Iowa State eyes long-awaited Final Four return as a No. 2 seed in the Midwest of NCAA Tournament

By Canadian Press on March 19, 2026.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — T.J. Otzelberger has taken Iowa State to five straight NCAA Tournaments, and the Cyclones have produced their share of stars over the years, whether it be Monte Morris and Tyrese Haliburton in the past or Tamin Lipsey and Joshua Jefferson this season.

Yet for all their success, the Cyclones have only made one Final Four.

That was 82 years ago.

The Cyclones could have their best chance in years — maybe decades — to make it back to the final weekend of the NCAA Tournament, though. After a regular-season in which they beat everyone from St. John’s and Purdue to Kansas and Houston, Iowa State is the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region and will open against No. 15 seed Tennessee State on Friday.

“The key is to focus on the next thing,” Otzelberger said. “The next thing is the opportunity in front of us, whether it’s a practice, film session, team-building opportunity. You continue to focus on those things and the results will take care of themselves.”

The Iowa State-Tennessee State winner would advance to play seventh-seeded Kentucky or No. 10 seed Santa Clara, who tip off just before them. And the winner of that game would advance to the Sweet 16 next week in Chicago.

The Cyclones have been there plenty. It’s getting past the second weekend that’s been the challenge.

But they are hardly the only team with something to prove in the Midwest Region. In fact, just about everyone carries a chip on their shoulder, especially those that begin their NCAA Tournament journeys with first-round games on Friday.

Fifth-seeded Texas Tech is out to prove it can win without All-American forward JT Toppin, who was lost for the season to a torn ACL last month. The Red Raiders open in Tampa, Florida, against No. 12 seed Akron, which spent most of the season playing in the shadow of MAC rival Miami (Ohio) before winning the league’s tournament last week.

The winner of that matchup gets fourth-seeded Alabama or No. 13 seed Hofstra in the second round.

The Crimson Tide also are missing a key player after Aden Holloway, their second-leading scorer, was arrested on Monday and charged with felony possession of marijuana. He’s been suspended indefinitely as Alabama seeks a second Final Four in three years.

Sixth-seeded Tennessee climbed as high as No. 13 in the AP Top 25 before stumbling all the way out of the poll, then hanging on the fringes of it. The Vols open Friday in Philadelphia against the RedHawks, who were 31-0 before losing in the MAC Tournament, which forced them to defeat SMU in a First Four game on Tuesday night.

Talk about a team with something to prove.

Third-seeded Virginia and No. 14 seed Wright State will face the Tennessee-Miami winner on Sunday.

“Dude, this is what you work your lifetime for. These are dreams you have as a little kid,” Miami coach Travis Steele said. “You fill out all the brackets, all the tournaments, all the March Madness over the years — this is it, when you get to be part of it.”

Avoiding the upset

One subject remains taboo for Virginia every March: “We don’t talk about UMBC too much,” Cavaliers forward Devin Tillis said.

That would be the same UMBC that made Virginia the first No. 1 seed to lose to a 16-seed in 2018. The Cavaliers bounced back to win the 2019 national championship, yet that loss to UMBC — sparked, of course, by senior guard Jairus Lyles — continues to linger because Retrievers coach Ryan Odom now coaches Virginia.

“Quite honestly, we haven’t talked a ton about it,” said Odom, whose Cavaliers are aiming for their first NCAA tourney win since that championship when they play Wright State. “It’s not a topic that we bring up all the time.”

Virginia is the fourth school Odom has led into the NCAA Tournament, joining VCU and Utah State along with UMBC. Those should look familiar this week to anyone who filled out a bracket; all four made this year’s tourney, too.

The Wright stuff

Clint Sargent joined the Wright State staff in 2016 and spent three seasons as associate head coach before being promoted to the top job last season. In his words, his rookie year was “brutal” — a 15-18 record and an eighth-place finish in the Horizon League.

“A lot of suffering,” Sargent said. “When you’re leading for the first time at this magnitude, a lot of lonely, hard moments.”

From the hard moments came a learning process that included a dedication to “connectivity” in the locker room. And that in turn led to a 23-11 record this season and a matchup with Virginia in the fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in Wright State’s history.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen this year,” Wright State forward Michael Imariagbe said, “but it’s been a journey.”

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AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

Dave Skretta, The Associated Press

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