RON MALY HAS BEEN WATCHING THE PARADE GO BY FOR A LONG TIME. THIS IS ONE OF HIS WEBSITES.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Not So Fast



By RON MALY

When Drake rolled to a 20-point lead over Northern Iowa in the last half of tonight's basketball game in front of 4,285 fans at the Knapp Center, I thought about going to the laptop and writing something like, "Well, as I mentioned to you earlier in the season, the Bulldogs in coach Ray Giacoletti's first season will beat some teams it shouldn't beat." 


And I considered going on to write that if I were a UNI fan or the guy who pays Ben Jacobson's salary as the Panthers' coach, I'd be wondering what the hell has gone wrong with his team, his program, and has he forgotten how to draw X's and O's on the blackboard or the clipboard?  

I mean, it wasn't that many years ago that Jake and UNI were upsetting Kansas in the NCAA tournament. 

In the past, the guy has had plenty of coaching savvy, plenty of productive teams. 

But the Panthers looked flat-out horrible well into the last half of tonight's game. 

"Dead and buried," is the accurate way analyst Mark Adams put it on the telecast I was watching. 

The Panthers seemed like they should sign up for Basketball I in the classroom back in Cedar Falls. 

Not next semester. 

Tomorrow. 

But nothing comes easy these days for Giacoletti and his Bulldogs. 

They almost found a way to blow the game. 

Mistakes, poor this and poor that, poor everything enabled UNI to have a great chance to win in the final seconds. 

Had the Panthers' Deon Mitchell not blown a layup in the seconds, they might've put the finishing touches to an incredible recovery act.

After Drake had led, 52-32, mind you. 

Alas, the Bulldogs pulled out a 70-67 victory over a coach and a program that have pretty much had their way in recent years in this series. 

A cynic would say it was a game matching two teams that aren't very good. 

Indeed, Drake's records are 14-13 overall and 5-10 in the Missouri Valley Conference. 

UNI, which was supposed to be a lot better, is just 13-14 overall and 7-8 in the Valley. 

The TV announcers said it was Giacoletti's and Drake's biggest victory of the season.  

I guess I'd agree with that, even though this is not a season that Jacobson plans to feature in his career highlights video. 

Richard Carter scored 19 points to lead Drake, and seemed to be having cramping problems in the last half. 

The TV guys said Giacoletti was looking for Carter when UNI was mounting its rally, but couldn't find him. 

Adams said Carter was being treated for something, but privacy rules prevented him [the announcer] from finding out what the problem was. 

Cramps, I guess. 

Anyway, Giacoletti finally found Carter, and I'm glad he did.  The senior guard was around at the end to help Drake win a strange game that might've sent Giacoletti to the emergency room at Mercy Medical Center had the Bulldogs not prevailed. 

Seth Tuttle scored 20 points for UNI. 

I'm thinking it wasn't a pleasant bus ride back to Cedar Falls.