Primarily a collection of news links about all 11 Missouri Valley League teams on a daily basis, culled from online newspapers, school athletic websites, the conference website, and school newspapers, plus some other content from time to time.
While known for its stingy defense that ranks 24th nationally all season,
it was Northern Iowa’s offense that spurred the four wins in four
days run at Arch Madness.
It’s not often you see four year players in today’s era of college
basketball let alone a player who started for all four years they played
college basketball. Well, meet Trey Campbell of Northern Iowa who has
started 131 out of 133 games over four seasons with the Panthers. After
back-to-back 20+ win seasons, this will be Campbell’s first trip to the
NCAA Tournament having lifted Northern Iowa to the 2026 Missouri Valley
Conference title with 23 points over UIC.
(5) St. John's (-9.5) vs. (12) Northern Iowa, 7:10 PM ET, CBS.
More to this game than meets the eye for the average neutral observer, who
sees St. John's is 19-1 in their last 20 and believes an easy cruise to the
Sweet Sixteen lies ahead for the Johnnies. Certainly can happen, but I'll
note up top here that not all 19-1s are created equal. Despite the gaudy
record, the Johnnies rank below all of Iowa State, Purdue, Illinois, and
Texas Tech at Torvik over their last 20 (all teams with 5+ losses), and
since February 1 this is the sport's 75th-best offense, sitting 316th in
eFG%.
I think the Big East Tournament along with UConn's late-season swoon may
have helped cover up some of SJU's issues, to go with some astonishing
late-game shooting luck (opponents shot 20% from deep in the final 8 minutes
of St. John's games from February 1 to now). There's still plenty
imperfections surrounding this team, which has almost entirely become the
Zuby Show as Bryce Hopkins' usage has dipped and as the team almost entirely
plays through the frontcourt now, with extremely low guard usage rates
outside of Dylan Darling's minutes.
All of that makes for a fascinating matchup against the very best mid-major
post defense in the entire field and possibly the third-best alive here
outside of Virginia/Gonzaga. St. John's is a tough matchup for anybody down
low, but in terms of average post-up rate the Missouri Valley had the
highest average post usage of any conference in America this year, which
included some excellent post-first offenses like Illinois State and Belmont.
UNI also had the fortune(?) of playing Saint Mary's in the non-con, perhaps
the best post prep you can possibly get.
In that game, an SMC offense with better shooting than SJU got held to 63
points in an absolute slog of a game (62 possessions) and shot just 39% from
2 in one of their worst efforts of the year. They won entirely because of
rebounding, which is as usual a worry in any game featuring the Johnnies,
who should have a significant edge. Still, I'd note that even against the
best of the best UNI held up extremely well, holding SMC to 0.82 PPP on
post-ups. Worth noting the Panthers have a very high double rate in the
post:
0:00
/0:18
But this may not be a great idea against Ejiofor, a very good passer for a
big who has SJU's highest Assist%. Part of that is the function of not
having a point guard (who could have guessed that might be an issue) but any
big capable of putting up 16/12/10 (as he did against Villanova) is probably
pretty good at his job. Getting the ball to Ejiofor will be the main task,
though, as UNI's hard hedge was the crux of a tremendous P&R coverage
this season (93rd-percentile). Weird to note, but no team in the entire P5
this year faced less hedge coverage than St. John's (per
Basketball Index). SJU isn't a P&R team by any stretch, but everyone uses ball screens
and if SJU can handle the severe pressure applied by UNI here will be
important.
The other end of the court is fascinating in its own right. Northern Iowa
plays about the way you would expect Northern Iowa to play: very slow, very
deliberate, with almost no pushing after misses. Most of what St. John's
does defensively is outstanding, and I'm not expecting UNI to get much done
in P&R or in pure post-ups (where Zuby could do to UNI what UNI may do
to Zuby). However, one of the most drop-heavy coverages in the field against
Trey Campbell has the capacity to be a real problem, and UNI's dribble
handoffs were outstanding against basically everyone this year - perhaps
less than ideal news for a SJU defense Synergy has in the 38th-percentile in
defending off-ball screens and 31st-percentile in handoffs:
0:00
/0:11
Probably pretty clear where I stand but this is a tremendous matchup for UNI
and a terrible one for SJU on paper, who really needs a transition-heavy
game to score frequently and has become so frontcourt-reliant that their
backcourt suffers because of it. Also worth noting the obvious: in games
where Tristan Smith (UNI's most impactful player and best perimeter
defender) was available, the Panthers have played like a top-50 team at
Torvik. Have liked UNI here since Selection Sunday and I'm not stopping now,
though the path to a huge miss by me is SJU breaking through UNI's
outstanding defensive rebounding and simply getting to the foul line on a
loop. - Will Warren
The Northern Iowa Panthers had an up-and-down season, starting off 12-3 and
4-0 in the Missouri Valley, but they fell to just a 1-6 stretch. They
finished the regular season 19-12 and 11-9, but won four games in a row in
Arch Madness to pick up the auto-bid to the Big Dance.
