2022 NCAA Tournament: Baylor, Kentucky and Purdue headlines East Region

Teams to watch in the East Region

Favorite: Kentucky

Baylor may be the No. 1 seed in the region, but to me the favorite to come out of the East and head to New Orleans is John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats. Big Blue has one of, if not the most dominant post presence in all of college basketball in Oscar Tshiebwe and veteran guard play with Sahvir Wheeler and Kellan Grady shooting from long range. The Wildcats are a serious threat to cut down the nets in early April.

Sleeper: Purdue

My sleeper in this region was a team I thought had national title capabilities in the preseason, and while the season has some bumps, they absolutely are capable of stringing together six straight, the Purdue Boilermakers. They may have fallen prior to the Big Ten title game, but this roster has it all, big men with Zach Edey and Trevion Williams, a superstar in guard Jaden Ivey, and a guy who can torch you from outside if you aren’t careful with Sasha Stefanovic.

If the slipper fits: Saint Mary’s

Randy Bennett’s St. Mary’s Gaels finished the year 25-7 and were the only team to beat Gonzaga in WCC play. They were 25-5 against teams not named Gonzaga and four of those losses came by 10 points or less. Matthias Tass and Tommy Kuhse lead the team offensively, scoring nearly 25 per game, but this team gets it done on defense. They make their opponents work for their shots, ranking 1st in the country in assist percentage defense and 7th in the country in two-pointers allowed according to KenPom and you better keep them off the glass because they also rank 7th in offensive rebounding percentage.