DAILY CLONE: Bracket Breakdown, Otzelberger Confident and Battle-Tested (March 16, 2026)

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1:00Altsaburger and Bill family said about their team's draws coming up after a work fairway they say the grass is greener where you water it for me that means being loyal putting in the work and being part of a community that raised me fairway your home core advantage welcome into the Northwest bank studios for the daily clone here on a Monday presented by fairway meet grocery fairways a great partner of cyclone fanatic and there are massive reason why I've been traveling everywhere with cyclones to Utah Arizona Kansas City now to St. Louis potentially Chicago and potentially even further with the with the i word I'm not gonna say that city's name do we'll be a little superstitious right here on cyclone fanatic but we appreciate fairway and all they do the cyclones have their draw as a two seed in the Midwest region they'll take on Tennessee State 150 on CBS on Friday down in St. Louis if they can get past them then it's either Kentucky or Santa Clara the three seed in the

2:04Midwest region is Virginia the six seed is Tennessee a pretty favorable path for the cyclones T.J. Altsaburger had his press conference immediately after selection Sunday didn't have a ton of time to look in Iowa State's draw but he's excited to see how close they are to aims in terms of location great for our fan base to be able to travel and credit to our guys to be able to play in the Midwest and you know play not not too far from campus so I think that's a great thing and and you know again I know of Nolan Smith as the coach and you know the program and the great season they had I watched you know early this year you know they played you and LV and I caught part of that game was just really impressed with how hard they play how competitive they were as a group the last time we saw the cyclones they looked really good they played in a league game against Arizona came up short because Arizona got the ball last but T.J. Altsaburger couldn't have been more thrilled with his team's performance

3:05after the game he even said the words final four caliber we all know Alts as a day-to-day guy daily mindset daily habits so it was weird to hear Altsaburger say that for him it was out of confidence for his team and to show them that if they do follow those daily habits in that day-by-day mindset the sky's the limit we really try to build our program on you know the one practice at a time one day at a time approach and mentality and so you know my the communication really the other night was more of I wanted our guys to understand that you know the level that we played at in Kansas City and how we competed that continuing to do that one day at a time you know creates a lot of possibilities down the road if you're able to to keep your focus where it needs to be so I wanted them to come away with that with a tremendous sense of confidence I mean Arizona's a terrific team and program and you know they were in

4:07contention for the number one overall seed and to have the game go the way it did at the end was unfortunate but in terms of we should come out of there with a lot of confidence to keep playing the way that we just showed and demonstrated we could do for three games in three days in Kansas City America leads the world in medicine development it matters we get new medicines first nearly three years faster five million Americans go to work because we make medicines here at home and not relying on other countries keeps us safe but China is racing to overtake us will we let them or will we choose to stay ahead when America leads America cures let's tell Washington to keep us in the lead learn how at America cures dot com pay for by pharma spring starts at the Home Depot and we are bringing the heat to your backyard this season fire up the flavor with our wide variety of grills for under three hundred dollars like the next grill for burner gas grill that's perfect for hosting your spring cookout then set the

5:09scene and turn your outdoor space into the go to spot the patio sets for every budget bring it this season with grills that deliver flavor and patios that set the vibe from the home depot darts your spring with low prices guaranteed at the home depot exclusive supplies the home depot dot com slash price match for details get in the game with the college branded Venmo debit card record team with every tap and earn up to 5% cashback with Venmo stash a new rewards program from Venmo no monthly fee no minimum balance just school pride and spending power get in the game and sign up for the Venmo debit card at Venmo dot com slash college card the Venmo master card is issued by the bank court bank NA select schools available Venmo stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo dot me slash stash terms max one hundred dollars cashback term part of the reason that confidence is because of i was states non-conference schedule that they rolled through beating st johns beating Purdue the big east and big ten tournament champions and of course beating everybody else on that schedule and they followed it up with the tough big 12 schedule as well T. J.

6:10Altonberger squad is really battle tested we try every year to build a non-conference schedule that you know is highly competitive and I feel like this year's probably been the most challenging non-leg schedule that we've had and our guys did a tremendous job obviously to be able to go through that without a loss it was really difficult and they did a great job with that now when you get in the league play you know the the rigors that that are the big 12 and I mean you just see on you know on selection Sunday here how you know the how the selection committee feels about our conference in those teams and highly regarded there so what you try to do is you take those experiences the non-conference ones the conference ones and try to be better for it but I think the physicality of the big twelve and I think the battle tested nature of our team you know prepares you when you play against other other teams other conferences and you know that's I think that's one of the great things about being in the big twelve as you know that you know when you when you come out of

7:12it you know it's either gonna break you or you're gonna be better for it and our guys have done a great job getting better from it if you want more of a breakdown of the bracket we have no shortage of content Williams and bloom as a new episode let him cook as a new episode we had our instant reaction show we've got so much for you we also had our instant reaction show for the women and the cyclone women are heading out to stores as the eight seed and they'll take on Syracuse that's not the problem the problem is what awaits with you come we'll talk about them in just a second but here's Bill Fentany on Iowa State's drug is the orange I know they're gonna play really really hard obviously but I do know a little bit they have a freshman post-player that was really good I think she's ACC freshman a year other than that Tommy really I don't know a whole lot I've not seen them live I've not seen you know we didn't see them through the scouting that's a great thing about this tournament is you know you're you're gonna see a team that you probably haven't seen or no reason to

8:15see so you know I told my staff the second you see our name you guys better get your car go back to the office I didn't think it'd be 30 seconds into it so hopefully they're working right now but we're just excited to have the opportunity looking at the resume for Syracuse they didn't lose a lot of games that they shouldn't have lost but they also didn't win a lot of games against teams better than them either the orange were just one and seven and quad one games this year what gives me an encouragement for Iowa State is not only how many wins they have against those types of teams like beating Iowa at home or going on the road and beating Texas Tech but also what they're able to do at TCU in building that double-digit lead and letting it slip away there in the fourth quarter that's the disappointing part is they weren't able to hold on but they've absolutely proven to be able to play with good teams in tough atmospheres so they've got a chance against Syracuse I would say a good chance considering how Syracuse is fair against high-level talent in top-end competition the problem is what awaits on the other side and Audi Crooks

9:20isn't really focused on Yukon but she's aware of the challenge that they'll bring he just told us to focus on you know the game ahead obviously that's the reality of the place we do we're not gonna shy away from that and from that level competition but for right now we're worried about you know not overlooking once in front of us and making sure that we're prepared for the orange it is going to be such a great week of basketball the cycle and women play at 4.30 on Saturday that game is on ESPN 2 in the eight nine game we're gonna be talking basketball pretty much nonstop from now until the end of everyone's run just hopefully a few weeks down the road this has been the daily clone here in the Northwest Bank Studios I'll be back Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday we'll have all of our game day coverage once we're on the ground down in St. Louis thank you for tuning in