Despite stumbling over the finish line of the regular season U-N-I basketball coach Greg McDermott feels the Panthers have done enough to make the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers lost their last four Missouri Valley Conference games and take the sixth seed into the Valley post season tournament this weekend in St. Louis.
McDermott says quality nonconference wins over Iowa and LSU should assure them a spot in the field of 65. He says if they were just going to judge on conference play, then you wouldn’t play nonconference games.
McDermott says they made tough decisions like playing LSU. He says if the NCAA committee judges them on the body of their work, then he has no question they will make the tourney. He says they felt they had an experienced team and it was time to play some tough nonconference games.
U-N-I will play Missouri State in Friday’s quarterfinal round and McDermott has used this week to get his team some rest. McDermott says they need to get their legs back and get some guys healthy that have been hurt. He says they’ll also do some shooting, as they haven’t been hitting the threes very well lately. U-N-I is 22-8 overall and is in search of a third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.