Hawkeyes excited to learn seed, face Davidson

IOWA CITY — Aaron White's loose demeanor last night belied his nerves as he approached Selection Sunday.

White, a senior, and the rest of his Iowa teammates and coaches watched CBS unveil the NCAA tournament bracket at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. As each pod unfolded, White became more nervous.

'My legs were shaking, just nervous to where we're going to go, who you're going to be lined up with,' White said. 'I was just excited to see where we're going, who we're going to be playing.'

Iowa (21-11) was selected as a No. 7 seed in the South Regional and faces No. 10 seed Davidson (24-7) 6:20 p.m. Friday at Seattle's Key Arena. The winner plays either No. 2 seed Gonzaga (32-2) or No. 15 North Dakota State (23-9) next Sunday.

Unlike last year when Iowa was shoehorned into the First Four in Dayton, this year the Hawkeyes were visibly excited about their selection. There were hoots and hollers and dancing, at least that was guard Anthony Clemmons' release. It was the difference of a natural exhale this year against last year's kick to the stomach.

'The seven seed compared to the play-in game is definitely different,' White said. 'So (Sunday) was all about what region we were going to and who we were matched up with. Yeah, it felt different.'

'Last year everybody seemed to say we were in,' Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery. 'It was obviously a little bit more nerve-wracking last year than it was this year. We knew our seed would be higher this year.'

The Hawkeyes face the Atlantic-10 Conference regular-season champion Wildcats, who finished 14-4 in league play. McCaffery, who coached North Carolina-Greensboro for six seasons, competed against Davidson Coach Bob McKillop 13 times as members of the Southern Conference, and won six times. The Hawkeyes faced Davidson just once, a 76-61 win in 1969.

The game features two of the nation's hotter teams. Davidson had won 10 of its last 11 games, while Iowa has taken six of its last seven. Each team played North Carolina, which beat Davidson 90-72 and lost to Iowa 60-55.

White competed for McKillop as a member of Team USA as the 2013 World University Games in Kazan, Russia.

Iowa has a history in Seattle, playing in the Sweet Sixteen in both 1987 and 1988. In 1987, the No. 2-seeded Hawkeyes beat No. 3 seed Oklahoma in overtime before falling to top-seeded UNLV in the Elite Eight. In 1988, Iowa lost to Arizona in the Sweet Sixteen. Iowa also played regular-season games in Seattle in 1955 and twice in 1966.

'I've never been to Seattle so I'm excited about the whole situation,' Iowa point guard Mike Gesell said.

See Also:NCAA Facts, TV Information for Iowa's three squads

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No. 3 seed Cyclones open NCAA tourney against 14th-seed UAB

Learning their seeding was the culmination of a six-month season for the Hawkeyes. Practice began in October, games started in mid-November and now begins the single-elimination period. But the emotional release Sunday was well-worth the season-long struggle.

'It's just always the same: you're thrilled for your players,' McCaffery said. 'They work so hard, not only this past year, but since they've been little kids to hopefully one day be in a room and see your name come up. So it's a tremendous feeling of accomplishment.'

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