10 Copyright (c) 2009 Yahoo!, Inc. All rights reserved. en-us 126 15 http://sports.yahoo.com http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/sp/b/ysp_logo_rss.gif Latest news and information about the Northern Iowa Panthers. http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/teams/nba    The past three MVC champions—Wichita State, Southern Illinois, and Drake—took significant tumbles as defending champs.

   Northern Iowa, co-champions with Creighton in 2009, won't fall into the same pit. The Panthers return five starters and the MVC's top sixth man. Coach Ben Jacobson approaches everything with a solid, no-nonsense manner. The Panthers won't get caught up in the hype.

   UNI did run into problems during February. Teams exposed some of their weaknesses and the Panthers lost four of five games, two at home. UNI isn't the most athletic team. It can be beaten with quickness and its guards can be silenced with size.

   But the Panthers finished strong.]]> Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:05:31 PST ncaab urn:newsml:sports.yahoo,sportsxchange:20080101:ncaab,article,teamreports-2009-ncaab-nba:1 Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:05:31 PST