
Another hit on a basketball coach

He also will have hired
Stepsis who won multiple league titles and got them to the playoffs
Woodley - who lets be real will win at D+

Their men's soccer coach, who is doing pretty well considering it's a soccer program in Iowa.
Pohlman for WBB who is something like 93-40 as HC since she took over
Hired Diehl to lead their softball program in 2023. A once proud program that fell back a bit. Diehl won something like 73% of her games at Indian Hills. She won't repeat that at D+ but I wouldn't expect them to be a sub.500 team for long under her, at least in conference play.

Those hires, especially the men's and women basketball, football, and to an extent volleyball if a B10/SEC/B12 is looking at him will be major selling points. Along with what he's done with their facilities.

So what it sounds like your saying is having a good AD, especially at the mid major level is good thing. Who would have guessed. BTW, not anything negative against your post, it is a knock on the previous administration. I know sarcasm doesn't always come across in text.

[SteinPizza]

Considering McCollum's past non-conference scheduling habits, I don't see a path for the return of games between UNI and Iowa. Unfortunate, but it is what it is.

One of the coaches who competed against him in DII said McCollum’s big on only scheduling home or neutral games in non-con. He feels this gives his teams the best chance to make end of season tournaments. There’s no reason for him to change this at Iowa. He basically ducked the question about scheduling Drake and UNI in his presser today.

[clenz]

Stop talking about scheduling Iowa. Let it go. **** them. We do just fine scheduling without them. We don't need their validation. We don't need their pitty. We aren't their little brother.

Stop trying to act like we need anything from them. We want to be looked at by the media, fans, players, etc. as a "real" D1 and real program we need to cut the ****ing **** with "IOWA NEEDS TO SCHEDULE US!" and "I CAN'T BELIEVE IOWA WON'T PLAY US!". Good, ****ing deal with it. It means they see us as nothing but a threat, even if they win. If they thought they'd beat us by 20 every year they'd be on our phones non-stop, just as they are with Maryland-Eastern Shore and Savannah State and Texas-Corpus Christie and Arkansas Pine Bluff.

Same for Iowa State. **** em. We are our own ****ing program. Stop with the "it's good for the state". No one gives a **** if it's "good for the state". No one even knows what that means.

Hell, the same way Iowa goes "there's nothing in it for us" we should be saying "there is nothing in it for us". We go there and win Iowa takes their ball away from us and goes "We're bigger than you, we aren't going to validate your existence anymore by playing you", which is where we are now. We go there and lose it is instantly spun into "See, they can't compete anyway. They aren't as good as us. They aren't worth following for fans. Give Iowa your money and time, not UNI".

I say this with the whole ass entirety of my chest, twice over, **** those games. Stop asking for them. Stop wanting them. Stop expecting them to return. Make our own ****ing path.

[06panther10]

Stop talking about scheduling Iowa. Let it go. **** them. We do just fine scheduling without them. We don't need their validation. We don't need their pitty. We aren't their little brother.

Stop trying to act like we need anything from them. We want to be looked at by the media, fans, players, etc. as a "real" D1 and real program we need to cut the ****ing **** with "IOWA NEEDS TO SCHEDULE US!" and "I CAN'T BELIEVE IOWA WON'T PLAY US!". Good, ****ing deal with it. It means they see us as nothing but a threat, even if they win. If they thought they'd beat us by 20 every year they'd be on our phones non-stop, just as they are with Maryland-Eastern Shore and Savannah State and Texas-Corpus Christie and Arkansas Pine Bluff.

Same for Iowa State. **** em. We are our own ****ing program. Stop with the "it's good for the state". No one gives a **** if it's "good for the state". No one even knows what that means.

Hell, the same way Iowa goes "there's nothing in it for us" we should be saying "there is nothing in it for us". We go there and win Iowa takes their ball away from us and goes "We're bigger than you, we aren't going to validate your existence anymore by playing you", which is where we are now. We go there and lose it is instantly spun into "See, they can't compete anyway. They aren't as good as us. They aren't worth following for fans. Give Iowa your money and time, not UNI".

I say this with the whole ass entirety of my chest, twice over, **** those games. Stop asking for them. Stop wanting them. Stop expecting them to return. Make our own ****ing path.

