Iowa brings much-needed chaos to NCAA Tournament with upset of Florida

Thank you, Iowa.

The ninth-seeded Hawkeyes brought some chaos to the Men's NCAA Tournament, sending the first No. 1 seed packing with their 73-72 upset of defending champion Florida. After an opening weekend that left most of the bracket covered in chalk dust, once again, the Madness is now back in March Madness.

"March is for the dreamers, and there is no better dreamers than us," said Alvaro Folgueiras, whose 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds left set off pandemonium among Iowa fans and anyone rooting for busted brackets.

Which is pretty much the point of the NCAA tournament, right?

"We’re one of the 16 best teams in the country. But we want to keep trying to shock the world," Folgueiras said. "We’re hungry, still."

The beauty of March Madness has always been, well, the Madness. Little schools no one’s heard of knocking off teams from the power conferences. Kids who won’t go further than the local rec center when their college careers are done knocking down shots that would be the envy of NBA players.

A No. 9 seed outplaying a No. 1 seed. Which, until Iowa beat Florida on Sunday, March 22, hadn't been done since 2018.

But whether it’s NIL, the great players getting even greater, or simply the cycle of things, March Madness has been more March Blandness of late.

For the third consecutive year, no seed 12 or higher will make the Sweet 16. For the fourth consecutive year, only one-double digit seed survived the first weekend. And you can’t count Texas as a plucky underdog.

Or, if you do, Longhorns coach Sean Miller will have some words for you.

“I don’t think we ever want to sign up to be the Cinderella story because we are the University of Texas,” Miller said after his 11^th-seeded team beat Gonzaga on Saturday, March 21. “We represent the SEC as well.”

Things have gotten so chalky that all four No. 1 seeds made the Final Four last year for only the second time since the tournament began seeding teams in 1979.

But Iowa brought some ... uncertainty back to the next two weekends. And at this time of year, uncertainty is fun.

"Did I know we were going to win like this? I didn't think we were going to lose," Iowa coach Ben McCollum said.

Now, this doesn't mean we're going to have a Final Four with a double-digit underdog like Loyola of Chicago or a George Mason. This year's tournament is still shaping up to be a gathering of the bluebloods.

The remaining three No. 1s are still alive, as are all the No. 2 seeds. All the remaining teams are from the power conferences, too, after No. 1 seed Arizona eliminated Utah State of the Mountain West.

But if a No. 9 seed can outhustle and outphysical Florida, which had two starters and its sixth man back from last year's title team, maybe there's more bedlam to be had.

"We know what we can do as a group," said Bennett Stirtz, who fed Folgueiras for the 3. "The coaching staff, our families and us as a team in the locker room — that's the only people that believed in us. And it's going to stay that way for the rest of the season."

Feel free to keep the chaos, err, the season going.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.