Top Seed Kansas Hits The Showers Early

The number 1 overall seed Kansas Jayhawks were knocked out of the NCAA Tournament yesterday by an unlikely opponent, the 9th seeded Northern Iowa Panthers.

The Jayhawks' opening basket and the 2-0 lead that followed lasted just 56 seconds. It proved to be the only time Kansas lead Northern Iowa.

Early in the first half the Panthers took an eight point lead, and maintained at least a 4 point lead for the rest of the half. Northern Iowa went into the half up 36-28.

In the second half the Panthers quickly built upon their lead, going on top by 12 at one point, the largest lead Kansas had surrendered to this point in the tournament. 

Kansas, however, was the overall number 1 seed for a reason.

With around five minutes to play Kansas went on a run, pulling the scoring-gap to within three points by the three minute mark.

With a minute to play, Kansas made a basket to make the score 63-62.

UNI responded in monumental fashion.

Ali Farokhmanesh brought the ball down the court for Northern Iowa, found himself left alone, and drained a three-pointer to put the Panthers up four points.

Kansas guard Sherron Collins was called for an offensive foul on the next possession and UNI was able to connect on one of the free throws. 

After another missed basket and foul for Kansas, Farokhmanesh sealed the game by hitting two free throws, making Marcus Morris' buzzer-beating three-pointer irrelevant, the final score 69-67 in favor of the Panthers.

This game was a huge upset, as Kansas was heavily favored to go deep into the tournament. The top ESPN analysts all had Kansas in the final four, and many of them picked Kansas to win it all. Sports Illustrated had Kansas as their champion.


Kansas becomes the first number one seed to lose before the sweet 16 since 2004, when both Kentucky and Stanford fell in the round of 32. This also marks the 13th time a number one seed has fallen in the second round, the third time it has happened to Kansas.


Northern Iowa becomes the first Missouri Valley tournament champion to reach the sweet 16 since 1979 when the  Indiana State Sycamores, led by the now NBA Hall-of-Famer Larry Byrd, went there and beyond, eventually losing in the National Championship to Michigan State.


Farokhmanesh's huge three at the end of the game was not the first big shot he has hit in this tournament. In the first round, UNI was tied with UNLV with just seconds to play. Farokhmanesh nailed a deep three to win it for the Panthers.


In the first two games of the tournament Farokhmanesh has amassed 33 points, and has hit 9 threes out of 19 attempts, none bigger than the game-changing threes to end both tournament games.

Personally, I would love to see this underdog UNI team keep rolling - forget my bracket (which is still in decent shape despite the Kansas loss).


UNI's next challenge will be decided today when #4 Maryland and #5 Michigan State square off.