Value the basketball.
It sounds like a simple concept, but that mantra is at the heart of everything the Northern Iowa women’s basketball team does. That mind-set helps explain how a team that is 229th in the nation in field goal percentage (38.6 percent) is still alive to be a part of March Madness.
Coach Tanya Warren’s team won 24 games and earned its first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2011 thanks to an ability to value the basketball that has it 11th in the nation in turnovers (12.1 per game).
Tenth-seeded Northern Iowa (24-8) hopes to showcase that skill at 11 a.m. Friday (ESPN2) when it takes on seventh-seeded DePaul (26-7) in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville.
The winner of that game will play the winner of the game between second-seeded Mississippi State (29-4) and 15th-seeded Troy (22-10) on Sunday at a time to be determined. The winner of that game will advance to the Sweet 16 in Oklahoma City.
Northern Iowa finished as the runner-up to Drake in the Missouri Valley Conference. It lost three times to Drake (twice in the regular season) but still earned the same seed as the regular-season and conference tournament champions.
A non-conference schedule that included wins against Creighton and Kansas State and losses to South Dakota State, Iowa State, and Iowa set the stage for Northern Iowa to earn its third appearance in the NCAA tournament in program history.
“We took over the program 10 years ago, and our vision was to build a program and not just a team, and that is what we sold to our recruits,” Warren said in an email. She responded by email because Northern Iowa was stranded at the airport Wednesday as it waited for another plane to arrive to bring it to Mississippi.
Warren said those recruits bought into her vision for the program. In addition to recruiting top players, Warren has built a program with players who commit to the classroom. The Panthers earned a 3.56 team grade-point average, which is eighth in the nation. She also said the team makes an “outstanding” contribution to the community.
“It is our job as a staff to make sure our young women are better when leaving than arriving to our program both on and off the court,” Warren said.
Guard Madison Weekly is one of three seniors on the roster. The senior from Atkins, Iowa, leads the team in scoring (156.1 points per game), minutes per game (32.2), and assists (134).
Warren acknowledges it isn’t every day that a player leads a team in scoring and assists, but she said Weekly makes it work.
“Madison is extremely skilled,” Warren said. “She has great versatility to not only create a shot for herself but also create a shot for her teammates.”
Warren has three times the number of assists to turnovers (44). Her ability to direct the offense has helped Northern Iowa earn the distinction as the only team in the Missouri Valley Conference this season with two victories against top-25 Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) teams. The Panthers have faced eight teams in the top 100 of the RPI.
“Our willingness to schedule extremely tough non-conference opponents year in and year out is a testament to this staff and how we want to build this program,” said Warren, the school’s all-time leader for wins with a record of 186-138 in 10 seasons.
This season has been one of the most successful in program history. With 24 wins, Northern Iowa has posted back-to-back seasons of 20 or more wins for the first time in program history. The Panthers do it by shooting a lot of 3-pointers (246-for-832, 29.6 percent) and valuing the basketball.
Warren also said continuity on her coaching staff is another key component of the Panthers’ success.
“You must surround yourself with those who trust, believe, and share the same vision,” Warren said. “(Associate head coach) Brad Nelson has been with me all 10 seasons, and (assistant coach/recruiting coordinator) Adam Dejoode has been with me for eight. (Assistant coach) KK Armstrong was my first recruit and one of the cornerstones who helped us build this program.”
Northern Iowa secured a bid as one of the last teams in the field of 64 thanks to an 11-game winning streak that came on the heels of a loss to South Dakota State at home and an 88-39 loss to Iowa on Dec. 4 in Iowa City, Iowa.
Northern Iowa rebounded to beat Creighton, which is out of the Big East Conference, 50-49 on Dec. 10, North Dakota, and Kansas State, which is out of the Big 12 Conference, 67-59 on Dec. 22. Those wins ignited an 11-game winning streak that ended with a double-overtime loss to Drake on Jan. 27.
“We talked as a team after the Iowa game that adversity will either develop or destroy, and the latter was not an option,” Warren said. “We started just looking towards each day and win each day, one day at a time. ”
Northern Iowa used that mind-set to keep its season on track, but Warren admitted she still had anxious moments Monday night when the NCAA tournament field was announced on ESPN. That nervousness turned into excitement when she and the Panthers learned they were going dancing.
On Friday, they will show a national audience how important their ability to value the basketball is to their success.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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