Basketball

Wednesday bracket update

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The USA Today Bracketology that had me drooling Monday afternoon just keeps on getting better with each update. Iowa State is still slated as the No. 5 seed in the West Region, but their first round opponent is different. 

The Cyclones are slated against 12-seed San Diego State with John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats as the No. 4 seed facing Chattanooga in the same pod in Oklahoma City. Iowa State and Kentucky are joined by a host of college basketball’s heavy hitters with Oklahoma (No. 1), Michigan State (No. 2), Duke (No. 3) and Notre Dame (No. 7). 

That list doesn’t even include one of the hottest teams in college basketball over the past few weeks, six-seed Seton Hall. That’s the murderer’s row of NCAA Tournament regions.

The Cyclones are slated as four-seeds in the newest brackets by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm. Lunardi has the Cyclones heading to Spokane as part of the South region to take on Hawaii in the first round with a potential matchup with California or Arkansas-Little Rock in the round of 32.

Virginia is the No. 1 seed in the region with Michigan State as the No. 2 followed by a scary Utah team as the three. Texas (No. 6) and UAB (No. 15) are other teams of note.

Palm also sent the Cyclones to Spokane instead for a matchup against Princeton in the first round. Cal is once again the five-seed while Chattanooga is the No. 12. Michigan State is the No. 1 seed here with Oregon as the No. 2. 

North Carolina (No. 3) and Arizona (No. 6) could set up for a very tasty matchup in the round of 32.

The biggest move in the three updated brackets I saw was Iowa’s free-fall following their recent struggles. USA Today has the Hawkeyes as the sixth seed in the East region in Providence playing the winner of a play-in game between Cincinnati and Alabama.

They’d also be matched up in the same pod with the three-seed West Virginia Mountaineers.

Lunardi has them as a five-seed taking on San Diego State with a possible matchup with Duke in the round of 32 while Palm has them as a six-seed taking on Monmouth.

Jared Stansbury

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Jared a native of Clarinda, Iowa, started as the Cyclone Fanatic intern in August 2013, primarily working as a videographer until starting on the women’s basketball beat prior to the 2014-15 season. Upon earning his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Iowa State in May 2016, Jared was hired as the site’s full-time staff writer, taking over as the primary day-to-day reporter on football and men’s basketball. He was elevated to the position of managing editor in January 2020. He is a regular contributor on 1460 KXNO in Des Moines and makes regular guest appearances on radio stations across the Midwest. Jared resides in Ankeny with his four-year-old puggle, Lolo.

@cyclonefanatic