Thoughts from the Oklahoma City airport late Saturday night on UNI's win over Kansas

I'm with the Northern Iowa traveling party, waiting for the jet to arrive that will take us to Waterloo. The plane left Minneapolis at 10:08 p.m. We'll probably get to Waterloo around 1 a.m. I wonder if there will be a reception committee waiting there.

The team went out to eat before getting here. The rest of us just screened by TSA agents and are kicking it in this terminal. The UNI folks seemed oblivious to the icy roads from the Ford Center to the airport, or the occasional vehicle stranded off the side of the freeway.

"I can't believe it happened," one older Panther female fan said to a friend. "I can't, either," the friend said. "When I wake up tomorrow I'll have to check to see if it really did."

UNI's 69-67 second-round NCAA tourney victory over Kansas probably had Jayhawks fans saying the same things, but in a different tone.

Quick question: Is this the biggest upset by an Iowa university in sports?

Ever is a long, long time. But this wasn't just the No. 1 seed the Panthers beat in front of a pro-Kansas crowd, but it was the No. 1 seed in the whole tourney. UNI knocked out President Obama's pick to win it all in the second round. I'm sorry to say I had Kansas cutting the nets in the contest on the Gazette and KCRG Web sites.

At least I had UNI beating UNLV in the first round.

But really, have Iowa or Iowa State had a bigger upset? There have been doozies over the decades, sure. But this, this set the sporting nation into a tizzy. Nine-seeds don't beat one-seeds in this tourney. They just don't.

OK, someone on the phone just told me UNI is like the Toyota Prius. It can't be stopped.

I also heard that an ESPN announcer tonight described a 3-pointer from some other tournament's team player as "That wasn't an NBA 3-pointer, that was a "Farokhmanesh 3-pointer."

Send me the best stuff you see around the Web about the game, and I'll try to put up a stack of links on Sunday.

On Twitter, I said it might be among the top five games/events I've ever covered. It's tough to crack that top five. You've got Zach Johnson's Masters, Kurt Warner's Super Bowl win, the Iowa-Michigan game of 1985, a certain Capital One Bowl, Iowa State beating UCLA in the Sweet 16, UNI's basketball win over Missouri in the 1990 NCAAs, lots of other stuff that I'd think of if I took more time.

But this, as I said, grabbed the nation by the heartstrings. Ali Farokhmanesh has become the longest household name in college basketball. Jordan Eglseder played the great Cole Aldrich head's up. Freshman forward Jake Koch made big free throws, and seemed to be the only Panther to be trusted in-bounding the ball against Kansas' pressure in the late minutes.

Kwadzo Ahelegbe was the equal and more to Kansas' normally magnificent point guard Sherron Collins.

Back to Farokhmanesh: He had missed six straight 3-pointers after making his first three. So with the Panthers up by a point with 38 seconds on the game clock and 30 on the shot clock, he fired an open three and hit it.

That's why people will still talk about Farokhmanesh in March of 2020, 2025, 2030 ...

I think Eglseder made himself a few dollars Saturday (These are scattered thoughts, I admit). His two 3-pointers were an aberration, but his fallaway baseline jumpers against Cole Aldrich may have raised the brow of a pro scout or two.

How about freshmen Jake Koch and Marc Sonnen standing up to the moment?

How about the coach, Ben Jacobson? He said this after the game Farokhmanesh taking that last shot instead of chewing up some time:

"If they defend the way they're supposed to and diving on the floor and taking charges and sticking up for each other, they can play however they want to on offense ... very thankful that we've got an unselfish team and a team with a good feel so that they take quality shots."

That's a mature coach. Some coaches control every moment. Some, once their players have earned trust, are allowed to use that trust to use their instincts.

A final note (the team has arrived from its late dinner, and the jet will be here within the half-hour, we hope): UNI is 6-0 in St. Louis over the last two years.

This means nothing, of course, and Friday night's game against either Maryland or Michigan State will be in the Edward Jones Dome, not the Scottrade Center that held those last two Missouri Valley Conference tournaments the Panthers won.

But ... it's St. Louis, driving distance from Cedar Falls. And it's a dome, so the whole University of Northern Iowa population might be able to go if it desires.

"This team has done such a great job of turning the page to what's next,: Jacobson said, "and this (the Kansas win) would be the biggest challenge of the year.

"We're certainly going to enjoy this for a day or so. Then we've got to get ready for our next basketball game."