Kansas centre Cole Aldrich loses control of the ball while guarded by Northern Iowa centre Jordan Eglseder during Saturday's NCAA tournament game in Oklahoma City.Kansas centre Cole Aldrich loses control of the ball while guarded by Northern Iowa centre Jordan Eglseder during Saturday's NCAA tournament game in Oklahoma City. (Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press)

Ali Farokhmanesh hit a big three-pointer with 34 seconds left and Northern Iowa pulled off the biggest upset in the NCAA tournament, beating top overall seed Kansas 69-67 in the second round on Saturday.

Northern Iowa (30-4) won the tempo tug-of-war, grounding the high-flying Jayhawks with in-their-jersey defence, then withstood a furious rally to become the first team to beat a No. 1 seed in the second round since the University of Alabama (UAB) and Alabama did it to Kentucky and Stanford in 2004.

The ninth-seeded Panthers led early and made just enough plays late to pull off the biggest win in their history.

Kansas (33-3) trailed nearly the entire game, finally pulling close in the closing minutes behind its full-court pressure. The Jayhawks never made it all the way back, bowing out early in what was supposed to be another title run.

Saint Mary's 75, Villanova 68

Omar Samhan played the game of his career on basketball's biggest stage, finishing with 32 points and seven rebounds to lead 10th-seeded Saint Mary's past Villanova 75-68 on Saturday and on to Houston for the South Regional's Sweet 16.

Mickey McConnell (32) is hugged by Matthew Dellavedova (4) of the Saint Mary's Gaels after a win over the Villanova Wildcats during the second round of the 2010 NCAA men's tournament on Saturday in Providence, R.I.Mickey McConnell (32) is hugged by Matthew Dellavedova (4) of the Saint Mary's Gaels after a win over the Villanova Wildcats during the second round of the 2010 NCAA men's tournament on Saturday in Providence, R.I. (Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

Mickey McConnell stopped and fired an arcing 25-footer that banked high off the glass to give Saint Mary's a 68-65 lead with 1:15 left.

Samhan used a two-handed block to turn back Reggie Redding and McConnell made both ends of a 1-and-1 to make it 70-65.

The sold-out crowd in Providence, R.I., was well behind the California-based Gaels (28-5).

The Wildcats (25-8) made an early exit a year after the Pennsylvania school played in the Final Four. They started 20-1 and collapsed at the end.

Obama's bracket takes beating

For everyone who picked Kansas to win the men's NCAA basketball title, the president of the United States feels your pain.

Barack Obama's bracket was busted Saturday when the Kansas Jayhawks, the tournament's top seed, were stunned by No. 9 seed Northern Iowa 69-67.

Obama had picked Kansas to beat Kentucky for the championship.

Obama's bracket was looking good — he correctly predicted 25 of 32 winners — after the first round, but it took a big hit earlier Saturday when No. 2 seed Villanova was upset by 10th-seeded Saint Mary's 75-68.

Obama, who correctly predicted North Carolina's title last year, picked Villanova to make the Final Four.

The First Fan could take some solace in the fact that his women's bracket was perfect through the first eight games Saturday.

Scottie Reynolds, who put Villanova in the Final Four last season with a last-second basket against Pittsburgh, was a big reason why the Wildcats are heading home early. He missed nine of 11 shots and scored eight points after a dud game in the tournament opener.

The Gaels danced around for the crowd in celebration. Samhan mugged for the fans and tossed a loose ball in the air. He high-fived a ball boy and they embraced after the biggest win in the program's history.

Kentucky 90, Wake Forest 60

Two games, two blowouts.

John Calipari's top-seeded Kentucky Wildcats are young and inexperienced, but no longer unproven in the NCAA tournament, during which their average margin of victory now stands at 29.5 points after two rounds.

Darius Miller scored a career-high 20 points and Kentucky made easy work of No. 9 Wake Forest during a 90-60 rout in their second-round meeting Saturday night.

Miller scored 16 points in the first half to help the Wildcats (34-2) build an early double-digit lead that ballooned to 31 in the second half.

Al-Farouq Aminu had 16 points for Wake Forest (20-11), which was down by 16 at halftime and never mounted a credible comeback attempt during the final 20 minutes. C.J. Harris added 11 points for the Demon Deacons.

Kentucky moves on to the East Regional semifinals in Syracuse, N.Y., where they'll play the winner of Sunday's second-round game between 12th-seeded Cornell and No. 4 Wisconsin.

Kansas St. 84, Bringham Young 72

BYU's Jimmer Fredette got smacked in the face, whacked on the head and then sent home from the NCAA tournament.

