Midwest Mayhem

The Kansas Jayhawks were billed as the front-running national championship favorite and number one overall seed in the NCAA tournament. Anything short of the championship game would be a major disappointment for Kansas. It took a second round two-point win from a fundamentally-sound Northern Iowa squad to dash Kansas’ post-season hopes. Bill Self’s polished Jayhawks failed to reach the Sweet 16 after suffering a surprising loss in Oklahoma City last night. The Panthers finished off the mighty Jayhawks 69-67 Saturday at Ford Center to advance to St. Louis in the next round. The Missouri Valley Conference’s Northern Iowa will play the winner of today’s Midwest Michigan State-Maryland game.
The biggest upset in the tournament so far was complete after a colossal 3-pointer from UNI’s Ali Farokhmanesh . The long range basket put the Panthers on top by four. Farokhmanesh, the son of an Iranian volleyball player and first-round UNI hero, sealed the game with a pair of free throws in the closing seconds. The bracket-busting shot was one of 16 points, and one of four treys, for the Panthers’6’0” senior guard. The well-coached Panthers were seeded ninth but looked like the higher seed against a puzzled Kansas team. The deep and talented Jayhawks committed 15 turnovers and never quite found their rhythm. The Panthers proved difficult to guard on defense, especially seven foot lefty guard, Jordan Eglseder. The game was 12-9 in favor of UNI as the Panthers rattled off 10 straight points. Eglseder was credited with five during that run, and finished with 14.
The Jayhawks snuck by lower-seeded Lehigh in the first round. It wasn’t an easy win, but Saturday’s contest was twice as hard. Kansas coughed up the ball too many times and fell behind early against the Panthers. Veteran Sheron Collins ended his stellar Kansas career with just 10 points. Collins helped cut the margin to two points with 6:35 to play in the first half, but Farokhmanesh outshined the senior from Kansas. Farokmanesh derailed the Hawks by netting eight straight to close the half. Kansas went cold, trailing 36-28 at the break. The Hawks turned the ball over eight times in the second period, leading to one shy of a dozen Panther points. Things didn’t improve much in the second half for the number one seed and one of the nation’s highest scoring teams. UNI played with intelligence and patience. They continued to chase down offensive rebounds and score critical baskets after halftime.
Junior center, Cole Aldrich, drilled 13 points and picked up 10 rebounds for his 37th career double-double at Kansas. Marcus Morris led the Jayhawks with 16 points, including seven in the first half. The Jayhawks converted just 6 of 23 from the arc and 13 of 18 from the line. They were slightly better percentage shooters from the field than UNI. Self’s squad turned it up a notch with ten minutes left in regulation with the Jayhawks on the verge of an upset elimination. The Jayhawks outscored their opponent 39-33 in the second half. They out-rebounded UNI by five during the contest. Kansas used defense to pull within a point in the final 44 seconds, but Northern Iowa’s 18 second-chance points were too much to overcome. Tyrel Reed was charged with an offensive foul following Farokhmanesh’s crushing chip with 34 seconds, pushing aside any hope for an overwhelmed Kansas last-second comeback. Kansas’ last burst of full court pressure was too little too late, shattering many brackets around the globe. Saturday was Kansas’ earliest exit in the tournament since 2006. Prior to this year, UNI’s only tournament victory came in
1990.

Parting Points: Sunday spin-“Ruby Soho” by Rancid

Two teams impressing me this tourney- Cornell and Washington