Northern Iowa and Kansas: analysis from a fitness perspective. Video and pictures

Northern Iowa guard Ali Farokhmanesh (5) shoots and hits a
three point shot in the closing seconds of the NCAA second
round game.  The Kansas loss points to weaknesses in the
team's play and its fitness. . (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Exciting, winning basketball begins long before the team takes the court. 

See video and slides of the UNI - Kansas game below

Larry Green, CEO of Silicon Valley basketball consultancy,  Hoop Dreams looked at the major NCAA tournament upset of University of Northern Iowa over top overall seed Kansas (69-67), and says that (though unpredictable) the win points to many fitness issues and preparation of the two teams.

Here are Green's key take-aways  regarding the fitness/readiness of the teams and how that affected the outcome:

1) SLOW START FOR KANSAS:
-- For the second game in a row, they came out of the blocks slow. This opens up the following questions:

• were they over-confident??
• did they prepare like they should have?? (Part of me thinks the players were "asleep at the wheel" to some degree)
• did they assume they could "turn the switch on"??

2) TEAM DEFENSE on the perimeter: Northern Iowa

• Their team defense (rotating, good position, aggressive reactions to the ball...all key fitness points) was terrific. Kansas average 3pt FG shooting percentage for the regular season was 40.7% (per the NCAA official stats)...a very very good percentage from the 3pt area. In this game, they shot 26.1% from 3pt land. Barely half of their regular season average.
• This is a direct credit to UNI's team defense on the perimeter. They made the extra effort to rotate to the proper positions using a semi-squatting position, active feet and active hands to "bother" Kansas just enough in their shooting form for them to miss.
• This extra effort on defense led to solid offensive production for UNI. For the season, they averaged 35.3% from 3pt land (middle of the road per the NCAA rankings). In this game, they shot 34.6%...essentially keeping their average.
•  Hence the combination of the extra fitness effort to execute a great game plan made Kansas shoot well below their average.

3) FREE THROWS DOWN THE STRETCH: Kansas

•  Since Kansas was made very uncomfortable as they tried to score (due to UNI's defense), now the "fatigue factor" really weighs in. The physical demands of the game combined with the anxiety and pressure to score on every possession created the "choke factor" at the foul line.
• Even with Kansas shooting as poorly as they did from 3pt land, they still had opportunities to score from the foul line. They missed key foul shots late in the second half. The perfect example of fatigue and anxiety catching up to even the best of college players.
• Kansas' regular season average for foul shots was 69.9%. Even though they shot 72.2%, the anxiety and gravity of missing the ones they did in the second half was insurmountable. Since UNI forced them to shoot so poorly from 3pt land, Kansas had to essentially be "perfect" in every other facet of the game...which is a very hard thing to ask.

Read more of Coach Green's articles:

• Murray State vs Vanderbilt in NCAA first-round college basketball - pictures and video
• College basketball fitness and conditioning: nutrition
• NCAA, March Madness workouts: strength and conditioning is where fitness starts