After missing the NCAA Tournament each of the last two seasons, the Iowa Hawkeyes (21-12, 10-10) are back. They nabbed a 9 seed in the South Region and will face the Clemson Tigers (24-10, 12-6) on Friday, March 20th, in Tampa, FL. Iowa is currently a 2.5-point favorite according to FanDuel.
These teams are going similar, with Iowa peaking within Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology as a 6-seed in early January. They slid as low as a 10 according to the Worldwide Leader’s resident bracketologist before nabbing
the 9-seed. Clemson was similarly viewed in January, with a projected 5-seed before a midseason slide put them as a 9 as they finished the regular season 2-5. They beat Wake Forest & North Carolina before losing to Duke in the ACC Tournament semifinals.
While the Hawks last won an NCAA Tournament game in 2021, a first round victory over Grand Canyon as a 2-seed, Ben McCollum and Bennett Stirtz led the 11-seeded Drake Bulldogs to a 67-57 win over the Missouri Tigers. They fell to Texas Tech in the following game. Clemson has made each of the last two tournaments. They bowed out in the first round last year as a 5-seed but advanced to the Elite 8 in 2024.
These teams last squared off in November 2022, when the Hawkeyes beat the Tigers, 74-71 in a multi-team event outside of Destin, FL.
Within Iowa’s pod is 1-seeded and defending national champions Florida. Though they lost to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament semifinals, they closed the regular season on a 10-game winning streak to win the regular season title 3 games clear of Arkansas & Alabama.
Here’s how it shook out for the rest of the Big Ten:
- 8-seeded Ohio State vs TCU (East)
- 3-seeded Michigan State vs North Dakota State (East)
- 7-seeded UCLA vs Central Florida (East)
- 4-seeded Nebraska vs Troy (South)
- 3-seeded Illinois vs Penn (South)
- 5-seeded Wisconsin vs High Point (West)
- 2-seeded Purdue vs Queens (West)
- 1-seeded Michigan vs Play-In (Midwest)
Other Iowa-related notables include Fran McCaffery leading Penn to their first NCAA Tournament since 2018 after a thrilling overtime victory over Yale earlier today behind T.J. Power’s 44 points. Good for them. Iowa State is the Midwest’s 2-seed and will take on Tennessee State while UNI won Arch Madness and snagged a 12-seed and will take on St. John’s.