Unhinged, nonsensical rant aside, the whole point is that not playing the games is stupid. Its stupid for the programs its stupid for the fans. There are 4 good D1 programs in our small state, and they should play basketball games against each other because they are interesting and fun for the fans and players.

People will never stop talking about these games, because its STUPID that they aren't played.

Go off though.

[UNIpanther99]

Clenz, I hear you. I do. And when they say no that should absolutely be our approach and mentality. But finding quality opponents for home and home or neutral games is really hard, and considering the coaching change - the question should at least be asked. If the answer is no, fine - we keep doing what we are doing.

I will continue to contend the games were good for UNI and Drake, and they were also good for Iowa and Iowa State. And certainly they were good for the state of Iowa and basketball in general.

And you can say we're doing just fine without them, but we haven't made the tournament since the series ended. Granted, there are many reasons for that.

[Panther Fan]

Stop talking about scheduling Iowa. Let it go. **** them. We do just fine scheduling without them. We don't need their validation. We don't need their pitty. We aren't their little brother.

Stop trying to act like we need anything from them. We want to be looked at by the media, fans, players, etc. as a "real" D1 and real program we need to cut the ****ing **** with "IOWA NEEDS TO SCHEDULE US!" and "I CAN'T BELIEVE IOWA WON'T PLAY US!". Good, ****ing deal with it. It means they see us as nothing but a threat, even if they win. If they thought they'd beat us by 20 every year they'd be on our phones non-stop, just as they are with Maryland-Eastern Shore and Savannah State and Texas-Corpus Christie and Arkansas Pine Bluff.

Same for Iowa State. **** em. We are our own ****ing program. Stop with the "it's good for the state". No one gives a **** if it's "good for the state". No one even knows what that means.

Hell, the same way Iowa goes "there's nothing in it for us" we should be saying "there is nothing in it for us". We go there and win Iowa takes their ball away from us and goes "We're bigger than you, we aren't going to validate your existence anymore by playing you", which is where we are now. We go there and lose it is instantly spun into "See, they can't compete anyway. They aren't as good as us. They aren't worth following for fans. Give Iowa your money and time, not UNI".

I say this with the whole ass entirety of my chest, twice over, **** those games. Stop asking for them. Stop wanting them. Stop expecting them to return. Make our own ****ing path.

We CAN'T make our own ****ing path because the mid majors are being excluded. If it was just Iowa and Iowa State you might have a point, but it's basically all P4 schools. We can't even get our shot in MTE's anymore. Last year's B4A feels like it may be the last time we play in that type of field. Partly again thanks to NIL. The Orlando tournament this past season and the Palm Desert field in '25 are solid but compare it to any of the B4A tournament's we've been in. 2012 at the time was talked about as one of the best MTE fields ever.

We do "just fine" with FINE being the key word as compared to other mid majors. What school is having any luck getting games? Jake talked about it in a press conference/interview I heard late this season where he talked more extensively about P4 schools running up their efficiency metrics in non-con to improve their NET. So they either play games they can run up the score or other P4 schools where they know it will be a Q1 or Q2 game.

[clenz]

And you can say we're doing just fine without them, but we haven't made the tournament since the series ended. Granted, there are many reasons for that.

I, too, enjoy spurious correlations.

[UNIpanther99]

I, too, enjoy spurious correlations.

I try to be generous in my response, and this is what you do? Good grief, man. Go yell at the clouds.

[clenz]

We CAN'T make our own ****ing path because the mid majors are being excluded. If it was just Iowa and Iowa State you might have a point, but it's basically all P4 schools. We can't even get our shot in MTE's anymore. Last year's B4A feels like it may be the last time we play in that type of field. Partly again thanks to NIL. The Orlando tournament this past season and the Palm Desert field in '25 are solid but compare it to any of the B4A tournament's we've been in. 2012 at the time was talked about as one of the best MTE fields ever.

We do "just fine" with FINE being the key word as compared to other mid majors. What school is having any luck getting games? Jake talked about it in a press conference/interview I heard late this season where he talked more extensively about P4 schools running up their efficiency metrics in non-con to improve their NET. So they either play games they can run up the score or other P4 schools where they know it will be a Q1 or Q2 game.

