NCAA Tournament 2012: East/West Regions Headline Sweet 16

Well, the NCAA Tournament resumes tomorrow with 16 teams all feeling quite confident, considering they all have at least two-game winning streaks against tournament competition.

Of course, once you get to the Sweet 16, all of the match-ups have the potential to be great and even classic games. However, unless you happen to have tickets and are heading to either Atlanta or St. Louis, the best thing to do is sit in front of a flat screen and watch the battles set to take place in the East and West regions starting tomorrow.

Sure, the Kentucky vs. Indiana rematch in the South could be a good one and North Carolina and Kansas in the Midwest are always big draws, but the heavyweight match-ups this weekend will be in the other regions.

In the East, you have two games that threaten to be classics where the outcome, no matter what it is, should not surprise you.

With Syracuse vs. Wisconsin, you have an intriguing match-up that should be low scoring and ultimately won on the glass and on the clipboard. The Cuse have famously struggled rebounding the ball all year and Wisconsin is capable of exploiting that weakness. The Orange, who looked impressive in the second half versus Kansas State, will have to put forth the same type of effort if they plan on advancing.

The coaching match-up is a doozy as well. In Jim Boeheim and Bo Ryan you have two of the country’s best coaches, both with winning percentages over .700.

The other East match-up, Cincinnati vs. Ohio State is another must-see. This all-Ohio contest forces The Ohio university to play one of their perceived little brothers from the south.

On the court, this game should be tight. Ohio State is a well-balanced tough-minded team, but so is Cincinnati. The Bearcats are more than capable of pulling off this “upset,” ask the aforementioned Cuse.

There is no inferiority complex out west. The West region provides just as much intrigue and entertainment value as the East. There could be no better coaching match-up than the one that will occur thanks to the Michigan State vs. Louisville game. Rick Pitino and Tom Izzo are two legends with NCAA Tournament championship rings on their fingers.

As for their teams, both the Spartans and the Cardinals are playing their best basketball of the season and both have the ability to win up-tempo or grind-it-out style games.

Finally, the West offers what might be the most entertaining regional semifinal game. A suddenly hot Florida squad, equipped with an explosive array of guards, goes up against the third seed Marquette.  The Golden Eagles have been hot all year and will be eager to avenge last season’s Sweet 16 disaster versus North Carolina. On the sidelines, it is the upstart young coach in Buzz Williams versus Billy Donovan, who has been there and done that.

So, no disrespect to the middle and southern parts of the country, but expect to hear cries of coastal bias because the best basketball the next couple days will be played on either side of the country.

What are your thoughts on the Sweet 16 match-ups?