College Hoops Top 50

Last Year: 19-14; 12-8, Fourth in the Missouri Valley, No Postseason

Head Coach: Ben Jacobson (18th Year; 354-233 at UNI, with four NCAA Tournament appearances)

Projected Starting Lineup

PG Max Weisbrod – 6’4″, 200 Junior

G Trey Campbell – 6’4″, 190 Junior

W Leon Bond III – 6’5″, 200 Sophomore

F Tytan Anderson – 6’6″, 205 5th-year Senior

C Jacob Hutson – 6’11”, 250 5th-year Senior

Experienced Reserves

G Cael Schmitt – 6’2″, 185 5th-year Senior

G RJ Taylor – 5’11”, 175 Sophomore

W Ben Schwieger – 6’8″, 205 Junior

F Kyle Pock – 6’6″, 215 Sophomore

Freshmen

F Wes Rubin – 6’8″, 225 (Redshirt)

F Will Hornseth – 6’8″, 230

For years, Northern Iowa has had just about the cleanest scholarship chart in the country. Despite the abject chaos all around the Panthers, nobody ever seemed to transfer away from Cedar Falls. In pledging to head coach Ben Jacobson, recruits have picked UNI with a clear plan of commitment to a system which develops youngsters into impact players over the course of four or five years. 

This spring, the transfer portal came for Northern Iowa. 

Not one, not two, but seven Panthers hit the road following a 19-win season, including the team’s top two scorers. For a program which had been largely considered immune to such changes, the mass exodus shook UNI. It hasn’t toppled the Panthers, though. Jacobson and his staff set about restocking the rotation around their three remaining starters, and they used the same portal which had just burnt them so badly. 

They did a good enough job that Northern Iowa still has the look of a Missouri Valley Conference contender this fall. The three starters who are back bring different sorts of skills to the lineup, and the Panthers’ additions look like they will fit neatly. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that things still look so solid. This may be a wild and crazy new age, but Northern Iowa still knows how to put together a squad. 

While the storm of guys leaving raged this spring, UNI fans got a surge of positive momentum with the announcement that supercharged wing Tytan Anderson would be returning to Cedar Falls. The Valley’s Most Improved Player two years ago, Anderson is a physical presence and excellent rebounder. He’s also a genuine mismatch for many opponents, and Anderson’s return affords Jacobson the luxury of building around one of the league’s best veteran players.

“Since day one, this place has felt like home,” Anderson announced on social media towards the end of April. “I feel as though there is no better fit for me as a person and as a player than here.” Suddenly the longest-tenured Panther, Anderson will now be looked to as both a leader and a guy who can raise his game to new heights. 

A rough-and-tumble 6’6″ glass artist, Anderson has been slowly but steadily adding to his overall skillset since becoming a starter. His sophomore and junior campaigns were quite comparable, and it’s hoped that after averaging 12.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.3 steals over the past two seasons, Anderson is ready to put up bigger numbers in more of a featured role. His offensive game is built upon hustle and tenacity, and he generally does his work from about eight feet away from the basket or closer. Even so, Anderson is not limited. He’s grown his repertoire as a post-up scorer and his nuance as a passer has shown up more often and creatively. He’s a 49.2% career shooter, and while not all of UNI’s star players over the years have been adept at getting to the free throw line, Anderson earned almost six attempts there per contest last year. His 133 makes at the line were the fourth-most in the Valley last winter, and if Anderson can nudge his 69.6% rate up by four or so percentage points for the second straight year, it will do a great deal to help UNI avoid scoring droughts. 

With the Panthers’ top two guards gone from last year, it is well and truly Trey Campbell’s time to shine. The third-year Cedar Falls native has put together a pair of solid seasons since stepping directly into the starting lineup as a rookie, and this year Campbell’s performance will be central to UNI’s success. If he can further improve upon the shooting he did as a sophomore, Campbell will be putting up some big numbers. He shot 49.6/39.7/79.2% on two’s, three’s, and freebies, yet Campbell’s production last winter came with just a 16.8% usage rate.

