Great DMReg article

[Chitown Panther]

http://desmoinesregister.com/sports/stories/c6902854/23961636.html

Sports Columnists

Keeler: March is over, and the Big 4 men's hoops champ is .
By SEAN KEELER
Register Sports Columnist
04/02/2004
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Say this for March: It took requests. Every Big Four men's basketball team gave its fans something they wanted. Northern Iowa got to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1990. Iowa State got to play under the bright lights of the Big Apple. Drake got a few games wiser.

Iowa got it over with.

But who were the really big winners last month? Iowa State point guard Curtis Stinson? Iowa athletic director Bob Bowlsby?

This isn't football, kids. We're going to make them play off for it.

Programs regional

Iowa State (1 seed) versus Drake (4) - Mythical state champion found its groove in mid-March; scrappy Bulldogs (12-16) faded down the stretch. Next year.

Winner: Iowa State

Northern Iowa (2) vs. Iowa (3) - Where would you rather be the second week of March: The Big Dance or Dysfunctional Family Arena?

Winner: Northern Iowa

Final - Iowa State (1) vs. Northern Iowa (2) - The Cyclones finally won on the road and put central Iowa in a New York state of mind. But one game in the NCAAs, even a loss, trumps four in the Negligible Interest Tournament.

Region winner: Northern Iowa

Players regional

Iowa State point guard Curtis Stinson (1) vs. Drake point guard Lonnie Randolph (4) - Randolph was formidable, averaging 13 points and 4.5 assists in two March games. But Stinson took his game to another level, averaging 19.1 points, 3.8 assists and 5.1 boards.

Winner: Stinson

Iowa point guard Jeff Horner (2) vs. Northern Iowa guard Ben Jacobson (3) - As Horner went, so went the Hawkeyes - 22 points in a win at Purdue; seven and 10 in losses at Northwestern and against Michigan. Jacobson put the Panthers on his back for three days, averaging 20.3 points, 3.3 assists and two steals to lead Northern Iowa to the Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship.

Winner: Jacobson

Final - Stinson (1) vs. Jacobson (3) - In the NIT semis, Stinson nearly took out Rutgers single-handedly (32 points). Jacobson was mugged by Georgia Tech defenders in his NCAA debut at Milwaukee (2-for-14 from the floor).

Region winner: Stinson

Whistles regional

Northern Iowa coach Greg McDermott (1) vs. Iowa coach Steve Alford (4) - Will everyone please stop referring to the Panthers' win over the Hawkeyes at the UNI-Dome last Dec. 9 as an "upset"?

Winner: McDermott

Drake coach Tom Davis (2) vs. Iowa State coach Wayne Morgan (3) - There were potholes in the road, but the Cyclones improved almost every week. Can't argue with 20 wins. However they come.

Winner: Morgan

Final - McDermott (1) vs. Morgan (3) - Morgan did as good a job as anyone could have hoped holding the Cyclones together after the Eustachy scandal. But Northern Iowa's NCAA cameo lifted McDermott's national profile as a mid-major coach to keep an eye on.

Region winner: McDermott, in double OT

Suits regional

Bowlsby (1) vs. Mediacom (4) - In this tournament's biggest upset, the scrappy cable company edges one of the most powerful men in college sports. Thumbs up to Bowlsby the NCAA selection committee chair. Thumbs down to Bowlsby the Iowa athletic director, who was clumsy in statements defending Pierre Pierce and Alford. (If he's a young Krzyzewski, I'm a baby Tolstoy.)

Meanwhile, Mediacom made every Iowa State men's NIT game available to 90 percent of the state, including the psyche-lifting victory at Florida State.

Winner: Mediacom, on a trey at the buzzer

Iowa State athletic director Bruce Van De Velde (2) vs. former Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy (3) - The NIT doubleheaders in Ames were a savvy call, a welcome outreach to get fans excited about a tournament of also-rans. And yet a year after his unsavory ouster in Ames, Eustachy threatened to steal the Cyclones' thunder. The coach was linked with three prominent jobs before landing on his feet at Southern Mississippi.

Winner: Eustachy, at the free-throw line

Final: Eustachy (3) vs. Mediacom (4) - The fun part of last month wasn't chasing the Cyclones coach of old - it was watching the Cyclones coach of new.

Region winner: Mediacom

Final Four

Stinson (1) vs. Northern Iowa (2): Don't think the Panthers are for real? Two words: Georgia Tech. If Jacobson's last-ditch three doesn't hit the iron, the Yellow Jackets probably aren't dancing in San Antonio this weekend. But the biggest stars seem to shine on the biggest stages - ESPN, New York media and the NBA now will be keeping their eyes on Stinson.

Winner: Stinson

McDermott (1) vs. Mediacom (4) - Mediacom's production team did a nice job with Drake, Iowa State and prep telecasts. Next winter, why not add a handful of Northern Iowa's sexier home games to the mix?

Winner: McDermott

Championship

Stinson (1) vs. McDermott (1) - Tinsley Mark II edges Eldon Miller's protege on a running tear-drop shot in the paint. And the real beauty of it? There'll be a rematch next year.

