Iowa State Basketball Given Shocking Seed in Lunardi's Bracketology

The Iowa State Cyclones are coming off a strong season, and they are only expected to improve upon that campaign. Now, the Cyclones did disappoint in the NCAA Tournament, failing to take down the Ole Miss Rebels in the second round.

T.J. Otzelberger has this team rolling though, and the 47-year-old will be returning several key players, including Joshua Jefferson, who was the team's second-leading scorer. Milan Momcilovic will be back in Ames as well, and the 6-foot-8 star forward might be primed for his best season yet.

It isn't just returning players that will be key contributors for this team. They are adding numerous talented freshman and transfer portal players. The former of which is headlined by Jamarion Batemon, a 6-foot-3 combo guard from Milwaukee who is the 42nd-best player nationally per 247Sports.

Couple all that talent together, and the Cyclones should be able to be among the best teams in the country. ESPN bracket analyst Joe Lunardi, who has already released updated versions of the 2026 bracketology, has the Cyclones as a top-12 program.

Lunardi has the Cyclones as a third seed in the East Region, a grouping led by Purdue and with St. John's as the No. 2 seed. In-state rival Iowa is a No. 8 seed. The Big 12 has eight teams with Houston sitting as a top seed.

While this is for an outdated bracketology version, here's the rundown of the top teams from the conference. There's clearly a pretty large gap following Texas Tech.