Day 3: Kansas Falls, Kentucky Explodes
Patrick Patterson and the Wildcats overpowered Wake Forest 90-60 in the second round. (Bob Rosato/SI)
NEW ORLEANS — What we learned from second-round Saturday at the NCAA tournament …
1. Northern Iowa over Kansas is an upset so monumental — like George Mason-over-UConn monumental — that years from now, you’ll remember where you were when it happened. I saw it from a makeshift media room inside New Orleans Arena, after skipping out on the live finish of Baylor-Old Dominion to watch the CBS feed. Kentucky band members and cheerleaders, who’d been milling around in the back hallways, started gathering around the TV set as the Jayhawks neared their demise. The UK contingent was cheering hard, and they weren’t as much for Northern Iowa as they were against Kansas.
When the buzzer sounded, declaring the Jayhawks’ title shot dead, the two UK cheerleaders sitting closest to the TV jumped up to celebrate. (See the video below.) A male UK cheerleader walking through the hallway began mocking things he’d heard from pundits on TV — “Kansas is the best team, and Kansas is a lock to win it” — before breaking into laughter. The Panthers hadn’t just stunned the Jayhawks, they’d blown the bracket wide open. And Kentucky was among the teams that stood to benefit most.
When the top-seeded Wildcats took the floor against ninth-seeded Wake Forest, they were unaware of what had rocked the Midwest Region. UK coaches had ordered that their locker-room TVs be turned off, to avoid distractions, although junior forward Patrick Patterson managed to catch a glimpse of the action on CBS. “I saw that they were down,” he said, “but we knew that it was Kansas, that they weren’t going to let that happen.”
Patterson and his teammates then went out and annihilated the Demon Deacons, 90-60, in what was the most dominant single-game performance by any team in this tournament. Wake has one Lottery Pick (Al-Farouq Aminu) and one of the country’s fastest guards (Ish Smith), but it was blown off the floor by the Wildcats, who shot 60 percent from the field, and had human victory cigars Josh Harrellson, Mark Krebs and Jon Hood on the floor for the final few minutes.
When they got back to their locker room, according to Patterson, “We looked at our phones, and all of a sudden got text messages and updates from scoreboards saying, Kansas lost.
“I was shocked when I saw that.”
So was the rest of the country, myself included. I honestly thought there was no stopping the Jayhawks. The after-effect is that the Wildcats are the new national title favorite — a sentiment that Patterson already held. “I always thought we were the team to beat,” he said. “I’m not going to deny it.”
2. This is Ali Farokhmanesh’s tournament.
Northern Iowa’s senior shooting guard shouldn’t have been taking that shot, the dagger that knocked the nation’s No. 1 team out of the NCAA tournament. He had the ball with 35 seconds left, a one-point lead and 30 seconds on the shot clock. He stood on the right wing. He should have waited for Kansas to foul him. Or dribbled off as many of the precious remaining seconds as possible. You don’t take a three there, because if you miss, Sherron Collins is going back down the other end of the floor, driving the lane, and probably winning the game.
“But if you know Ali,” said backcourt mate Jonny Moran, “you know that shot is going up at the end of the game.”
He beat UNLV in the first round with a longer three, with a greater degree of difficulty, but this trey required a greater degree of balls — essentially, a willingness to take a shot that would either kill Kansas or kill the Panthers, when there were safer options available.
Farokhmanesh made the shot. He made himself famous. The son of two former volleyball coaches, one of them an Iranian immigrant — that’s why you have someone with the name Ali Farokhmanesh playing on a team in Cedar Falls, Iowa — is the new Pittsnogle. But better.
3. If you told me in January that Kansas’ Sherron Collins, Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds and BYU’s Jimmer Fredette would all lose on the same day of the NCAA tournament — and that day would be the second round — there’s no way I would’ve believed it.
I’m still having trouble believing it now. Reynolds showed signs of slumping late in the season, but went ice-cold against a St. Mary’s team that brutally exposed ‘Nova’s lack of post D, with Omar Samhan going for 32 points. Fredette seemed ready to become a breakout tourney star, with his 30-point-plus games and Mormon rapper brother, but Jimmer got out-Jimmered by Kansas State’s Jacob Pullen.
And Collins? As teammate Tyrel Reed said on Saturday, he’s the “ultimate competitor,” and it always seemed like his destiny to get back to the Final Four. Who could’ve imagined Collins would get Farokhmanesh’ed instead?
