If you spent four days watching television analysts and reading websites like this one in search of bracket help, you presumably heard no shortage of trendy upset picks -- Buffalo over West Virginia, Eastern Washington over Georgetown, et al.
Here’s guessing you never once heard someone say, “Watch out for UAB.”
And that’s why we love March.
There’s no sensible explanation for the NCAA tournament’s first big upset. Iowa State, 25-8 entering the game, finished second in the nation’s toughest conference, the Big 12, and won the league tournament. UAB, 19-15 going in, finished fourth in Conference USA and reached the Dance only because of its surprise run in its league tourney. Iowa State won two of its three meetings with Kansas. UAB lost its last two regular-season games to Florida Atlantic and Florida International.
But if you took off the jersey names Thursday you never would have guessed which was the power-conference titan and which was the mid-major. In an ugly slugfest in which neither team shot even 37 percent, No. 14 seed UAB flat-out out-toughed No. 3 seed Iowa State, exemplified by a stunning 19-9 advantage in offensive rebounding, and held the Cyclones to their lowest scoring output of the season in a 60-59 game.
It also came down to one team’s star player coming through in the clutch and the other’s laying an egg. Unfortunately for Iowa State, the usually unflappable Georges Niang went just 4 of 15 from the field, missing one close look after another. Conversely, Blazers guard Robert Brown lit up the Cyclones for 21 points in part on 3-of-7 from 3-point range, none bigger than the go-ahead trey he drained with 51 seconds left. But even when ISU’s Monte Morris hit a shot on the other end to reclaim the lead, William Lee came right back to put the Blazers back ahead.
In an ending sequence that typified Iowa State’s cold afternoon, Naz Long had a perfectly good look at a game-tying three in the final seconds but missed. When Morris’ tip-in went through and the clock read less than a second left, we knew the No. 14 seed was moving on.
There’s no overstating just how meaningful this win must be for the UAB community. Its athletic department and fans were traumatized last fall when school president Ray Watts shuttered the Blazers’ football program just when it had become bowl-eligible for the first time in a decade. The acrimony hasn’t dissipated, and before Thursday’s game the UAB fans in Louisville broke out a “Fire Ray Watts” chant.
Hopefully the meddling state board of regents -- led by one Paul Bryant Jr. -- doesn’t suddenly feel threatened by UAB basketball, which registered its greatest triumph since taking down No. 1 seed Kentucky in 2004.
Conversely, Iowa State suffered a bitter and premature ending to a previously triumphant season. The Cyclones enjoyed their best Big 12 finish of coach Fred Hoiberg’s five-year tenure, won a second straight conference tourney title and seemed poised for a deep NCAA run. Many felt Iowa State was well-suited to take down South No. 2 seed Gonzaga and maybe even No. 1 seed Duke.
Instead, a UAB team that sat just a game over .500 a week ago is one more win away from the Sweet 16.
That’s March.
