Shocker

Northern Iowa is officially the cinderella of the NCAA Tournament.

Northern Iowa defeated overall No. 1 seed Kansas, 69-67, on Saturday night. Ali Farokhmanesh, who scored 16 points on the night for Northern Iowa, buried a wide-open three-pointer to put Northern Iowa up by four points with 35 seconds left in regulation after Northern Iowa swiftly broke the Kansas full-court press.

After struggling to even in-bound the ball against the Kansas full-court press in the closing minutes of regulation, Northern Iowa finally broke the press and Farokhmanesh nailed the three-ball:

Farokhmanesh ended up hitting two free throws to seal the deal later on.

It was the first time in 48 years that a Missori Valley Conference team had beaten a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

I’m still baffled as to why Kansas didn’t put on their full-court press more often in the game. When they put on the press, Northern Iowa struggled mightily, for the most part. With that press, Kansas would be able to ignite their offense with easy points off of turnovers, and would tire out Northern Iowa in the process. It’s quite fatiguing to have to break a quality full-court press on a consistent basis, and that where’s Kansas’ depth would come into play. Kansas can roll fresh players onto the court to work the press, while Northern Iowa’s lack of depth would be exposed.

Nevertheless, Northern Iowa pulled the stunner and deserves the utmost credit. And this directly affects Maryland.

If Maryland beats Michigan State on Sunday, then Maryland would not have to face Kansas in the Sweet 16, but they would face Northern Iowa. Many took one look at the bracket and figured Maryland could go no further than the Sweet 16 because of Kansas’ presence, but no longer is that the case.

But I’ll start talking about a potential matchup with Northern Iowa if Maryland takes care of business tomorrow.