Committee gets it right, Lick's days are numbered

Christopher here...

When the day began, I thought UNI would be a 7 or 8 seed, in the NCAA tournament. I was wrong. They're a 9. At first, I thought the committee was way off. A team that went 28-4, and won the Valley tournament, will be an underdog in the opening round? No way! Way...and here's why.

Not only has UNI not beaten a ranked team, this year, they haven't even played one. Their opponent, 8th-seeded UNLV, played 6 games vs. the top-25. They won four of them.

UNLV lost 7 games, to UNI's 4, but the Panthers had 3 losses that were worse than any of UNLV's. The worst team the Rebel's lost to, was Utah.

UNI got what it deserved, in seeding. It's just too bad they'll have to play overall #1 Kansas in the second round. KU looks like a team that is going to roll to a national title.

Couple quick facts:
- UNI has lost all four of its NCAA tournament games, this decade, by 5 points.
- The last time Kansas was in Oklahoma City, they were a 3 seed. They played 14th-seeded Bucknell, in the opening round, and lost.

I'll be heading down to Oklahoma City with photographer Brandon Bingham. Look for reports on Northern Iowa, beginning Tuesday night.

The UNI women clinched a berth in the tournament for the first time in school history. They join Iowa State in the 65-team field. Iowa should sneak in, as well. The selection show is Monday.

After a quiet weekend, expect the Todd Lickliter saga to reach new heights, in the coming days. Gary Barta was in Indianapolis, for the Big Ten tournament, all weekend. I, like most of you, think he's done.