2024 NCAA Tournament: Ranking the Top 20 players from the East Region

After months of anticipation and excitement we have reached the NCAA Tournament. Only a handful of teams have earned this honor and there’ll be a lot to work out in the coming weeks to determine our national champion. We’re breaking it down into the four different regions today and this particular focus is on the East region.

This regional is jam packed with talent, and that’s not even just because overall #1 seed Connecticut sits atop this corner of the bracket. Each of the top four seeds won power conference tournaments, with those Huskies winning the Big East, 2-seed Iowa State victorious in the Big 12, 3-seed Illinois the champions of the Big Ten, and 4-seed Auburn winning the SEC.

There are some sneaky good teams in the middle of the bracket as well, as both San Diego State and Florida Atlantic find themselves in this region after their incredible runs to the Final Four last season. Upstart Washington State earned the 7-seed this region and their reward is a talented Drake squad, while no one is overlooking what programs like Northwestern and BYU have accomplished.

When you throw in a tricky collection of mid-major programs you have what is probably the hardest region in this year’s Tournament. It’s not just that these are all fantastic teams, but that some of the best talent in the nation is represented right here. Today we’ll be identifying that talent by picking the ranking the Top 20 players from this region. Not every team has someone selected and there are certainly several other stars that didn’t quite make the cut, but let’s get right into our selections.