No. 1 seed Kansas goes down
Kansas' Sherron Collins
Not only have we seen the first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament eliminated, it was the overall No. 1 seed: the Kansas Jayhawks. Facing 9-seed Northern Iowa in the second round, KU was expected to stomp the opposition. But the Panthers have all the elements of the classic Cinderella squad: shooters, tough defense, a dorky bench, and a lot of overachieving White kids who grew up watching Hoosiers.
On the West Coast, I didn’t get to see much of the game, as we had Washington/New Mexico and Baylor/Old Dominion on my two CBS channels. And just from looking at the box score, it’s not like Northern Iowa hit a ton of threes or Kansas played a terrible game — it looks like NIU was simply better.
With 42 seconds left, NIU was up one and Kansas was desperate. They slapped on a full-court press, which NIU broke and got it ahead to Day 1 hero Ali Farokhmanesh. He looked around for a sec, saw he was open, and coolly buried a backbreaking three. Kansas cut the lead to three and sent Farokhmanesh to the line with four seconds left, but he hit both free throws to ice it.
This now leaves the West/Midwest side of the bracket wide open. Is it Syracuse’s national title game spot to lose? How about Ohio State, Kansas State or Pitt? And you can’t ever count out Michigan State.
What next for the Jayhawks? Point guard Sherron Collins is gone, but he’s the only key senior. Freshman SG Xavier Henry and junior center Cole Aldrich are projected first-round NBA picks if they leave early; I think Henry is more likely to bounce than Aldrich, but I foresee both of them going pro. If those two are gone, the core of next year’s team will be twin power forwards Marcus Morris and Markieff Morris, and guards Tyshawn Taylor and Brady Morningstar.
Coach Bill Self‘s 2010 recruiting class isn’t ranked in the national Top-25 by Scout.com, however Kansas is still in the mix to land a few undecided All-American caliber guards — namely Josh Selby (Baltimore), Brandon Knight (Florida) and Doron Lamb (Virginia) — who are likely just waiting to see whether Henry is coming back or not. But neither are locks to land in Lawrence. In other words, this was Kansas’ best shot at winning the whole thing for the next couple of years.
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March 20th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
KB24 says:
A dorky Bench indeed. What a game!
March 20th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
quest??? says:
THAT WAs a great game..i dont like college basketball but damn that game was exciting
March 20th, 2010 at 8:05 pm
quest??? says:
none of the guys of northern iowa looked like legit ball players but they had heart.
March 20th, 2010 at 8:08 pm
b-rad says:
MARYLAND! Terps going all the way.
March 20th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
goonther says:
Farokhmanesh … yo that was sick
March 20th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
jlee9 says:
anybody who claims that their NCAA bracket isn’t completely busted to hell is a dirty liar
March 20th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Gunner J. Matthews says:
There goes the president’s pick to win it all
March 20th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
Otto says:
That’s why I don’t do brackets. That and because I don’t want to jinx my team. Yes, I am perfectly aware of the fact that I think that I alone, through the act of picking the Orange on a piece of paper to go the Final Four, have the power to superstitiously affect my team’s play and make them lose. I can’t risk man. My conscience won’t let me live it down. Their title hopes rest solely on my shoulders.
March 20th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
White Boy says:
Austin are you a racist or something? Why do you always have to mention players races when describing them? Shouldnt we have been passed that about 30 years ago??? What’s your deal?
March 20th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
12t says:
My squad fell today in what has (up to this point) been the most enjoyable & entertaining tourney I’ve ever experienced. I hope Xavier Henry stays an extra year because he’s still very raw & Cole’s inability to assert himself on offense also worries me on the NBA level. I wish Sheron the best in the NBA.
Now I just need to see Duke go down and I’ll be alright with outcome…
March 20th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
12t says:
Lol @9. This coming from the guy who’s name is white boy. I hope that was meant in jest.
March 20th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
K says:
Kansas just got out played from jump
And Xavier Henry got exposed to be one dimensional, his off the bounce game is lacking I thought he was legit ( to me at least this is news giving I didn’t watch Kansas too much this season) or am I mistaken
March 20th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
TJ says:
For future reference, it’s UNI. Not trying to be a douche but, yea. Great Game, they played hard. They’ve played great D all year. Sidebar, their last loss was to my school during conference play, the University of Evansville. I’ll be pulling for UNI and Ali Farokhmanesh the rest of the way.
March 20th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
no j mayo says:
@4 you are practically a ratard. this fucking tournament is about to turn into a coronation for the university of kentucky.
March 20th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
Bill says:
That white boy has biggest set of balls ever. What a shot.
March 21st, 2010 at 12:29 am
12t says:
Xavier Henry is not a lottery talent. True he led the team during non-confrence play with a confident midrange game & the occasionl flash in the pan drive to th basket. However, come confrence play he was exposed & his lack of confidence in his shot was obvious. If confrence play in the Big XII caused him to lose his confidence then the NBA will be a brief stint for him.
Watching the hype surrounding Cole & X as lottery picks this year has further strengthened my belief that with the exception of elite, obvious producers at the college level like Carmelo, Durant, or Rose players should stay through their senior year. Cole & X couldn’t vault their team past UNI. How are they going to assist the Wizards, Bulls or Bucks to name a few midlevel lottery teams?
March 21st, 2010 at 12:41 am
Otto says:
@15 He’s Persian. Persian = Persia = Iran. Iran is not white. Alright fine America, you can claim this one too.
March 21st, 2010 at 12:44 am
b-rad says:
14 — what is a ratard?
March 21st, 2010 at 1:02 am
Jeff from Miami Limo says:
Imagine if the go all the way….Na! Who am I kidding they will probably get blown off the court next5 week.
March 21st, 2010 at 1:34 am
GoEasy says:
@ 14
That was completely unnecessary. you’re belligerent.
March 21st, 2010 at 2:55 am
hoopsguru says:
only white kids watched hoosiers?
would that be like saying only black kids watched Coach Carter, or Hoop Dreams, or Sunset Park
March 21st, 2010 at 4:09 am
stefan says:
white kids watch I Got A Basketball Scholarship to Princeton But I’m Going There To Study and black kids watch I Want To Go Pro To Fu*k NBA Cheerleaders…
stupid idiot..
and btw, you can watch all the games online:”On the West Coast, I didn’t get to see much of the game, as we had Washington/New Mexico and Baylor/Old Dominion on my two CBS channels.”
who reads this article after that line?
March 21st, 2010 at 4:48 am
OOB says:
Racism sure is cute when it’s reversed
March 21st, 2010 at 4:50 am
OOB says:
Can’t wait for the new header, “underachieving Black kids”.
March 21st, 2010 at 8:49 am
Diego says:
@ 22. I do not think Ivy League schools actually give athletic scholarships (but I may be mistaken).
That was quite the dorky UNI bench–particularly bushy sideburn guy.
And how about that one UNI offensive rebound with the slam near the end! It may be a team chock full of white boys–but don’t tell me some of those cats are not athletic as hell. Took it to Kansas.
What an ending! My wife and I had finished dinner out, where we had view of game being shown at restaurant bar; then we just couldn’t leave until game ended! UNI almost totally unraveled due to Kansas’s press.
March 21st, 2010 at 10:41 am
uchnyk says:
overachieving white kids interesting take.