Moran, family are living the NCAA dream

Algonquin native Johnny Moran and his family have been deluged with congratulatory phone calls, text messages and e-mails ever since Moran's University of Northern Iowa Panthers upset No. 1 overall seed Kansas on Saturday, 69-67, to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

"It's been awesome," Moran, a Jacobs High School graduate, said Monday of the support he and his bracket-busting teammates have received since returning to their Cedar Falls, Iowa campus.

"Everywhere we go there are people coming up to us saying way to go. A couple of the guys said they got standing ovations when they walked into class (Monday) morning. It's a lot of fun. It's been buzzing around here. It's fun to see everyone excited about it.

"I got texts from tons of people, friends and family and people I didn't even know. Some were from the Cedar Falls area code and some from the 847 area code back home. It was just a lot of fun."

The phone has also been ringing with regularity at the home of Moran's parents, Jim and Rita.

"We're hearing from people from all over who are following him, and it's just been a blast," Rita said. "It's been unreal. We're living the dream with him. We're just having so much fun.

"I'm on cloud nine. I've been walking around in circles all day and I can't get anything done. Jim said he heard from so-and-so and so-and-so. A lot of people are excited. It's always fun to root for the underdog and see them do well, and that's kind of what's happening."

Johnny Moran, a sophomore starting guard, scored 8 points against Kansas, including a pair of 3-pointers in 3 attempts.

There was a memorable television moment on Saturday, when a CBS camera focused on Moran after he received the inbounds pass with .4 seconds remaining and time expired. Still cradling the game ball, Moran sprinted up the sideline and pointed into the stands at his parents and his oldest brother, Jim, Jr.

"I saw that on some highlights between Saturday night and Sunday," Jim, Sr. said. "We were about four rows up from where he came over. When he was standing in front of us I thought he was going to toss the ball to either me or Jimmy."

Jim, Sr. said he and Rita didn't fill out tournament brackets this year, but some family members did, namely, Johnny's brothers Jim, Jr., Kevin and Tim.

"They had an agreement between the three of them that they'd all take UNI at least to the Sweet 16," Jim, Sr. said. "That way if one of them went down, they all went down. I think they had to battle it out to come to that agreement. I don't think anybody was thinking they'd all look like geniuses, but at this point they do."

Next up for No. 9 seed Northern Iowa (30-4) is a matchup with No. 5 Michigan State (26-8) in a Midwest region semifinal in St. Louis on Friday at 8:37 p.m. Watching from the stands will be Jim, Sr., Rita, Kevin, Tim and Jim, Jr. and his fiancee, Sylvia Chapa, who teaches at Dundee-Crown.

Northern Iowa was not intimidated by Kansas, evidenced by a 10-2 run to open the game. Johnny Moran, a two-time Daily Herald All-Area captain, said he expects his team to approach Michigan State with similar resolve.

"We're a really confident team right now," he said. "We're coming off a really good (Missouri Valley) conference tournament and, obviously, a good couple of games in the NCAA Tournament. We just want that confidence to carry over and help us win our next game against Michigan State, which is also a great team.

"Everyone is on the same page and we're all concentrating. We're getting over the Kansas game and we're concentrating on Michigan State now. I think everybody on the team would agree that we have the attitude that we're not done yet and we still have work to do. We're excited about it."