This year, he could see more like 25% of the action when he’s on the floor, and if Campbell can add a third level to his arsenal, he will be even more dangerous. His deep ball is reliable, and Campbell converted an excellent 49.4% of his mid-range tries last year, per Bart Torvik. He attempted just 29 shots near the rim, though, and Campbell went to the charity stripe just 48 times in 33 games. He’s got a good handle and the quickness to burst effectively towards the rim, and this summer Campbell has made a concerted effort to get stronger and end more of his drives at the cup. If he can effectively force defenders to guard him all over the halfcourt, Campbell should smoothly assume the mantle of top scorer. 

Following the quietest season of his career, Jacob Hutson left Loyola Chicago for a bigger role at UNI and produced his best season so far. Now, the 6’11” fifth-year senior will be looking to play the most physical basketball of his career. With his combination of vision, stature, and shooting range, Hutson is a big who can invert UNI’s offense and cause a few different problems for defenders. He was highly efficient last year, shooting 58.2% on all two-point tries, and Hutson sank a career-high 11 triples at a 45.8% mark. He became a reliable post scoring option for the Panthers after they largely had to make do without one the year before, and Hutson figures to see lots more good opportunities inside. What would be really helpful, though, is more rim protection and rebounding from Northern Iowa’s largest player. He posted a 10.0% rebounding rate, and opponents don’t generally fear Hutson when battling inside. If he can play a more consistent interior game and maybe throw his weight around a bit more, Hutson could become a true featured threat in the middle. 

The two most prominent players that Jacobson reeled in from the portal are Leon Bond III and Ben Schwieger, and they will be asked to step into a couple of big holes in the lineup. Following a redshirt season and 24 games at Virginia, Wisconsin native Bond hopped the portal back closer to home, and offers some tantalizingly Anderson-like talents. He’s a big, long, bouncy wing with high-end athleticism – Bond was a consensus Top 100 recruit two years ago. A strong defender who could emerge as a true force in checking scoring wings so that Anderson can do battle with bigger guys, Bond has also shown playmaking instincts on that end of the floor. He was limited as a scorer during his debut as a Cavalier, but Bond is tough enough to contain around the lane that he will get some buckets. He will be an instant lob option, and Bond knows how to change momentum with a blocked shot or thunderous flush. His overall offensive game remains a work in progress, but Bond’s effort, athleticism, and ability to get on the glass are going to earn him plenty of minutes with which to figure it all out. 

Five Stats That Tell The Tale (with national ranks)

0.374 – Free Throw Attempts Per FG Attempt (64th)

71.4% – Team Free Throw Percentage (212th)

77.0 – Opponent Free Throw Percentage (358th)

79.1% – Team Defensive Rebound Rate (5th)

22.0% – Team Offensive Rebound Rate (315th)

Another former Rambler, Schwieger is hoping to rise in a Hutson-esque way with the Panthers. After a redshirt year of his own, Schwieger was highly productive as a freshman two years ago. He made 26 starts and averaged nearly 30 minutes per contest, and Schwieger scored in double figures 11 times. Last winter, though, Schwieger only saw action in ten games due to an illness and Loyola’s revamped rotation. The Panthers are expecting Schwieger to fill a key offensive role, and the skills he flashed as a freshman are the ones that Jacobson & Co need. A slick passer with good vision and size on the wing, Schwieger can be a helpful secondary playmaker on the outside. He’s an effective jump shooter with range out to the three-point arc, and Schwieger knocked down multiple triples in 11 games as a freshman. He also knows how to get to the rim, and Schwieger has the size and assertive approach to cut hard to the rim when defenders overplay him expecting a jumper. If he can get back to where he was two years ago, Schwieger could be a terrific fit in helping to drive the Panthers offense. 