Jacob Pullen and Kansas State are moving on, thanks to a physical brand of basketball that was too much for even Fredette's prison-toughened game. Fredette used to play pickup games against inmates from upstate New York jails.

Pullen scored 20 of his career-high 34 points in the first half to help dig No. 2 seed Kansas State out of an early 10-point hole, and the Wildcats turned away Fredette and BYU 84-72 on Saturday night in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Pullen came alive with a scoring flurry shortly after he and Fredette got tangled up in transition in the first half, and K-State (28-7) wouldn't trail again in earning its first round of 16 appearance since 1988.

Down the stretch, Pullen helped seal the victory with a three-pointer and six free throws. Equally as important as his scoring was his physical defence against Fredette, who had scored 37 points to get the seventh-seeded Cougars (30-6) past Florida in double overtime in the first round.

Kansas State did something it couldn't even do with future No. 2 NBA draft pick Michael Beasley on the roster two years ago, moving on to face the winner of a Sunday game between No. 3 seed Pittsburgh and sixth-seeded Xavier next weekend in Salt Lake City.

Fredette finished with 21 points on 4-of-13 shooting, breaking his string of three straight games with at least 30 points.

Washington 82, New Mexico 64

Quincy Pondexter scored 18 points, Isaiah Thomas added 15 and 11th-seeded Washington extended its incredible late-season roll all the way to the NCAA tournament's regional semifinals with an 82-64 second-round victory over New Mexico on Saturday.

Matthew Bryan-Amaning had 15 points and nine rebounds for the Huskies (26-9), who have won nine straight, including the Pac-10 tournament and wins over two higher-seeded opponents in the East Regional at the Shark Tank.

Washington ran right past the third-seeded Lobos (30-5), who simply couldn't keep up with the breakneck offensive pace in their second loss in three games.

After a rocky season that seemed headed nowhere in late January, the Huskies are the epitome of a talented team peaking at tournament time. Washington began the season in the national rankings, but slumped badly before this stellar surge.

Butler 54, Murray St. 52

Ronald Nored's three-point play snapped a tie with 25.4 seconds left, and Butler narrowly evaded a second stunner by the 13th-seeded Murray State Racers in three days, advancing to the regional semifinals with a 54-52 victory Saturday.

Butler advanced to the round of 16 for the second time in four years — but only after surviving a thriller against the undersized but big-hearted Racers (31-5), who beat fourth-seeded Vanderbilt in the first round on a buzzer-beater.

In next week's West Regional semifinals in Salt Lake City, Butler will face the winner of top seeded Syracuse's meeting with Gonzaga on Sunday.

After Butler's Matt Howard made one of two free throws with 17.2 seconds left, Murray State had a chance to set up for a final shot.

But instead of creating a new play during a timeout, as the Racers did before Danero Thomas's jumper beat Vandy, Murray State simply got the ball to Canaan.

The guard was double-teamed, and his frantic attempt at a perimeter pass went off Hayward's hand and rolled into the backcourt, setting off a celebration down near Butler's bench.

Baylor 76, Old Dominion 68

LaceDarius Dunn scored 26 points and No. 3 seed Baylor beat 11th-seeded Old Dominion 76-68 on Saturday.

The Bears squandered a 14-point first-half lead but went on a late 8-1 run to pull away. Baylor (27-7) now heads back to its home state to play No. 10 seed Saint Mary's in Houston in the South Regional semifinals.

Baylor struggled to beat Sam Houston State in the first round for its first NCAA tournament win since 1950, but the Bears arrived loose and confident against Old Dominion, using a barrage of early three-pointers and alley-oops to take a double-digit lead. Old Dominion (27-9) rallied and pulled ahead in the second half, but the Bears received a big lift from seven-footer Josh Lomers, who tied a career high with 14 points, 12 in the second half.

Tennessee 83, Ohio 68

J.P. Prince scored 18 points, and Brian Williams and Wayne Chism had 12 rebounds apiece on Saturday to lead sixth-seeded Tennessee to an 83-68 victory over No. 14 seed Ohio.

It's the third time in four years the Volunteers have reached the NCAA's second weekend.

Tennessee (27-8) will play the winner of Sunday's Ohio State-Georgia Tech game in the Midwest Regional semifinals in St. Louis.

Tommy Freeman scored 23 points for Ohio, which was the lowest seed to get out of the first round. But he got little help from Armon Bassett and freshman D.J. Cooper, the guards who starred in the first-round victory over third-seeded Georgetown but combined for only 23 points on 7-of-23 shooting against Tennessee.