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March Madness: Best NCAA Tournament games to watch today, Friday, 22

By Mike Phillips

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 16: Louis King #2 of the Oregon Ducks brings the ball up the court against Matisse Thybulle #4 of the Washington Huskies during the championship game of the Pac-12 basketball tournament at T-Mobile Arena on March 16, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Ducks defeated the Huskies 68-48. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 16: Louis King #2 of the Oregon Ducks brings the ball up the court against Matisse Thybulle #4 of the Washington Huskies during the championship game of the Pac-12 basketball tournament at T-Mobile Arena on March 16, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Ducks defeated the Huskies 68-48. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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After a relatively chalky beginning to March Madness, we could be in line for some upsets today with a lot of intriguing matchups on the board.

Fans who know how great March Madness can be were no doubt disappointed by the basketball we got yesterday. Despite the heroics of Ja Morant and a few bizarre endings to games, we didn’t really get a ton of drama as a lot of the top seeds advanced.

Fortunately for us, March Madness has another 16 games on the docket today to try and fill our appetite for drama and buzzer beaters.

The ACC’s trio of top seeds will be in action as well, but no one is really expecting Duke, North Carolina, or Virginia to get pushed by the 16 seeds this year. Definitely watch those teams play, but don’t expect a truly great game.

These, five games, however, will provide the best drama on Friday.

South Region: No. 10 Iowa vs. No. 7 Cincinnati at 12:15 p.m. ET on CBS

The first game of the day should be a good one as an under-seeded Cincinnati squad gets to work against an enigmatic Iowa team. The Bearcats won the AAC Tournament by demolishing Houston in the final but were handed only a 7-seed by the selection committee.

The committee made it up to the Bearcats, however, by setting them up with a potentially friendly crowd in Columbus. A ton of Cincinnati fans should make the trip up north for this game, which could help fuel the already stingy Bearcats’ defense into an even more terrifying unit.

The opposition will be Iowa, which ended the regular season by dropping five of their final six games, including a blowout loss to Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament. The Hawkeyes do have four double-digit scorers in their lineup, headlined by forward Tyler Cook (14.9 ppg), and they have quality wins on their resume (Iowa State, Michigan, Oregon with Bol Bol) to show they are capable of hanging with Cincinnati.

Prediction: Cincinnati

South Region: No. 13 UC Irvine vs. No. 4 Iowa State at 2:00 p.m. ET on TBS

San Jose has a good set of afternoon games, beginning with this 4-13 matchup between Kansas State and UC Irvine. The Wildcats shared the Big 12’s regular season title with Texas Tech, ending Kansas’ 14-year run atop the conference, but they are vulnerable to an upset here.

Kansas State was already an offensively challenged team during the regular season, averaging just 65.8 points a game, and now they will have to get through the tournament without their best player. Forward Dean Wade has been ruled out with a foot injury, and his loss could be too much for the Wildcats to overcome.

Kansas State drew a very dangerous 13-seed in UC Irvine, which went 30-5 in the regular season and plays lockdown defense as well. The Anteaters should also have plenty of fans in the building in San Jose, and that mix could easily lead to an upset.

Prediction: UC Irvine

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