PEORIA — For the 13-year period between 2004 and 2016, Northern Iowa was the most successful men’s basketball team in the Missouri Valley Conference not named Wichita State.
The Panthers earned seven bids to the NCAA tournament, one to the NIT and averaged 22 wins per season. They reached the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2010 after upsetting No. 1-ranked Kansas and won games in the Big Dance as recently as 2015 and 2016.
Most of that success was achieved by the Panthers’ current coach, Ben Jacobson, who took over as head coach in 2006 after serving as the team’s top assistant the previous five years.