Auburn-Iowa among NCAA Tournament’s most intriguing first round games
Auburn basketball snuck into the NCAA Tournament by earning their 20th win of the season on the final day of regular season play, and their reward will be playing in one of the most interesting matchups of the first round.
No. 9 seed Auburn will square off with No. 8 seed Iowa in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday evening at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. Playing in the 8-9 game is usually intriguing in itself, but CBS’ David Cobb feels that there is another factor that will draw in viewers.
Cobb ranked every NCAA Tournament opening-round matchup and has placed Auburn-Iowa at No. 3 on the list, trailing only Arkansas-Illinois and Texas A&M–Penn State as the best matchups in the first round. He says that Auburn’s guards, as well as the coaching matchup, should provide quality entertainment to the college basketball fan.
If you’re into seeing coaches act like children, you’ll love this one. We’ll set the over/under on coach technicals at a cautious 1.5 and won’t be surprised if either Auburn’s Bruce Pearl or Iowa’s Fran McCaffery get tossed for their antics. The Hawkeyes are a fun offensive team led by a potential first-round NBA Draft pick in Kris Murray, and Auburn’s backcourt of Wendell Green and K.D. Johnson is constant chaos.
The chaos of the No. 8 Iowa- No. 9 Auburn matchup will tipoff at 5:45 p.m. CT on Thursday evening on TNT.