The Panthers are 72nd in KenPom and the NET. They are driven by their
defense as they sit at 24th in defensive adjusted efficiency, 23rd in
opponent effective field goal percentage, 101st in two-point shooting
percentage, and 3rd in opponent three-point shooting percentage. Trey Campbell
is the leading player, averaging 13.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists,
and 1.6 steals while shooting 44% overall and 34.7% from beyond the arc.
St. John’s was a preseason favorite, but they fell flat at the beginning as
they opened up to just 4-3. However, they figured it out as they’ve lost
just twice since the calendar turned to 2026, falling to Providence 77-71
and UConn in an insane 72-40 rout. They cruised through the Big East
Tournament, including a 72-52 win over UConn in the Championship.
There are a few factors coming into play here as I feel like St. John’s
could’ve been a four-seed, while Northern Iowa could’ve maybe been a
13-seed. However, these two defenses make it an interesting game to monitor.
St. John’s sits at 12th in defensive adjusted efficiency and 68th in tempo,
while UNI is top-25 in defense as well, but just 363rd in tempo. On the
offensive end, UNI is 52nd in two-point shooting and 128th in three-point
shooting, compared to St. John’s who sits at 190th and 216th in both.
If the Panthers want to pick up the win over the Red Storm, they are going
to have to force them to play at their speed, play excellent defense as St.
John’s isn’t an efficient shooting team. For St. John’s, they need to focus
on the offensive glass as they are one of the best in the country at 28th
and UNI is 356th.
Darren
Brooks of the Southern Illinois Salukis goes up for a layup in the
first half against the Oklahoma State Cowboys. | Ronald Martinez/Getty
Images
How good were the Salukis in the regular season? Southern
Illinois made six consecutive NCAA tournaments in the 2000s under three
coaches, and this was its best team by winning percentage.
Who was the Salukis’ star? Apart
from coach Matt Painter—plucked by Purdue as coach-in-waiting at
season’s end—Southern Illinois was led by conference scoring champ guard
Darren Brooks.
What happened to the Salukis in the NCAA tournament? No.
9 Southern Illinois came oh-so-close to toppling Elite Eight-bound No. 8
Alabama during the first round in Seattle, losing on a game-winning jumper by Crimson Tide guard Antoine Pettway with five seconds left.
2015 Northern Iowa
How good were the Panthers in the regular season? Northern Iowa was magnificent for most of the year, beating three major-conference teams and cracking the Top 10 in March.
Who was the Panthers’ star? Forward
Seth Tuttle was a consensus All-American as a senior, averaging 15.3
points per game; he’s now an assistant at his alma mater.
What happened to Northern Iowa in the NCAA tournament? The
Panthers, a trendy pick to do damage, blew out Wyoming in the first
round before losing, as Saint Louis had the year prior, to the
Cardinals.
An early Big Ten tournament defeat at the hands of Oregon prevented the
Terrapins from hosting the first two rounds of March Madness, but Brenda
Frese’s squad has fared well in the face of several injuries this season.
Still, that early exit looms over this matchup with the Racers, who have the
12th best offensive rating in the country.
Somehow an entire decade has passed since Jacobson and Northern Iowa were in
the Big Dance but this program is ready for their next moment. Jacobson did
plenty of early work under Greg McDermott before succeeding him as the
Panthers’ head coach way back in 2006. The last two decades have featured a
ton of victories and notable moments, including shots by Ali Farokhmanesh
and Paul Jesperson. With this year’s MVC Tournament title, the Panthers are
dancing again and Jacobson is hoping to add to his impressive record in the
Tourney field.
Northern Iowa: Northern Iowa was helped by one of many upsets
across the country when Belmont went down early in Arch Madness. UNI is
the No. 12 and will face the regular season and tournament champs out of
the Big East, No. 5 St. John’s and Slick Rick Pitino. Could be a tough one
in store for UNI, but magic has happened for this program before. If UNI
does it, though, they get a rematch with Kansas as a possibility.
