March Madness 2016: Top 5 moments of the NCAA Tournament First Round
1. Northern Iowa’s buzzer-beater
At one point this season, Northern Iowa looked dead in the water. Ben Jacobson is one of the top coaches in the country and he had his work cut out for him when the Mountain Valley Conference began as the No. 4 seed. The Panthers earned the automatic bid thanks to a buzzer-beater in the title game.
Northern Iowa won 12-of-13 games to finish the season and conference tournament. This team went from a out of the tournament and playing for an NIT berth to No. 11 seed and facing off in a favorable matchup against Texas.
Things seemed to be headed in the right direction on Friday when the Panthers were up on the Texas Longhorns by a double digits in the first half, but a late-second half collapse came a-roaring. Northern Iowa couldn’t do anything right in the final minutes and the game was pushed into a last-second situation.
Tying the game with just seconds remaining, Texas had to just avoid fouling the Panthers and hope that they missed a half-court heave at the buzzer. Paul Jesperson took the inbounds pass and ran it up to mid-court, heaving a prayer. It was answered:
More Northern Iowa magic https://t.co/W2ZqmZCQH2
— Pick Six Previews (@PickSixPreviews) March 19, 2016
Northern Iowa is replicating the magic it had when Ali Faroukhmanesh hit a three-pointer to bury No. 1 seed Kansas back in 2009-10. Can it take down No. 3 seed Texas A&M in the round of 32?
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