Opportunities abound for Iowa State as it moves on to the NCAA tournament, opening play Friday against a March Madness nemesis from the past - Ohio State.

The 23-11 Cyclones are the No. 6 seed in the NCAA Midwest Regional and will face the Buckeyes in Tulsa, Oklahoma. OSU, seeded 11th, comes into the tourney at 19-14 overall and finish tied for 8th place in the Big 10 conference final standings.

And if I-State can knock off Ohio State, it will advance into a Sunday second round game against either Houston or Georgia State. UH, seeded 3rd in the Midwest, is the most likely opponent. The Cougars come into the post season with a 31-3 record. Houston won the American Athletic Conference regular season championship and lost in the finals of the AAC post-season tournament.

A great reward for Iowa State if it wins twice in Tulsa will be a return to Sprint Center in Kansas City for the Midwest regional semifinals and final. I-State is fresh off a Big 12 tournament championship at the KC arena this weekend, finished off with a 78-66 win over Kansas on Saturday. The Cyclones have won four of the last six Big 12 tournaments contested at Sprint Center and are 12-2 in the last 14 games in the arena known as "Hilton South."

Iowa State is 0-6 all-time against Ohio State, including a pair of NCAA tournament losses. OSU's Aaron Craft sank a devastating three-point shot to down the Cyclones, 78-75, in a memorable round of 32 games six years ago in Dayton, Ohio.

And ISU's 1985 return to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 41 seasons was a short one as the Buckeyes defeated I-State, 75-64, in a first round game. That matchup was also in Tulsa, as Friday's game will be.

Ohio State also posted regular season wins over Iowa State in 2005 (70-67) and 2006 (75-56). The '05 game was played at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines and the '06 game was on OSU's home court in Columbus.

The Buckeyes also swept a home-and-home with Iowa State back in the mid 60s. OSU won at home in 1965 by an 87-70 score and edged the Cyclones the next season at The Armory in Ames, 79-77.

Iowa State is 3-3 all-time against Houston, having most recently swept a home-and-home in 2008 and 2010. The Cyclones' only previous meeting with Georgia State was an 81-58 ISU win at Hilton Coliseum in 2014.

The 2019 appearance in the NCAA tournament is the 20th all-time for Iowa State and the seventh in the last eight years. Only one of those NCAA tourney trips have come since Johnny Orr returned ISU to the event with the 1985 game against Ohio State.