Northern Iowa and Drake open the Missouri Valley Conference post-season tournament in St. Louis this evening. The seventh-seeded Panthers take on 11th seeded Indiana State after sweeping the season series. The opener tonight finds Drake against Illinois State. The Bulldogs won both regular season matchups. Drake coach Kurt Kanaskie says some people say it’s hard to beat a team three times, but he says it’s just hard to beat them once. Kanaskie says the Bulldogs and Redbirds have a number of similarities. U-N-I coach Greg McDermott says they just played them a week ago, so they know pretty well what to expect. McDermott’s team closed the regular season by winning four of five games, and he says they’re playing as well as they have all season long.
