Up became down, down became up for Hawkeyes, Cyclones in NCAA men’s basketball tournament

Team A wins four games in four days and beats three teams that were headed to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament themselves to capture its conference tournament, while Team B gets bounced 72-41 in its league’s quarterfinals.

Team A then gets stunned in the first round of the NCAA tourney, while Team B posts a surprise win in its first-round NCAA contest and is alive in the event today.

It would be more fun to be for Team B today, obviously, but which is the best scenario for the season as a whole?

Team A is Iowa, Team B is Iowa State. The Hawkeyes had big, B1G fun last weekend in Indianapolis. The kind they hadn’t had at the Big Ten tournament in 16 years. Winning a championship, and with unforgettable moments.

Then came their first-round NCAA splat against Richmond in Buffalo.

The Cyclones looked worse than awful in their Big 12 quarterfinal loss to Texas Tech in Kansas City. They shot 31.3 percent from the field, and had five more turnovers (20) than baskets. This was an NCAA tournament team?

That, by the way, was two games after ISU lost its home finale to Oklahoma State, 53-36.

The NCAA tournament, however, is a bewildering creature. How do you explain St. Peter’s, which has an enrollment of 2,300 and plays its home games in a facility called Run Baby Run Arena, defeating all-powerful Kentucky, with its 23,000-seat colossus and cavalcade of 5-star players?

Iowa played a No. 12 seed in Richmond Thursday, Iowa State faced a No. 6 seed in LSU Friday. The Hawkeyes suddenly couldn’t shoot straight and were mystified by the Spiders’ inbounds plays under their basket, and lost, 67-63.

The Cyclones had 15 steals against a team that was longer and more athletic, and won, 59-54. Freshman Tyrese Hunter was 7-of-11 from 3-point range. He had 23 points and five steals, one of the best NCAA performances in ISU history.

Despite the seedings, LSU wasn’t nearly as efficient as Richmond. Still, Iowa State played better than Iowa, so the Cyclones face Wisconsin in Milwaukee Sunday afternoon.

Would you rather be playing today for a shot at the Sweet 16 or take the permanent memory of a conference tournament title and all the fun that went with it?

There’s no wrong answer. Had the Hawkeyes won last year’s Big Ten tourney instead of getting their first such title since 2006, though, the correct response definitely would be “still playing today.”

Iowa State won the 2015 Big 12 tourney, downing Kansas in the title game. It promptly lost to UAB in the first round of the NCAAs. Since it also won the Big 12 tourney in 2014, the repeat in ‘15 did nothing to diminish the pain of its NCAA flop.

Getting to the Sweet 16 isn’t the holy grail of college basketball if you’re a major-college program. Unless you haven’t done it since 1999. Like Iowa.

The way the Hawkeyes played over their last 14 games leading into Buffalo, everything felt Sweet 16-ish. The teams Iowa beat and the way it played in doing so …

A 13-point win at Ohio State, a 26-point home win over Michigan State, an 11-point victory at Michigan, a 10-point triumph over Rutgers in Indy, the stirring Big Ten semifinal win over Indiana in Indy, the 75-66 exclamation point against Purdue last Sunday …

It was a great run, and it was a terrific 26-win season. Then along came the Spiders of Richmond. A good foe, a motivated foe, a foe that was a little better than Iowa in one specific two-hour period. Poof.

Iowa State wheezed into the NCAAs as an 11-seed. But everything resets in this tourney and the draw is a lot o’ Lotto. LSU clearly was beatable, and the Cyclones prevailed despite seemingly shooting nothing but long jumpers in the second half.

Now, it’s Iowa State-Wisconsin in Milwaukee for a Sweet 16 berth. The Cyclones aren’t underdogs by much to the sportsbooks, but feel like big underdogs. If they somehow pull this one out, they’ll go to their third Sweet 16 since 2014 under three different coaches.

And, there would be no doubt the answer to the question here would be “Team B.”

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com