In DeKalb’s past two seasons, winning the Northern Illinois Big 12 East championship in the regular season was enough.

Since the young conference was formed three years ago, the Barbs have dominated the regular season, winning back-to-back conference titles in 2010 and 2011. But that success didn’t necessarily translate to the postseason where DeKalb bowed out after one game in each of the past two years.

“In 2010 ... we put 99 percent of our focus on winning conference,” DeKalb coach Brent McIntosh said. “Quite frankly, we just didn’t have a whole lot left for the playoffs.