Read the opposing arguments from Bleacher Fan and Loyal Homer.
I think it is clear that the surprising Panthers from Northern Iowa are the best story of this year’s Sweet Sixteen. Knocking off tournament number one seed Kansas is an amazing and unlikely feat for a small(ish) university in northern Iowa. The university, with one hard fought win, has now been catapulted into pop culture and the collective memory of basketball fans around the country. I know I turned to my three year old son, who was sitting in the lazy boy with me watching the end of the game, and said, “I think this game will be talked about for a long time… and you can tell people you watched it.” Northern Iowa, with one victory, is now a culture phenomenon. The evidence is contained everywhere, including all over social media, and I will present a few reasons why this win is the best story of the Sweet Sixteen.
One of the great things about Twitter is that is provides a good indication of the most topical, most popular elements of society within a small snapshot of time. The more surprising or momentous the occasion – see Apple’s announcement of the iPad, for example – the more popular the topic is to tweet about. As many of you likely know, the more a specific topic is tweeted about, the more popular it is. The more popular topics become trending topics on Twitter. Two hours after the University of Northern Iowa’s basketball team beat Kansas 60 percent of the trending topics were about the Panthers’ 69-67 win over the Jayhawks. It is easy to see why.
Reason #1: Trending Topics Don’t Lie
- “#AliFarokhmanesh”: The official trending topic and hash tag for the gutsiest performer… UNI’s own “Mr. Big Shot.”
- “#Kansas-Northern Iowa”: While one series of tweets was devoted to the player that hit the big shot, plenty of folks realized how great this game was overall.
- ”Northern Iowa Panthers”: Back in my days as a beat writer for a newspaper I spoke to a head basketball coach who used to have an affiliation with the College of Charleston. He told me that when his school beat number one ranked North Carolina in 1998 that the school saw a significant spike in student applications in the week after the victory. This trending topic is likely leading to the same groundswell of attention for Northern Iowa… a school that had to pull out all of the stops to save its baseball team recently due to budget cuts.
- ”Iowa beats Kansas”: There’s no doubt that the Iowa Hawkeyes are pleased to get credit for sloppy tweets. It’s a little something I like to call “The Northern Iowa Effect.” Hmm.
- ”Missouri Valley Conference”: This trending topic is probably the most attention the conference has received since that Larry Bird fella played at Indiana State.
Reason #2: Kansas Hype
The higher the perch, the harder the fall. The great thing about this game, and the UNI story, is that it never seemed REALLY possible, even while it was happening. Everyone knows how good Kansas is. They were the number one team in the country for a long time this season. They were the tournament’s number one seed. They were a lock for most championship games in most brackets (at least the folks I know). The deserved hype Kansas received all season, and in the build up to the tournament, makes this victory for the Panthers that much more impressive.
Reason #3: Northern Iowa’s Actually Pretty Good
Most of the media, and fans, will be buzzing about guard Ali Farokhmanesh’s gutsy three point jumper with 30 seconds on the shot clock while trying to preserve a lead. Well, gutsy is one word for describing that shot. Having watched UNI a few times this season, though, it is easy to see that Farokhmanesh has never met a three point shot he didn’t like. The thing is… he makes a lot of them.
However, a possibly large group of UNI fans, and fans of the underdog, were screaming “DON’T SHOOT IT” at their television when Farokhmanesh launched that shot. Those cries were followed shortly by “GREAT SHOT!!”
Great basketball stories need big shots, and Farokhmanesh delivered. But the interesting fact in the UNI story is that the entire team is actually pretty good. The team has balance, size, hustle, and loads of fundamentals. They are the ideal Cinderella story. They have no business staying on the court with some of the most athletic and talented college basketball teams in the country. But, because they hustle after loose balls, box out under the boards, set strong picks, and play great defense, they believe they can beat any team in the country. And they’re right.
Some of the other players include Adam Koch (pronounced “Cook”). He is a senior forward and has a younger brother on the team. But he also has a very complete game. In the Kansas game he grabbed a big time rebound and put it back in the final minute… an essential sequence that gave Farokhmanesh’s shot meaning. Plus, the Panthers have a player named “O’Rear” that looks like Starburns from the NBC comedy Community. How awesome is that?
Other Sweet Sixteen stories are okay. Cornell is good. Sure, St. Mary’s is a nice Sweet Sixteen story. But they also had any easy draw. As it turns out the A-10 was not that spectacular after all (I am carving up a hefty slice of humble pie on that one), so the victory over Richmond is not that impressive. Villanova also was a shell of its former self… and a prominent member of the most overrated conference in college basketball this season, the Big East.
The other best story, according to Loyal Homer, is Ohio State’s victory over Georgia Tech… but he’s writing that only because he lost a bet to Bleacher Fan.
The Northern Iowa Panthers are the best story because they simultaneously overcame the most and still have the most to gain. I will spare you all the glass slipper puns. Northern Iowa is not just a run of the mill Cinderella story. They are a legitimately good basketball team that just gained a WHOLE lot of confidence. What out, Michigan State.
