But I posted this mainly because of the ad. Nice life there in Iowa... Sports > LocalThursday, August 25, 2005 12:09 PM CDT Panther men's cagers face date at LSU By MATT COSS, Courier Sports Writer CEDAR FALLS -- Christmas break will be anything but a vacation for the Northern Iowa men's basketball team in 2005-06. UNI will encounter several tests against what could be Top 20 programs over the three-week semester break. From a road game at Southeastern Conference power Louisiana State University and a pair of contests in Las Vegas -- including one against either Cincinnati or Dayton -- to three early Missouri Valley Conference road tussles at Bradley, Wichita State and Missouri State, coach Greg McDermott's squad will have its hands full in late December and early January. ADVERTISEMENTaAds = new Array();aAds[0] = new Array();aAds[0][0] = 'sports+local+middle';aAds[0][1] = '16259';aAds[0][2] = 'jpg';aAds[0][3] = 'http://www.wcfcourier.com/advertise/leers/index.html';aAds[0][4] = '1';aAds[1] = new Array();aAds[1][0] = 'sports+local+middle';aAds[1][1] = '16258';aAds[1][2] = 'jpg';aAds[1][3] = 'http://www.essentialmedicalspa.com';aAds[1][4] = '1';displayAd('http://adsys.townnews.com', 'wcfcourier.com', aAds); <ahref="http://adsys.townnews.com/1810972172/creative/wcfcourier.com/sports+local+middle/16258.jpg?r=http://www.essentialmedicalspa.com"target="_blank"></a> HOW TO ADVERTISE » MARKETPLACE »"It's a very tough stretch," McDermott said. "But the opportunity to go on the road and play an SEC opponent is something that's great for our team. Opportunities like that prepare you for conference play. "LSU is ranked in the Top 20 of some polls, and it plays in a great conference. It's a heck of a test." LSU wasn't on UNI's original schedule, but things changed when North Texas and Louisiana-Monroe dropped out of the Las Vegas Classic. As a result, UNI agreed to travel to Baton Rouge, La. Instead of a guaranteed game against Cincinnati in Las Vegas, UNI will likely play a non-Division I opponent in the first contest, followed by either Cincinnati or Dayton. The Panthers already have a Division II team on their schedule. UNI's home opener is against Upper Iowa University on Nov. 27. "I'm not crazy about a second non-Division I game in Las Vegas, but we really had no control over it," McDermott said. "I think with us going to LSU, it will balance that out." UNI, coming off consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, opens the season Nov. 20 at newly built Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines against Western Carolina. The Panthers travel to Peoria, Ill., for their conference opener Dec. 28 against Bradley. Other featured non-conference games include a Nov. 29 tilt at Hilton Coliseum versus Iowa State and a Dec. 6 home clash against Iowa. The Panthers' regular-season finale at Southern Illinois on Feb. 25 is slated to be on ESPN2 at 1:05 p.m. Raffington not cleared by NCAA Earlier this week, Northern Iowa received word that Jermain Raffington hasn't been certified by the NCAA Clearinghouse. Raffington, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound forward from Freiburg, Germany, was expected to be one of four incoming freshmen for the Panthers this season. "It's a pretty clear-cut thing," McDermott said. "The way we evaluated the transcript and the way it was evaluated by the NCAA Clearinghouse were two different things." McDermott said Raffington remains in Germany as UNI helps him pursue a junior college route. In the meantime, it leaves a void in UNI's front line for the upcoming season. "Atila (Santos) and Dylan Grimsley have to be ready to contribute a significant amount," McDermott said. "Not that they weren't going to have to before, but now we have a little less depth there."
