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Making up for '10
Northern Iowa junior guard Jacqui Kalin is a do-everything player. She leads the Panthers in scoring with 15.2 points, shoots 91.5 percent from the free-throw line and has shot a team-high 191 three-pointers.
But against Nebraska last season, in UNI's lone NCAA Tournament game, Kalin was 1 of 12 from the field.
Not that coach Tanya Warren judged the then-sophomore starter on one game.
"I look at the overall body of work, what the young lady did for us through the course of the season," Warren said. "She averaged 15 points a game and she was not going to be judged on that one game. Unfortunately, she didn't shoot it well, but she's a great player, and you better believe that she took that into the summer and really worked.... It's not that last shot, you're going to hit your next five. That's her approach, that's been her approach."
Kalin attributed her struggles in last season's tournament to the excitement of being there for the first time.
"We kind of have that under our belt now," she said. "We've had the experience of what it feels like to step out onto the floor. Kind of like one of those crazy experiences that now is out of the way, now we can look at it as just one of those regular games that we have prepared for all week."
You remind me of...
Northern Iowa couldn't say it has seen a team much like the Spartans in Missouri Valley play. But Michigan State coach Suzy Merchant was certainly reminded of a few league mates when reviewing tape on UNI.
"I think the similarities are there between them and Northwestern, but I also think they are very Iowa-esque and I would include Michigan in that, too," Merchant said. "They're probably a combination of all those teams."
Michigan State swept Northwestern, including a 56-25 victory in the Big Ten Tournament, and Michigan.
The teams have a common opponent in Iowa, which the Spartans split with and UNI lost to 75-64.
Defending "Big Shot Kal"
If Northern Iowa is to stay competitive, it will have to find a way to defend Big Ten coaches' player of the year Kalisha Keane.
"We really have keyed in on that, and I think we have a really good game plan of how we'd like to defend that," UNI's Erin Brocka said.
Keane averages 15.9 points but presents a matchup problem with her size (6-foot-1) and her ability to shoot outside (65 three-pointers).
"Really, I don't have a preference," Keane said. "My advantage is versatility, so being able to adapt to different situations is important. What the team needs is my preference."
Brocka should get the assignment of guarding Keane, but Warren said multiple defenders will draw the task.
"We are going to have to be on our A-game defensively," Warren said.
MVC-Big Ten Challenge
Keane was asked about a mid-major such as UNI taking on a BCS team such as Michigan State.
"I think it's good for women's basketball that we have such good representation across the board," Keane said. "It's about basketball. It's not really about where you go to school. It's about what talent you bring in there."
UNI's Warren takes the same approach.
"I look at it as team verses team, not conference versus conference," she said. "That's the approach I take with my team. Everyone else makes a big deal out of that... throughout the course of the season and especially on Selection Sunday."
Still, it's clear what the tournament's selection committee thought about the Valley in doing the seedings. UNI won the conference by five games but still got only a 13 seed. The only way for that to change if the mid-majors win more in the tournament.
"When the opportunity presents itself, we have to take full advantage of that," Warren said. "We will certainly do that, not just because it's Michigan State or the Big Ten. It's because our next opponent."
I got her, you got her
Michigan State's defense takes pride in how well it switches _ one through five. That could particularly cause a problem for UNI it getting off three-pointers.
"Offensively, we've faced a lot of that throughout the season," Warren said, "so it's not something that we're not used to. But Michigan State is a very good defensive team. They're long, they're athletic and they do switch a lot.
"We're going to have to be efficient. We're going to have to make sure we set good screens and good reads. Our spacing has to be very good."
Worth noting
* Both coaches won league honors. MSU's Merchant was coach of the year in the Big Ten and Warren was coach of the year in the Valley.
* Both teams set school records for made three-pointers. UNI had 235, MSU 207.
—Taylor Eldridge, Joanna Chadwick, Rick Plumlee
