Monitoring the Mid-Majors: Round of 32

I'm still reeling from what happened around 5 p.m. Eastern Time yesterday afternoon, but I will try to get past that right now. The second round provided just as much excitement as the first with mid-majors exerting their presence against some of the biggest names in college basketball

After the first round, which teams like Georgetown fell, there were many mid-major teams alive. The list:
Midwest Region - Northern Iowa, Ohio
West Region - Gonzaga, Butler, Murray State, Xavier, BYU
East Region - Cornell, New Mexico
South Region - Old Dominion, St. Mary's

The biggest upset must be Georgetown falling to Ohio, who only made the tournament because it won it's conference tournament. The Hoyas were a mess against Bobcats throughout and never really made a comeback despite being down by double-digits.

The Bobcats, though, were not able to keep up their streak in the second round as they fell to No. 6 seed Tennessee.

The biggest upset in the entire tournament, and in recent years, came on Saturday night. The overall No. 1 seed Kansas Jayhawks were tabbed by many to be next in line to hoist the National Championship trophy. But standing in the way was No. 9 seed Northern Iowa. The Panthers exhibited everything a mid-major is known to be. The game was never really close as Northern Iowa shot extremely well and confused the Jayhawks. Not until Kansas turned to full-court pressure in the final few minutes was the upset ever in jeopardy.

Leave it to Ali Farokhmanesh. The point guard nailed a gutsy 3-pointer after his team finally got through the full court pressure. Instead of pulling the ball back and wasting time off the clock, or driving and dishing to a teammate for an easy 2-on-1 score, he put up the prayer. When the ball fell through the nets, the chances of a Kansas comeback deflated.

Sweet Sixteen Mid-Majors:
Midwest Region - Northern Iowa
West Region - Butler, Xavier
East Region - Cornell
South Region - St. Mary's

So five of the 16 "best" teams remaining in college basketball are from non-BCS conferences. That just goes to show the parity in the sport right now. Hopefully this week I will be able to provide specific team coverage for some of the remaining teams in the tournament.

For now I leave you with this stat and quote from the weekend:
- For the first time since the NCAA tournament expanded in 1985, three one-bid conferences (the Horizon League, Ivy League and Missouri Valley Conference) had their teams advance to the Sweet 16.
- "Northern Iowa never played KU before, so you can't say it was really a big upset,'' Ohio State's David Lighty said. "It's just what people think.''