4. The bracket is setting up really well for Baylor, which beat Old Dominion in New Orleans on Saturday. The Bears were slotted in the weak South Region, and if they make the Elite Eight, their path will have been through three double-digit seeds: No. 14 Sam Houston State, No. 11 Old Dominion and No. 10 St. Mary’s. And they’re playing their games next weekend in Houston, just 185 miles from their Waco, Texas, campus.
As Baylor forward Quincy Acy told me, “God works in mysterious ways.”
I should note that the Bears don’t have a cake-walk into a potential regional final against Duke, because St. Mary’s has been playing brilliantly, sharing the ball better than any team in the bracket. But the Bears match up with Samhan much better than Villanova did; they have Ekpe Udoh (6-10), Josh Lomers (7-0), Anthony Jones (6-10) and Acy (6-7) to challenge shots in their zone. If Samhan can score 32 against Baylor, then he’s truly a beast.
5. No team has an entourage like Kentucky does. Sitting two rows behind the Wildcats bench was die-hard fan/actress Ashley Judd; one row behind her was Worldwide Wes (agent-to-be William Wesley) and rapper Drake; and actor Steve Zahn — co-star of one of the most underrated comedies of all time, Safe Men — was reportedly in the house, too, although I didn’t spot him. It’s a shame he didn’t make it in this priceless Judd/Wesley/Drake pic from SI photographer Bob Rosato:
Ashley Judd striking a pose, and drawing a weird look from William Wesley. (Bob Rosato/SI)
Question for Luke Winn, statistics Meister -
In these various upsets, are there any where the victorious underdog did not hit a greater % of three pointers than the favored loser ? I cannot imagine that trees are the whole story, but at least a small advantage in this regard might be a prerequisite for the underdog to win.
Cheers!
thats drake behind judd huh?? haha
You just have to believe! I no longer live in Kentucky, but the blood still runs BLUE! I wanna know what those NCAA people were smoking or drinking when they ran the brackets???
UK was and is so good and well coached they can only beat themselves, and that was true when Kansas was still alive. Kansas all year underachieved, was blown out by Ok. St., and had several games against opponents they should have destroyed that they won in the last minute. Self just barely and luckily beat Davidson and Memphis two years ago (the last because as Cal now reveals he told his guards to foul before the fatal three point shot and they didn’t), yesterday is the norm for him. UK could lose but it is plain they are the best team in the field by far. Pitino had two teams that were best that lost before ‘96 and Tubby had the eighth best team and won it all in ‘98. So we play the games.
UK’s 29 pt. win over Tennessee – now in the sweet 16 – was glossed over, it was the notice this team is extraordinary.
Ashley Judd is SOOOOOO hot, I’d watch her over a Kentucky game all night long !LOL
UNI rocks…do NOT count them out!
Is that Bob Newhart at Judd’s lower left?
I’m in Pennsylvania now, but I grew up in Kentucky and was graduated from UK in 1977. The only bad thing about UK’s win last night was that they dominated Wake so badly that CBS switched to the KSU-BYU ggame.
Wake Sucks, Eers are waiting….
Hey Patel, yeah, that IS Drake behind Ashley.
Why is that so far-fetched?
“Drake is a fan of the Kentucky Wildcats and a friend to head coach John Calipari. On October 16, 2009, Drake made an appearance at the University of Kentucky men’s basketball event, “Big Blue Madness” at Rupp Arena. On January 2, 2009, Drake also attended Kentucky’s game against the University of Louisville and accompanied Calipari to his post game radio show.”
Hey guys it’s like this…don’t count out Duke. These guys are always ready to play at this time of the year. Kentucky is tuff but they have a lot of freshmen. Wall has not really impressed me that much this year. I see a lot of out of control drives and throwing the ball up drawing fouls. Dukes defense can adjust to keep him in check for a time. The real power for Kentucky is their inside guys but they are prone to fouls. Duke is not Wake Forest. If they shoot well and are clicking on defense mark my words here today that they can knock Kentucky right off of everybodies bandwagon pedistal and send them packing to move to the national championship game.
Congrats to NIU and its stunning upset over Kansas. A brilliantly played game by the panthers both mentaly and physicaly. Just great shooting and hustle with cool heads all the way to the end of what had to be the best game of the tounament and maybe the past year. Even with Kansas and its full court press eating away at thier nerves and their lead the panthers still held it together to the end. A great game indeed. Enjoy the rest of the tournament everyone.
Watch out for the ORANGEMEN…………They’re going to be the team to beat. If they keep playing the way they did Friday night nobody will touch them. Coach Jim B’s Zone is hard to play against and when Wes, Andy, Scoop and Joseph are doing their part WATCH OUT. Go SU SU SU SU. See you in the final Four
Are these major upsets, or are the higher-seeded teams simply overrated? I am beginning to believe it’s more of the latter than the former?
