It was a up and down year for Iowa, Iowa State and Minnesota but all three teams made the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

Iowa State was the best of the three all year long and capped it off with a Big 12 Tournament Championship win over Kansas on Saturday.

That win accompanied with a 23-11 record helped the Cyclones secure a #6 seed.

Iowa State will face off against the 11 seeded Ohio State Buckeyes on Friday in Tulsa at 8:50 PM central time.

Iowa nailed down a #10 seed with a 22-11 overall record and 10-10 Big 10 Conference record.

The Hawkeyes at times have been able to score the basketball with any team in the country, but it has been their late season inconsistencies that have seen them be a up and down team.

They will play a 7 seeded Cincinnati team coming off the AAC Tournament title and will be a tough battle for Iowa on Friday at 11:15 AM central time in Columbus, OH.

Minnesota was the team out of these three that was truly the most up and down and it looked at one point like they wouldn't make the NCAA Tournament and the likelihood was they would also see their head coach fired as well.

You have to give Richard Pitino a lot of credit for keeping the Gophers believing and that belief helped them win some important games late in the year and advancing to the Big 10 Tournament semi finals didn't hurt.

Minnesota also snags a #10 seed and will take on the 7 seeded Louisville Cardinals in the opening round.

Obviously this matchup is ironic considering UL fired Richard Pitino's father Rick Pitino after he was linked to the NCAA Basketball FBI Investigation.

I just hope we get to see Rick behind the Minnesota bench as he cheers his son on against his former team.

The Gophers will play the Cardinals at 11:15 AM central time on Thursday in Des Moines.


 

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