When Northern Iowa crumpled up and tossed America's brackets in the trash by knocking off top-seeded Kansas last week, it figured to benefit someone.
The Ohio State Buckeyes, the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Regional, hope it works to their advantage somewhere down the road.
For now, however, they have their hands full with sixth-seeded Tennessee in the round of 16 on Friday night in St. Louis.
``We definitely thought it was crazy that it happened,'' star guard Evan Turner said of the Jayhawks' shocking 69-67 upset loss in the second round. ``But it kind of got us geared into thinking it can happen to anybody. Definitely, anybody can lose. We just really focused on ourselves. We weren't like, 'Yes! Kansas is out!'''
With only 16 teams left, there aren't any pretenders. Ninth-seeded Northern Iowa meets No. 5 Michigan State in the other half of the St. Louis bracket.
Still, Ohio State coach Thad Matta conceded that the Jayhawks' absence might come to mind if his team makes it to the regional final.
``If you get to that position on Sunday, maybe you allow yourself to say, 'Kansas isn't here,''' he said Wednesday. ``But you're still playing a team that beat Kansas, or the team that beat the team that beat Kansas. So they have to be pretty good, too.''
And the Buckeyes know they can't afford to worry about what's going on elsewhere.
``If you're going to win a national title, you've got to beat the best of the best,'' Turner said. ``We just have to take care of business. Northern Iowa played a great game. They showed up for 40 minutes and got the job done.''
Kansas' defeat is a cautionary tale for most of the top teams. That could have been US, they're thinking, just happy to have survived the first weekend of the tournament.
So far, Ohio State has had blinders on in the NCAAs.
``Our team's been really good at that so far,'' shooting guard Jon Diebler said. ``Because with what has happened in the tournament, anyone can beat anybody on any given night. That doesn't mean that Northern Iowa is a better team than Kansas, but that night they were. So, again, we know we have a great opportunity right now, but at the same time we have a great team that we have to play against to get there.''
Much like the past couple of months, the Buckeyes appear to be calm and loose headed into their fourth game with the Volunteers in the last four seasons. The two teams battled it out in a classic regional semifinal game during the Buckeyes' run to the national championship game in 2007. Tennessee led by 17 points at halftime, only to have Ohio State - led by freshmen Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. - roar back to win 85-84.
``I remember saying to myself at halftime, we've got to get this thing under 10 with 10 minutes to go,'' Matta said. ``And it was under 10 with 3 minutes gone in the (second) half.''
David Lighty, a freshman sub on that Ohio State team and a front-line star on this one, said that comeback win provided a valuable lesson.
``As long as you stick to the system, and believe, and go out and play hard, anything is possible,'' he said. ``It's not over until it's over. You're not going to have time left to sulk and be worried about, 'Oh my goodness, we're down 20!' and lose your composure and be nervous. That's how you come back from being down so much.''
The next meeting will take place at the Edward Jones Dome, with Northern Iowa trying to continue its remarkable march against Michigan State in the nightcap.
Matta joked about the Buckeyes getting ready to play in such a huge venue.
Referring to Ohio State's 105,000-seat football stadium, he cracked, ``We practiced over in the 'Shoe today.''
