In land of tall corn, is it a tall order to ask Iowa State and Iowa fans to unite for Sweet 16?
It’s a cornucopia of basketball in the state that produces the most corn. For the first time, the Iowa State Cyclones and Iowa Hawkeyes advanced to the Sweet 16 of the men’s NCAA Tournament in the same year. Fans for both schools should unite — right?
— and declare that for at least a few days, “We all are Cy-Hawks. ” Not happening. All Iowans can agree, however, that having two of the last 16 teams standing is pretty cool and that fans of both will be tuned in when the Hawkeyes play border rival Nebraska in Houston and the Cyclones face Tennessee in Chicago.
Sure, the Lone Star State can boast it has the Texas Longhorns and Houston Cougars in the Sweet 16, and the Great Lakes State can tout Michigan and Michigan State. The Hawkeye State — some surely would prefer to call it the Cyclone State — is different. Just 3.
2 million people live across the 300 miles separating the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. The state is best known for sorting out pretenders and contenders in presidential elections with its caucuses, serving as the setting for the classic baseball movie “Field of Dreams” and, of course, corn and pork production. In Iowa, having two teams in the Sweet 16 just might be the best thing since sliced bread, which happened to be invented by a guy from Davenport.
“It’s definitely one of the biggest developments I’ve ever covered,” said Heather Burnside, who co-hosts a show on Des Moines sports radio station KXNO. “I think both fan bases are excited we still have basketball to talk about at a time where normally one fan base would be looking at the other one with envy. ” The second-seeded Cyclones were first to advance when, after losing star Joshua Jefferson to an ankle injury minutes into their tournament opener, they rolled past 7-seed Kentucky 82-63.
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