11/05/24
March 20, 2010
Northern Iowa Knocks Off No. 1 Seed Kansas: Ali Farokhmanesh's three-pointer with 34 seconds left helped Northern Iowa
pull off the biggest upset in the NCAA tournament, beating top overall seed Kansas 69-67 Saturday. It was the first time a No. 1 seed has been kept out of the third round since 2004.
posted by rcade to basketball at 09:37 PM - 16 comments
What's the mocking, reductive chant in this situation? Rock. Choke. Jayhawk?
posted by basicchannel at 10:28 PM on March 20, 2010
Said chant should not take away from the fact that Northern Iowa were, obviously, incredible.
posted by basicchannel at 10:32 PM on March 20, 2010
UNI were ranked in the top 25 most of the year, so the seed is a bit deceiving.
Nonetheless, for me as a KU fan, this loss hurts every bit as much as the killer B's.
posted by brainofdtrain at 10:59 PM on March 20, 2010
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
There goes my bracket. I had Kansas in the Final Four! I'd boycott everything from Kansas for the next month, but I don't know of anything of value that Kansas produces. Besides broken brackets
posted by irunfromclones at 11:17 PM on March 20, 2010
That win was remarkable. I don't ever remember Kansas passing so poorly.
But the thing that floored me was how Northern Iowa won with the talent they had.
Eglseder is possibly the least skilled and least athletic Div 1 player I have ever seen play in the tournament. Startlingly so. His shot mechanics and his post moves (such as they were) were painful to watch and seemed to be happening in slo mo. He could barely hang in there on D and was easily undressed with a basic first move. No footwork to speak of. He looked like a middle aged guy who never had game to begin with.
Yet, he was effective and put in 14 or so points. Northern Iowa wouldn't have won without him.
There is always a chance that a team with players like that can create some tournament magic and beat a team of thoroughbreds, and it's amazing to see when it happens. Northern Iowa totally earned and deserved that victory.
posted by beaverboard at 11:20 PM on March 20, 2010
This is the beauty with this tournament : in a series, Kansas likely wins, but on this one day ... Oh, by the way, my bracket was busted on Thursday. I only have Kentucky (my national champ) left.
posted by jjzucal at 11:26 PM on March 20, 2010
@beaverboard: He's been like that all year, and then he goes and takes two 3's on UNI's first possession and makes one of them? I wasn't questioning the results, but Eglseder is not the guy you want for your outside threat. That, obviously, is Mr. Farokhmanesh.
Two things had to happen for UNI to have a shot at winning this game. Kansas had to play our tempo, not the fast-paced, high-scoring game they favor. Check. And Eglseder had to play the game of his life and equal what KU got from Aldrich. Eglseder: 14 points, 5 rebounds. Aldrich: 13 points, 10 rebounds, in 9 more minutes of play. Check-ish.
While obviously this is the biggest victory in our program's history, I don't think this is a team to rest on their laurels. All five of UNI's starters are veterans, three of them are seniors. They've won 30 games this year. They play excellent defense. Why stop here and be content with the Sweet 16?
Also, I'll point out that being in St. Louis for the next round is as close to a home-court advantage as a team can get. Not only is Cedar Falls geographically closer to StL than any other school remaining in the Midwest region (pretty sure), but I'd be willing to bet the rest of the MVC puts up some hefty support. MVC tournament's in St. Louis every year, and UNI has won that tournament the last two years running.
Alright, I'll stop talking now.
posted by boredom_08 at 11:40 PM on March 20, 2010
Awesome win for Nothern Iowa! Love March Madness, anything can happen.
Well, anything except me winning my pool...seem to have lost my winning team today.
posted by dviking at 12:35 AM on March 21, 2010
I caught a bit of the opening UNI/UNLV game on the radio (having paid not a jot of interest to the regular season) and UNI had to fight hard for their win. It's a good habit to get into if you're facing the no. 1 seed next.
March Madness: the 'magic of the cup' distilled into a couple of weeks. Hoorah for the Fighting Corncobs.
posted by etagloh at 12:47 AM on March 21, 2010
This will probably jinx it, but what the hell.
My bracket was extremely happy with the Kansas loss. I'm in a pool of 48 people and everyone except me picked Kansas to go to the final four (never mind the championship!).
What's funny is I picked my bracket differently this year. I used the Vegas odds to choose all my first round picks (Those got hammered BTW! 50% of my picks were out.)
I then skipped the in-between rounds and chose who I wanted for champion, then chose my final 4 in a selfish manner: picking the teams it would be most exciting to watch. In other words I made my bracket for entertainment value rather than trying to win. Kansas didn't fit into that equation because the few times I watched them this year didn't really do anything for me.
I then worked backwards from my four back to my 32, and somewhere Kansas had to go. I didn't have them knocked out this early though.
Right now I still have 12 of my Sweet 16 and 7 of my Elite 8 still in the game. Of course I've been doing brackets for the last 20 years or so, so I am prepared to be crushed at any moment. :)
posted by jeremias at 09:35 AM on March 21, 2010
UNI grad here to say yay for my team!
Before the game, I talked with a lot of fans who said, well, why not? Maybe they'll win. But all those people were still shocked when the Panthers pulled it off.
Now, if we can just keep Jacobson. Especially keep him out of Iowa City ;-)
posted by Uncle Toby at 11:37 AM on March 21, 2010
I agree, you want to hang onto to the savvy, unflappable, telegenic Coach Jacobson. I thought about that during the game. He's got that look about him that will make other programs want to go get him.
And they showed him aplenty during the game. TV loves being a hot commodity maker. Each year's tournament seems to produce at least one of them.
Hopefully, he has a balanced outlook on career advancement and remembers what happened to once-gleaming up-and-comers like Stan Heath and Dennis Felton.
posted by beaverboard at 12:28 PM on March 21, 2010
And suddenly my bracket doesn't seem so awesome anymore.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 12:38 PM on March 21, 2010
"Fifteen minutes later, when the Kansas locker room opened its doors to the media, the Jayhawks were still crying. Literally, bawling. All of them. I've never seen anything like it, and I've seen devastated college locker rooms -- after losses in the Final Four, the national championship game -- every year since 1998." -- CBS sportswriter Gregg Doyel
posted by rcade at 02:48 PM on March 21, 2010
My rheumatologist did his undergraduate work at Kansas. I dread going to my next appointment with him, as he will be in a really bad mood. Consensus favorite to make the final 4? That's why they play the games.
posted by Howard_T at 02:51 PM on March 21, 2010
(warning: imminent homer-ism)
PANTHERS WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!