Analyzing the Bracket: East Region

The NCAA Tournament officially gets underway tomorrow with two of the First Four games in Dayton, but the first round as we know it doesn’t get going until Thursday. So that means you’ve still got time to break down the bracket and make your best educated guesses as to who will be hoisting the trophy in Houston.

We’ll be breaking down the bracket region by region here on Busting Brackets over the next days. For now, we turn our focus to the East Region:

OVERVIEW

Well, the committee certainly didn’t do the top overall seed any favors here. You’ve got North Carolina, Syracuse, Kentucky, and West Virginia all in the same bracket, and all have styles that could give the Buckeyes some trouble. With the way that Kentucky has been playing as of late, I wouldn’t want to face them right now. However, the Mountaineers could also give the Buckeyes trouble in a potential Sweet 16 game…..if they get there.

As far as the seeding goes, while Kentucky fans have been complaining about being seeded as a four, but I don’t see a problem with it. The Wildcats were not good on the road this season, and even though they did win the SEC Tournament, it’s the overall body of work. They had several quality wins, but again, most people had them slotted as a three or four, so this isn’t a big deal.

Georgia as a 10-seed is a little interesting, since most thought they were one of the last teams to make it into the field. Marquette and Missouri are both 11-seeds, and their body of work is much better in my opinion. But again, with this being the weakest field statistically, there’s no perfect seeding formula.

THE EARLY ROAD FOR THE TOP FOUR

I’ll say it again. This region is loaded at the top. Ohio State should be fine, as they won’t have trouble with Nova or George Mason. Kentucky should be OK, regardless of who they play in the second round because of the momentum that they’ve created the last week or so. Syracuse should be in good shape because of their style of play, but that second round matchup won’t be easy. They have enough talent to get by though.

So that leaves one spot, right? And it should obviously be North Carolina, right? Well, not so fast my friends.

I

love the way the Tar Heels beat Duke in the regular season finale, but since then, well, they haven’t looked so pretty. While they had nice comebacks in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals and semifinals, they tried to use the same formula against Duke in the championship game. They got blown out of the gym.

You always worry about a potential letdown after a huge win (like the one the Huskies had in the Pac-10 final), but there’s just something about this team that makes me want to pick them…..however, I’ll wait to make my official pick on Wednesday. TEASER!

MOST INTRIGUING FIRST ROUND MATCHUP

You could go one of two ways here. The 6 vs. 11 matchup between Marquette and Xavier should be a fantastic game, as I think Chris Mack and Buzz Williams are two of the most underrated coaches in the entire country.

But, I’m leaning more towards the Georgia-Washington game as the most intriguing. I love the way that Washington plays with Isaiah Thomas running the show, and Georgia has a great player in Trey Thompkins. This thing could be a shootout, and this might end up being one of the best first round games in this year’s tournament.

FIRST ROUND UPSET SPECIAL

On the surface, you may look at the Xavier-Marquette game and think that’s the best choice. But, there’s a different scenario that could be the best choice in this bracket. If Clemson beats UAB, then I really like Clemson’s chances against the Mountaineers.

While a lot is being made of the time frame in which the winner of the play-in game would have to turn around and play an early game on Thursday, I don’t necessarily. We’ve seen in conference tournaments that teams that have already played tend to fair pretty well against teams who have had a bye or have had more rest. The whole fatigue factor is extremely overplayed in this particular scenario.

Again, this upset is predicated on Clemson beating UAB though. I don’t like UAB’s matchup against West Virginia. But if Clemson wins and gains some momentum, they’ll be riding high heading into the second round game. West Virginia may be the better overall team, but the Tigers will have more momentum. I’m not saying it’s a guarantee, but this should be an excellent game that could go either way.

What are your thoughts on the East Region? Upset special? Game you’re looking forward to most?

And don’t forget to check out my official bracket predictions on Wednesday and you’ll just who I think will make it out of this very competitive region!

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