NCAA Tournament Odds: Northern Iowa vs. Kansas

KU's Cole Aldrich should be challenged by Northern Iowa, which is allowing the second fewest points per game in college basketball this season. (AP Images)

Kansas, the No. 1 overall team in the country, didn’t exactly look the part in Thursday’s first-round NCAA Tournament win over Lehigh. The Jayhawks led by only six at the half before pulling away for a 90-74 victory. Now KU gets one of the best mid-major programs in the nation this season in No. 9 Northern Iowa on Saturday in a Midwest Region game in Oklahoma City. Kansas has opened as an 11.5-point favorite on Bodog’s college basketball odds.

Northern Iowa (29-4, 21-11 ATS) was the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament champion. The Panthers had one of the first-round’s most memorable games, beating No. 8 UNLV, 69-66, on a long three-pointer by Ali Farokhmanesh with 4.9 seconds remaining. Obviously an upset of Kansas on Saturday would be the biggest in school and probably conference history. This will be the Panthers’ first-ever game against a No. 1 team, and a school from the MVC hasn’t beaten the nation’s top team in 48 years (and that school, Cincinnati, is no longer in the conference). However, history might be on Northern Iowa’s side, as the past three MVC teams to win a first-round NCAA game then won again to reach the Sweet 16. In addition, UNI was the only nonconference visitor to win this season on a Big 12 court (at Iowa State).

Kansas (33-2, 14-71-1 ATS) got 26 points (a career high) and 10 boards from Marcus Morris in the win over Lehigh. KU started just 2-for-12 from the field but then shot better than 63 percent from the rest of the way. So maybe there’s not a lot to read into the fact that the game was close for a while. No team in the country has more wins over NCAA Tournament teams than the Jayhawks (13), who also lead the country in scoring margin. However, All-American center Cole Aldrich could get tested on Saturday by Northern Iowa center Jordan Eglseder, who leads the Panthers in scoring and rebounding.

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