Championship winner: Stinson

[AmesPanther]

I really don't like Keeler's articles. He's pro-Hawk everything. Apparently he decided he couldn't make a case for the Hawks right now so he writes an article that has a playoff full of subjective comparisons. The few things that aren't subjective and have been done, he gets wrong. It's good to see him write something positive for UNI, but couldn't he pick something positive out of the UNI season and just write about that. There are plenty of players, coaches, and games that would make great stories for his column.

Sorry for the ramble I just really don't like Keeler articles and I don't like writers in the state that pretend to be neutral and are really Hawk fans.

[UNIpanther99]

I thought Keeler was a Cyclone grad? Maybe I'm wrong though. Anyway, a closet clone fan is no better than a closet hawk fan. ISU @ UNI will be a huge game next year.

[AmesPanther]

No idea where he graduated from. I just know you don't have to read very many of his articles to figure out what school he likes. If you listen to him on Deace's round table you can figure it out even faster.

I'd agree ISU @ UNI should be a very good battle.

Seems to me like UNI and ISU are a little unknown for next year. Have to see how the players that get brought in do. Iowa seems like they should be pretty good. But I thought Iowa would do well this year and Steve managed to work his magic. With that said I still like both UNI and ISU's chances for doing well next year.

[AmesPanther]

FYI, it should be obvious but I'm a fan of UNI and ISU, but not Iowa. I'd really like to see Drake do well next year also. I think Dr. Tom is a standup guy.

[GonzoCat]

What's funny about your post is the Hawkeye fans all hate Keeler and swear he is nothing but a Cyclone fan.

The only certainty about the Dsm media, print and tv, is they ignore UNI for the most part.

[Panthers to the Bone]

Yes, and that will hopefully change.

Gonzo- Does UNI have any televised games in DM? Does Fox 28/40 pick up in Des Moines?

[AmesPanther]

I haven't met a Hawk fan yet that doesn't think the world revolves around Iowa City.

[FMPanther]

Yeah? Well...

the world is flat too, if you haven't already figured that out!

As an Iowa alum, I didn't realize the perception of Hawk fans by ISU and UNI fans until I came to CF first, and then left the state for Indiana.

But come on, Iowa fans are really nowhere near as bad as Wussconsin, the Illini or OSU. That, I can assure you, is a fact.

[AmesPanther]

Deace, says on his radio show "You only become an ISU fan one of 2 ways, you graduate from there or you can't stand Hawk fans.". I think you can interchange ISU with UNI and Drake in that statement.

[Mac's Maniac]

I think the success of Iowa Football has gone to their heads. They are placing themselves with names of Miami, Oklahoma, Michigan and Ohio State. Sure they have been outstanding the last two years but you are going to have to do that every year if you want your name along those listed above.

[GonzoCat]

Yes, and that will hopefully change.

Gonzo- Does UNI have any televised games in DM? Does Fox 28/40 pick up in Des Moines?

There were at least 2-3 of UNI's games on FoxSports ch. 40 in Des Moines this past year. Of course the Iowa and ISU games were on and I think the game vs Drake at the dome was on Mediacomm ch. 22. The game at DU was on too I'm sure, that I attended at the Knapp Center. All in all, not bad getting to see 7 or 8 of UNI's games on TV this year.

All UNI FB and BB games are carried on 1350 am in Dsm if you didn't know.

[Panthers to the Bone]

Thanks. I knew about the radio station, but the tv games I didn't know for sure about. So, Fox 40 is out of Des Moines? I know that Fox 28/40 will pick up more games this year with the higher expectations for the Panthers, but I just didn't know how much coverage they got in the DM area.

[Jonny_Rogers]

I think the success of Iowa Football has gone to their heads. They are placing themselves with names of Miami, Oklahoma, Michigan and Ohio State. Sure they have been outstanding the last two years but you are going to have to do that every year if you want your name along those listed above.

Just about the time when I think I'm starting to like UNI, I get onto this site and read this.

Name me the Iowa fans who have said, ''Our football program is as good as Miami's, Oklahoma's, Michigan's, and Ohio State's.'' Just name me one.

And no, someone who has said that Iowa has been as good as those programs the last two years doesn't count, because Iowa has in fact been an elite program the past 2 years (a top 8 team in both).

Name me all the Iowa fans who have made the above comment.

66-0

[AmesPanther]

Just about the time when I think I'm starting to like UNI, I get onto this site and read this.

Name me the Iowa fans who have said, ''Our football program is as good as Miami's, Oklahoma's, Michigan's, and Ohio State's.'' Just name me one.

And no, someone who has said that Iowa has been as good as those programs the last two years doesn't count, because Iowa has in fact been an elite program the past 2 years (a top 8 team in both).

Name me all the Iowa fans who have made the above comment.

66-0

It doesn't make much sense to change your opinion of UNI athletics on a single thread on a message board.

I have heard way too many comments from Iowa fan's to even begin this argument. I'll go ahead and concede now, all Iowa fan's are perfect and would never make such a comment. Come on that's just more Hawk thinking.

I think everyone can agree that Iowa has more fans in the state than UNI and ISU, probably than both combined. So even if 95% of the Hawk fans would never make such a comment the other 5% is a huge number and can easily make comments that reflect badly.