Houston Rockets rookie (and Cincinnati Bearcats alum) Gary Clark: "You root for your fellow conference teams to get in and make some noise."

Byron L. Riley, CPA; 832-303-3995; Do you need tax help? IRS Tax help available- Free Consult

POSTED: March 18, 2019 -- 9:07 a.m. CDT

Eighteen regular season conference match-ups. Done. Three or four more games in a conference tournament. Done.

The final part of the NCAA basketball season is about to begin. The tournament that is the Madness of March begins Tuesday, March 19.

Sunday afternoon / evening, the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Selection Committee announced which 68 teams will have a chance to cut down the nets in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in April.

Four AAC teams are in the "Field of 68": Temple (23-9) will be part of the First Four in Dayton, OH, on Tuesday, March 19, as a No. 11 seed. The Owls face No. 11 Belmont (26-5) with the winner advancing to the East Regional in Jacksonville, FL, against No. 6 Maryland (22-10).

Houston (31-3), The American's regular season champion, received a No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region and faces No. 14 Georgia State (23-9) on Friday, March 22, in Tulsa, OK.

Cincinnati (28-6), The American tournament champion for the second-straight season, received a No. 7 seed in the South Region and will take on No. 10 Iowa (22-11) on Friday, March 22, in Columbus, OH.

UCF (23-8), which enjoyed one of its strongest seasons in program history, earned a No. 9 seed in the East Regional and faces No. 8 VCU (25-7) on Friday, March 22, in Colombia, SC.

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Byron L. Riley, CPA; 832-303-3995; Do you need tax help? IRS Tax help available- Free Consult

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Time to root for your favorite team and teams within your team's conference, right? Gary Clark says 'yes'. Time for Bearcats Nation to cheer for their Bearcats but also root for the Houston Cougars, UCF Knights, and Temple Owls.

Clark, a rookie forward with the Houston Rockets, played his college ball at Cincinnati; and, during his 4 years at Cincinnati, Clark says he got the opportunity to get to know Houston Head Coach Kelvin Sampson. Obviously, Clark wants his alma mater to do well in the NCAA Tournament; but, also wants the other AAC teams to make some noise in the Tournament.

"For instance, me and Coach Sampson have a great relationship," Clark said. "Every time I see him at the conference tournament or when we play each other, we have a brief conversation about his tactics against me. The things that I tell him that his certain guys do well; so, it's just that relationship of being there for four years. Battling these coaches and these teams. It's kinda like you're rooting for them. You know, of course, I'm rooting against him when they play Cincinnati; but, overall, shout out to Coach Sampson for all that he's done this year; to get Houston back on the map to a point where they're playing for the (AAC) title, regular season and conference title; and, now going to the (NCAA) Tournament for a second year. That's huge for that program."

"You root for your fellow conference teams to get in and make some noise. Last year, they (Houston) went out as bad they did (lost to Michigan on three-point buzzer beater); but, for them to make such a run like that, it was cool for us. We were all, I think it was me, (Bearcats' teammate) Jacob (Jacob Evans), and a couple of other guys, we were all tuned in watching and pulling for them. Calling Rob Gray's last second shot. We know what they're going to do; so, we just root for each other because it's big for the conference."

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Byron L. Riley, CPA; 832-303-3995; Do you need tax help? IRS Tax help available- Free Consult

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Clark says NCAA Tournament time is the time to represent your conference.

"It's like that every year," Clark continued. "Whether it's SMU, Houston, or us. It's one of those things where people doubt our conference. Is it any good? The competition? and, so forth. I think we've proven, in the last two to 3 years, that if you don't come ready to play, we'll get a game or two in. Now, for our conference to take that next step, for one of the teams to get to the Sweet 16, that Elite 8, make that push and everyone supports them. It's no jealousy.

"It's like we already battled you guys; so, now, you guys take it to someone else."

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