The University of Northern Iowa was one of the last teams to get a bid to the N-C-A-A tournament over such perennial powers as Nortre Dame and U-N-I. U-N-I coach Greg McDermott today responded to criticism from some so-called experts that his team doesn’t belong in the tourney. McDermott says everbody is entitled to their opinion, but the opinion of the selection committee is the only one that matters. McDermott feels it will help that U-N-I played in last year’s tournament. He says there was some nervous energy last year, and now they have enough guys who know what to expect that they can prepare the other guys. McDermott feels its exciting that the state of Iowa has three teams competing in the tournament. He says, “Yesterday was an awesome day for basketball in the State of Iowa. And being a product of the State of Iowa and Iowa high school basketball — to have it happen on the week of the boys’ state tournament in Des Moines, I can’t imagine there’s ever been as much excitement for the game of basketball in the State of Iowa as there is today.”U-N-I faces Wisconsin at 6:20 p.m. on Friday in Oklahoma City.
