Ken Davis

The instant Northern Iowa’s Ali Farokmanesh pulled the trigger and hit his history making three-pointer Saturday against Kansas, two significant steps were taken in the 2010 NCAA tournament.

The most obvious was the sudden grounding of the top-seeded Jayhawks, the country's No. 1 team and the favorite in a majority of brackets filled out by followers of March Madness. But the impact was felt way down in New Orleans, where Kentucky was preparing for its second-round game against Wake Forest.

Yes, Farokmanesh’s shot sent Northern Iowa into the Sweet 16 but it also passed all the pressure directly to the Wildcats. How else can you explain Kentucky coach John Calipari turning off the TV that his players were watching?

“We weren’t allowed to know what was the results of that game,” Kentucky freshman DeMarcus Cousins said when asked his reaction to the upset of Kansas. “We were told to focus on our own game.”

There’s no reason for concern in Kentucky. Not yet. The Wildcats appeared to have plenty of focus in their 90-60 destruction of Wake Forest. Now Big Blue Nation can pack its bags and invade Syracuse for a weekend of fun in the Carrier Dome. Won’t that be strange, seeing Ashley Judd and the rest of the Kentucky fans painting a canvas of blue in a building built around the basic hue of Orange? (Syracuse fans will either be in Salt Lake City or home watching their No. 1 seed on TV.)

Coach Cal cannot order the unplugging of all TV sets in Upstate New York. But he doesn’t need to. His focus will be on his own team — and the Wildcats can’t possibly clash with the Orange until the national championship game April 5 in Indianapolis.

But Calipari knows the meaning of that Kansas loss. The most anticipated sequence of events — until Saturday — had UK and KU clashing for the national title. The Jayhawks were favored to win that one because they were the most talented and most experienced team in the field of 65. Or at least that’s what all the experts (yours truly included) thought.

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So now we have a new favorite. Other than that, not a whole lot has changed. Syracuse and Duke are still alive too, giving us three No. 1 seeds in the Sweet 16. Villanova is the only No. 2 seed missing with Ohio State, Kansas State and West Virginia all moving on. Baylor is the only No. 3 remaining, but the Bears have played with enough confidence that it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see them in the Final Four.

Searching for the next champion beyond than that really is an exercise in foolishness. The last time a team seeded lower than No. 3 won the national championship was 1997 when Arizona was a No. 4.

Eleven conferences will be represented in this Sweet 16. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the Big Ten, leading the way with three teams (Ohio State, Michigan State and Purdue). The Big 12, Big East and SEC are down to two teams each.

Kentucky opened play as the second No. 1 seed, according to the selection committee. And with a starting lineup full of NBA lottery picks, the Wildcats clearly are the most talented team remaining, regardless of their experience.

Calipari’s not buying it. What a surprise. He’s got his Ph.D. in spin, so he won’t be agreeing with any declarations of superiority attached to his team. He proved that immediately after the Wake Forest game, during Kentucky’s postgame news conference, when a reporter declared, “You’re obviously the overwhelming favorite now for most people.”

Calipari responded with one of his patented incredulous facial expressions.

“I don’t know if we’re the overwhelming favorite,” Calipari said. “Everybody was picking us to lose, today being a tough game. They were also saying we’d be the first No. 1 out. So how do they change those talking heads overnight? With one game? Come one. We’re still a bunch of freshmen and sophomores. Our second NCAA tournament game — the guys that we’re playing have never played in it.”

2010 men's NCAA tournament Quick guide to the teams, players, more

First off, let’s dispense with the “our guys don’t even shave” argument. This isn’t a Kentucky team from the Adolph Rupp era. Kids today play so many AAU games they often can’t even remember if they’ve gone up against a college opponent before they rose to that level. The Wildcats have gotten their taste of Madison Square Garden, the SEC, and now the NCAA. No more excuses.

The Kentucky players were asked if they felt added pressure now that Kansas lost.

“Nope,” Cousins said. Darius Miller agreed. “I don’t think that adds any pressure,” Miller said. “As long as we come out and play the best we can, that’s all we can control.”

Kentucky finds itself sharing the East Regional with No. 2-seed West Virginia, but also with No. 11 Washington and No. 12 Cornell. That’s a crazy combination, but give the Huskies and Big Red credit for taking advantage of favorable style matchups in the first two rounds.