Iowa State Cyclones' NCAA Tournament Journey Begins

0:00On March 16th, Iowa State Cyclones earned a number-two seed in the Midwest region for the 2026 NCAA tournament. As an at-large BIC-12 team, they'll face the Tennessee State Tigers in their opener on March 20th at 2.50pm Eastern Time. CBS Sports analyst Matt Norlander ranked the cyclones sixth overall among all 68 tournament teams. That puts them just behind powerhouses like Arizona, Michigan, Duke, Houston, and Florida reflecting their strong 27-win 7-loss regular season. The team built a solid resume with big road wins over Purdue by 23 points, plus victories against St. John's Texas Tech, Houston, and Kansas. Coach T.J. Otzelberger has them playing like contenders when they're clicking. Their big three leads the charge, Joshua Jefferson on all BIC-12 first team averaging nearly 20 points, 10 rebounds, and more in the conference tournament. Milan, Mom Salovic, the nation's top three-point shooter at 49.6% and team scoring leader, all

1:03finest, and senior. Point guard, Tom and Lipsy, the best defender at the point with clutch scoring. With momentum from the big 12 tournament, Iowa State looks prime for a deep run as they tip off against the Tigers.