What Happened to Northern Iowa?

Last year, the Northern Iowa Panthers basketball team had one of the two best seasons in the team's history.  They got over thirty wins, got a MVC Tournament title, was a five seed, got a tournament win over Wyoming and got knocked out by an Elite Eight team in the Louisville Cardinals. 
Coming into this year, they lost a lot off of that team.  They lost their star, Seth Tuttle, who was an All-American who touched the ball almost every time the Panthers had the ball.  They lost point guard Deon Mitchell, who, along with Tuttle, is now playing in Germany.  They also lost won of their best three point shooters, Nate Buss.  There was no possible way that they would be that good this year, but they had some good players coming back.
They got back key contributors, such as Wes Washpun, sharpshooter Matt Bohannon, breakout freshman Wyatt Lohaus, and Paul Jesperson.  They were expected to compete for a MVC crown and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.  It looked like they were going to be one of the teams to beat within the first two weeks of the season, as they took down number one North Carolina Tar Heels at home.  Later in the non-conference, at the Big Four Classic in Des Moines, they took down heavy favorite Iowa State.  Things were looking good for the Northern Iowa Panthers.  They looked to be contenders in the Missouri Valley, and perhaps even up for a chance at getting an at-large bid.
They crushed a bad Bradley Braves team at home by thirty-six to start the conference slate.  But, they lost at Southern Illinois and then at Missouri State.  They beat Drake, but then lost four in a row, including a really bad Loyola team at home.  At 2-6, the Panthers did rebound a little, winning two in a row, including a home win today against Southern Illinois.
Right now, they are in seventh place, one game behind Missouri State, but the Panthers play the Bears at home later in February, so they will have a good chance to get payback.  At this point in the season, it's just imperative that the Panthers stay out of the bottom four that have to play on Thursday.  If you get stuck in that first day, you are not going to win the conference tournament.  If you're one through six, it doesn't matter.  You just have to win three games in three days.  At this point, the Panthers have a 12-11 record, so they will most likely not even play in the CIT or CBI, so they might have to get to ten conference wins.  That is very disappointing, as Iowa and Iowa State continue to win, UNI (As well as Drake) have lost a lot this year.  Drake was expected, as this was a rebuilding year, but UNI's season was unexpected, and they are looking to turn it around, starting with extending the two game win streak they are on against Evansville at home on Wednesday.