TexasTerror
January 30th, 2006, 05:17 PM
Congrats to the Panthers of UNI! Cap'N, you becoming a big time BKB fan now too?
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Northern Iowa Ranked for First Time
— Northern Iowa is ranked in The Associated Press' Top 25 for the first time. Michigan is back in for the first time in almost a decade.
The Panthers and Wolverines were among four teams new to the poll Monday, but their waits were a lot longer than Iowa and LSU, which were both ranked earlier this season.
The top of the poll stayed the same with Connecticut, Duke and Memphis in the first three spots, but then came a number of changes after a week that saw 12 ranked teams lose at least one game.
"I'm excited for our players. This is the first time our school has ever been ranked and for this particular group to be one that cracks the Top 25 is very special," Northern Iowa coach Greg McDermott said. "I'm sure in a lot of our fans' minds they think something like this has never been possible. I want them to enjoy it while it lasts and we'll do what we can to stay there but we're in a very tough league."
Northern Iowa (19-3), ranked 25th this week, has been in the NCAA tournament the last two seasons. Last year the Panthers were one of three teams from the Missouri Valley Conference to make it, along with Creighton and Southern Illinois. The Missouri Valley is ranked sixth among conferences in the most recent public RPIs.
"The success of our league from the start of the season to now should have been enough for people to take notice of just how good the Missouri Valley is," said McDermott, whose team has won five straight and nine of 10, "but if us being ranked does that, that's great."
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Northern Iowa Ranked for First Time
— Northern Iowa is ranked in The Associated Press' Top 25 for the first time. Michigan is back in for the first time in almost a decade.
The Panthers and Wolverines were among four teams new to the poll Monday, but their waits were a lot longer than Iowa and LSU, which were both ranked earlier this season.
The top of the poll stayed the same with Connecticut, Duke and Memphis in the first three spots, but then came a number of changes after a week that saw 12 ranked teams lose at least one game.
"I'm excited for our players. This is the first time our school has ever been ranked and for this particular group to be one that cracks the Top 25 is very special," Northern Iowa coach Greg McDermott said. "I'm sure in a lot of our fans' minds they think something like this has never been possible. I want them to enjoy it while it lasts and we'll do what we can to stay there but we're in a very tough league."
Northern Iowa (19-3), ranked 25th this week, has been in the NCAA tournament the last two seasons. Last year the Panthers were one of three teams from the Missouri Valley Conference to make it, along with Creighton and Southern Illinois. The Missouri Valley is ranked sixth among conferences in the most recent public RPIs.
"The success of our league from the start of the season to now should have been enough for people to take notice of just how good the Missouri Valley is," said McDermott, whose team has won five straight and nine of 10, "but if us being ranked does that, that's great."