U.N.I. basketball coach Ben Jacobson hopes the success of this past season will help the Panthers land more high profile non-conference opponents. The Panthers made it all the way to the Midwest Regional semifinals this season before falling to Michigan State. Jacobson says they may have an opportunity to schedule teams that want games to help them nationally. He says the things they did last year and this year have helped open that up.

Teams from the Missouri Valley Conference have had trouble over the years scheduling series against teams from the larger, B.C.S. conferences. Jacobson says there may be some opportunities for some made for television neutral site matchups. He says a lot of times teams aren’t looking to play a good team on the road. Jacoson says the things that happened this last year might give the game a little national flair that teams are looking for.

Jacobson says they prefer a neutral site game or a home and home series. He says they don’t want a one-game on the road situations. He says the neutral site games have been good with some high-quality teams.

By Elwin Huffman KOEL Oelwein