[/QUOTE]You're making my point while making your own point. Mids are being excluded. Us taking a buy game at Iowa or Iowa State isn't going to change that. Do we get a seed in the NIT this past season because we played Iowa instead of Wichita State? Do we get an NCAA bid by replacing Wichita State with Iowa State? It doesn't matter who we, or any of us, play. We aren't going to be included outside of the automatic bid moving forward. The system has always been rigged against mids, it's moved past rigged and into straight up walled off. We played an OOC SOS of 99 per teamrankings.com. Last season was 94. Our average over the last 10 years is 106. Average over Jake's entire tenure is 108. Some are much higher, like the year we had 35. Others are much lower, like a 262 7 years ago but that was bookended with an 83 and 62.

2025 is not 2012 in any sense of the world in or outside of sports. 2012 is closer to 1990 or even1978 when we moved D1 in terms of structure and rules than it is to 2025. We aren't getting those MTEs anymore. We aren't getting those H/H series back. Pining for them and going "it's better for the state" with no backing to that other than pure vibes does nothing to change that. Sure, I'd take the H/H back. I'd even be willing to listen to the B4 set up again. You want to make a case for being "good for the state" the B4 is about as close as you can get to making a case for the games actually being good for the state as a whole.

Iowa is seemingly looking to end the series with Iowa State yearly and replace those games with a low major in basketball and a CUSA or MAC school in football. The chances of us getting an at-large to the NCAA tournament at 22-10 is better than us getting those series back with either one of them.

Yes, it's fine compared to other mid-majors. Trying to compare ourselves to schools who spend more on basketball alone than we do as an entire athletic department is pretty silly. That doesn't mean we aren't, and shouldn't, strive to compete with them on the court. When it comes to the idea of scheduling ability we can't compete with the bigger schools. Trying to measure yourself on the same scale as they are rather than your peers is probably not the best scale to use.

[clenz]

I try to be generous in my response, and this is what you do? Good grief, man. Go yell at the clouds.

The rest of your post was absolutely fine, and why I didn't touch it. I can't, and won't, argue any of it.

Trying to make any correlation to "we haven't made the NCAA tournament since the series ended" is non-sensical. If the the only way to make the tournament is to play Iowa or Iowa State then I'm all in I guess.

We also haven't made the NCAA tournament since we beat a #1 ranked team in the OOC. We also haven't made it since won an Arch Madness title. Of the 3 "we haven't made the tournament since" scenarios I'd bet the Arch Madness title has more to do with it than not play Iowa/Iowa State or beating the #1 team in the country in the OOC.

You say "at least ask and when they so no continue on". Sure, I agree. The reality is asking is ceremonial at this point. We already know the answer. It doesn't matter who the coach is. It's clear the power schools are going to do everything they can to isolate and keep the rest of us away from the money and tournament. Drake was 30-3 going into selection Sunday. Are you confident in saying they get an at-large if they finished 29-4 and didn't win Arch Mandess? I'm not. You think they would really put them in over that 14th SEC team? I don't. They were 44th on the seed list. North Carolina was 46th and the only at-large behind them. So if Bradley beats Drake in the title game it comes down to Drake and North Carolina while Bradley probably falls abbout 50-54 on the seed list. Do you, in your heart, truly believe Drake would have recieved the selection over North Carolina or West Virginia? They 100% should have, but would they have? I can't think of a world in which they do.

They beat Miami, Vanderbilt, Kansas State. Those wins should have made them a lock with the rest of that resume. If anything, I bet it would have been spun as a negative for them behind closed doors. They were good enough to win games. They don't want Cinderella teams. Everyone loves them, but the TV networks and selection committee do not because the reality is the lowest rated games are those that involve the Cinderella teams. They are loving the fact there are zero mids in the S16 this year. They want chalk.

If we would get the H/H series back with them go for it. I would have a different opinion on that. I will never change my stance on us being a buy game for them.

[ronfitch]

This is 2025. This is the MVC. This is mid-major basketball.

One weekend in March determines whether UNI goes to the NCAA tournament now. Everything else is practice leading to and seeding for that tournament.

The portal and NIL changed college basketball, but that toothpaste is not going back into the tube. If anything, the power conferences will simply create their own tournament and split off or simply do that and pay off the NCAA for the name/branding.