Kentucky Wildcats have the best team and the best fans in college basketball!
Don’t count the WV Mountaineers out……we’ll see today!!!!
I’d like to know how many times Kansas has had a great season record and then lost in the first or second round of the tournament? To me, they are the biggest chokers of all-time. They choked when Roy Williams coached them and they continue to choke under Bill Self. Their biggest choke was when they lost to Syracuse in the finals some years back when they had the better team. They even lost in the final when they had Wilt Chamberlain on their team. Forget calling them the Jayhawks. They are the new Kansas Chokers.
Kentucky is really hot at this point in the season, but as young as thet are it will only take 1 bad half or 1 bad final ten minutes and it is all over. As far as the bracket they are in it is a no brainer they will make it out of that, but to say they are the favs to win it all, all I can say is get over yourselves KY. I can think of a few teams left out there that could take them to school
B.C.S. are you taking notes ?
Boise State and T.C.U. should not have been pitted against one another.They both should have played a “BIG NAME” school in the Bowls. Of course then a couple of your darling sweethearts may have had to suffer a loss in the bowls.
the cats are on the prowl and i dont mean the wildcats. go uni panthers! iowa and the world are so proud of you.
I can’t stand Ashley Judd anymore than I can obama. Talk about someone who seeks and desires so much attention. Anyhow, Kansas has had a history of under achievement when it comes time for the NCAA tourney. They went through this under Roy Williams tutelage and many many years before that under Ted Owens. I picked Kentucky reluctantly but after seeing Judd’s face I will now root against them as much as possible. I’m a Kansas fan at heart even though I graduated from Penn State. I like this Northern Iowa and St. Mary’s team now. But please no Duke, Syracuse or Kentucky. Anyone else would be fine.
Even if Kentucky Wins the National Championship, it won’t count a year from Now. A Calipari coached team has never held the banner for long after a championship. The NCAA always starts an investigation and takes the banner.
Kentucky Blue…wait until the investigation starts…then you’ll be really blue wildcats….
P.S.
#3 New Mexico was blown out by the University of Washington.
…seriously, you can’t even mention it?
After Wisconsin beats Cornell and Kentucky, the new favorite will be Wisconsin.
I know they bombed against Illinois in the Big Ten tourney and won by a small margin over Wofford, but those are stepping stones for a very talented and experienced team.
I’m glad to see small schools like Northern Iowa and St Mary’s pull upsets but the cream rises as the Big Dance goes on. In the end, the small schools will be wallflowers instead of dancers.
I think Wisconsin is a good match-up for Kentucky if either gets to the Sweet Sixteen. Then, whoever wins in the Sweet Sixteen, will go all the way.
Who the heck seeded these teams, Obama’s economic advisors!
Washington has looked as good as any team in the tournament, minus Kentucky. If they can get past WV or Mizzou then they can match up and run with the Wildcats. Don’t underestimate the Huskies just because they’re an 11 seed.
Kentucky hasn’t been rattled. Let’s see how they play when someone tests them.
I see a lot of Ky haters on here. They are simply on a mission and have stepped it up a couple notches. They have too much talent and lottery picks on this team. By the way, for the person who posted on here that John Wall hasn’t been impressive this year…..You haven’t watched many of their games. Wall can take a game over and is too quick for the majority of guards in this tournament. Duke might be able to keep close to them if they are stroking the 3. Duke lives and dies by the three and that will keep them from winning the tournament. The only team I believe that can play with kentucky is West Virginia and Syracuse. This is the year of the Wildcat! Too much talent and quickness!
Several days ago I got on this site to read all the critisizim about the Wildcats and how overrated they are. Comments from Big East fans dishin on KY talking about how weak the SEC is compared to the Big East….Wish they had a response now. I don´t know how far the Cats will go but I want to see them play. They are the most exciting team in the tounament to watch!!!
The only team out there that can even come close to beating Kentucky is………Kentucky!
and this is the year of the Tiger! I was amazed when the Panthers knocked off Kansas but then again……this is the year of the Tiger….get my point???
Jeremy, apparently you haven’t been watching Duke this year…you must be assuming they are the Duke teams of the past few years. Going 3 for 17 from 3 pt range and still handily beating Cal proves they don’t live and die by the 3…they live and die by rebounds and defense. And they finally have a viable inside game to go with the mid and long range ability of Scheyer, Singler, and Smith.
Does this mean they’ll win it all? Of course not…but you’re scouting a team based on the past, not the present.