NCAA Tournament 2021: Michigan, Alabama headlines East Region
By Adam Childs
Favorites to win: Michigan and Alabama
At times this year both the Wolverines and Crimson Tide have looked like two of the best teams in the country. The Wolverines ran through the early part of their schedule with little trouble before losing three of their last five. The Crimson Tide stumbled early but then blitzed through both the SEC regular-season and tournament to sweep the championships.
Both of these teams have enough offense and defense to make a deep run and if they meet with a chance to go to the Final Four it would be a great game. The Wolverines will be without star-forward Isaiah Livers for an undetermined amount of time and that could derail them, while the Crimson Tide have been prone to show offensive slumps. But if both of them can get through those struggles they are a collision course for the second weekend.
Sleeper Pick: BYU
Not many people paid attention to BYU during the season, but then they went out and score 53 points on Gonzaga in the first half of their conference championship game. They couldn’t duplicate that success in the second half and lost, but they showed the country they are a very capable team. They get a tricky first-round matchup against Michigan State or UCLA and a tough second-round matchup with Texas, but they have the talent to beat anyone in this region.
If the slipper fits: Georgetown
Who else would we pick? The Hoyas are just 13-12 but won four straight games to win the Big East Championship and dismantled Creighton in the final. Patrick Ewing has his alma mater playing its best basketball of the year and we have seen a Big East team ride a run through the tournament to a national championship (see: UConn Huskies).