A couple of the guys that Jacobson will be counting on off the bench played in the lower Divisions of college basketball last year. They were standouts who bring translatable skills, though, and running alongside Bond and Schwieger, the UNI coaches have liked the new things they’ve seen in summer practices.

“We got some guys that will finish a team workout and they’re like, ‘Hey, we’re not done yet! Let’s go some more – we got some hours’”, assistant coach Seth Tuttle remarked to the Cedar Rapids Gazette this summer. “As crazy of a world we’re living in with (college) athletics there are still guidelines we gotta follow and our guys are competitive, they’re hungry, they want more and that’s the fun part about it.”

“Our guys are competitive, they’re hungry, they want more and that’s the fun part about it.”

– Seth Tuttle

Though he was slowed early in summer as he recovered from a foot injury, Max Weisbrod has the talents to step straight into a prominent role. Like some of the better guards UNI has featured over the years, Weisbrod plays a smart, composed game and is a naturally unselfish offensive player. Across two seasons at Division II Northern Michigan, Weisbrod averaged 14.8 points and 4.7 helpers, posting a 298:114 assist to turnover ratio along the way. He also proved to be a high-volume outside shooter, knocking down 158 triples at a 41.8% rate in 63 games played. He’s got the size to play alongside Campbell as a co-distributor, or Jacobson could trot out a big lineup with Weisbrod running point and Schwieger at the 2. 

He’s making the jump from Division III, but Cael Schmitt is a grad student who posted remarkably similar seasons the last two years and established a reputation as one of the best all-around guards at his level of college basketball. Over the past two campaigns, Schmitt averaged 17.7 points and 3.2 assists, while he hold a career average of 1.93 steals per game with a 38.0% rate from the land of trey. He’s not as big as Weisbrod, but Schmitt is just as comfortable running his team’s offense as a primary playmaker. If he can bring the two-way skills he’s been proving for four years to Cedar Falls, the Dubuque native will be a valuable part of the rotation. 

Both shooting forward Kyle Pock and playmaking guard RJ Taylor didn’t play big roles as freshmen, but they did become every-game fixtures in Jacobson’s rotation. Both are back to continue developing this year, and with the departures ahead of them, opportunities will be available. Though he has been slowed by soreness in both knees this summer, Pock showed that he will be a useful deep threat during his rookie year. Taylor can hit from the outside, too, and will look to shoot the ball more confidently this year. 

Five Out-of-Conference Games to Keep an Eye on

N Utah State/St. Bonaventure – November 29

N North Texas – November 28

vs UC Irvine – November 10

N Washington State – December 21

@ Wichita State – November 14

The Panthers are also adding a couple of freshman bigs. Wes Rubin, whose twin brother Miles is already a big-time defensive force for Loyola Chicago, redshirted with UNI last year. He’s a stout and strong young forward who should help the back end of Northern Iowa’s defense with his own ability to protect the rim, and Wes Rubin has an elbow jumper to go with the foundation of a solid, expanding post game. True freshman Will Hornseth arrives with a reputation as a good and versatile defender, and he can score on the block or spot up for jumpers.

In some ways, last year’s team was one of the better offensive units UNI has had in recent years. It’s going to be tough to replace the things that especially Heise and Born – when he was on – did to make the Panther offense threatening. Anderson, Bond, and Schwieger in particular know how to get to the line, and if this group can keep improving at the charity stripe, it will really help. UNI always plays a solid non-conference schedule, and that will help to establish this team’s pecking order. A bit more rim protection would really go a long way, as well, and Rubin can help. 

The granite solidity of Northern Iowa was shaken this offseason, but the Panthers have kept their feet. Jacobson and his staff know what works and how to identify players whose skills can accomplish what they demand. They’ve even shown that they will adapt to change, even if it takes a while. As crazy as it may sound given all of the attrition of a bitter spring, this looks like another genuine Northern Iowa team that will win.