East Region

Alright, so after sleeping like I am on spring break (read: until noon) I am wiping the eye boogers out and trying to figure out the toughest part of the bracket, the East Region. This region is the toughest for one reason, it has three teams that if they were spread out regionally they could be three of the final four: UNC, Georgetown, and Texas.

Teams that can beat North Carolina:

1) Texas- All you need is Durant. He has proven to be good enough to win games by himself all year. The thing is he has some talent around him. Durant and D.J. Augustine could be this years Carmelo and Jerry MacNamara. Two freshman riding the wave of March Madness to the Championship, throw in A.J. Abrams and his 15 points a game and we might have a magical run to watch. We all know why they can beat UNC, but can they stay fresh enough to get that far? They just had a tough weekend with a lot of basketball and then throw in the coaching intangibles, Roy Williams has them and Ricky Barnes does not. Their youth could be to their advantage or disadvantage, time will tell.

2) Georgetown- I have talked about this team a few times on lunchhournews.com. They are solid, Jeff Green is starting to get recognized as a very talented big man who complements Roy Hibbert very well. Green also finds himself as the man the team looks to in the clutch. He has hit numerous game winners this year and carried his team down the stretch. This team rolled through the Big East. Its biggest threat to losing is if Roy Hibbert struggles, which he tends to do sometimes. He has scored in single digits in 4 of his last 8 games. They only lost one of those games though, showing that they can overcome Hibbert’s struggles through Green and Jonathan Wallace. The team shoots 50% from the field and holds it opponents to 38% shooting. They are 13-6 versus teams with top 100 RPI. A favorite in some people’s bracket’s for a reason, if they can slow down the running teams and not get sucked into a run and gun pace (see: UNC) they could go far.

3) Vanderbilt- My sleeper in this bracket. I saw them beat Florida earlier this year at Vandy. They held off numerous charges by the Gators with some timely shooting and good defense. They don’t play scared; they play wide open hoops and love to shoot the ball. Derrick Byars and Shan Foster combine for 32 points, 9 boards, and 6 assists. Dan Cage and Ross Nelter also loom as a nice threat to be that third scorer that any team needs to make a run deep into the tourney.

4) Marquette – This team is another threat in the second round if they can get past MSU (my constant bug-a-boo every year). This team is loaded with guards and Dominic James is the ring leader. They only have three guys 6’9” or taller, and none of them play too much. So they are dependent on their little guys. UNC’s size could prove to be too much if they can utilize it.

UNC vs. Eastern Kent – No brainer, UNC cant lose this game.

Marquette vs. Michigan State – Somehow Michigan State ruins my bracket every year. Either I pick them to make a run and they don’t or I pick them to lose in the first round (like against Old Dominion two years ago) and they make a deep run. I don’t know what to think about this team. Marquette is 5-6 vs. top 50 RPI and finished 5-5 in their last ten. MSU has a talented scorer in Drew Neitzel. They are 6-9 vs. top 50 RPI. They did beat Texas and lost to Ohio State and Wisconsin each by a point. This team rebounds very well with three players averaging 5+ rebounds a game. It is a very young team, Neitzel is the only key player from the run to the Final Four two years ago, everyone else is a freshman or sophomore. MSU has beaten Wisconsin and also lost by two on a last second three by Cammron Taylor.

Texas vs. New Mexico State – Kevin Durant…

Vanderbilt vs. George Washington – Vandy I have discussed. GW I don’t know much about. They have a scored in Maurice Rice who averages 16+ ppg. Carl Elliot and Rob Diggs combine for 24 points also. They match up with Vandy in that they run and press.

Washington State vs. Oral Roberts – Weird game. Everyone on Sunday night had Oral Roberts as a sleeper and now everyone is saying watch out for Wazzu. No idea what to think. Wazzu plays good defense and don’t have any outright studs who can score the ball. It seems like they love to dare teams to shoot the three. They are 4-5 vs. RPI top 50 but beat up one RPI 51- 100 going 8-1. This team was picked last in the Pac- 10 preseason poll and surprised everyone. Can they continue to do that? Junior guards Derrick Lowe (no not the pitcher) and Kyle Weaver will have to play lights out to get deep into the tourney and they better hope they don’t run into a hot three point shooting team. Oral beat Kansas early this year, they have two guys who can pour it in: Caleb Green and Ken Tut (who might be called King Tut if they pull off a win). Here is my issue with this team, they have 22 wins, 19 of them come against 151 RPI or lower. That leaves three wins against top 150 RPI, not very impressive. Oral’s RPI is 90, Wazzu’s record against 51-100 RPI is 8-1.

BC vs. Texas Tech – Bobby Knight cant win tournament games. BC hasn’t been playing well of late, something has got to give. I don’t know what it is going to be. BC has four guys scoring in double figures, but one of them got kicked off the team months ago, oops. Sean Williams and his 12 points are long gone. They lost 5 of their last 7 games, they are tired and frankly I hate this team because they are a bunch of thugs. However Dudley is really good but Texas Tech has some scorers of their own. Jarrius Jackson and Zeno score 36 points between them but they have no one else who can score. Not one other player averages double figures. Tech did beat Texas A&M twice and Kansas once. That is pretty impressive.

Georgetown vs. Belmont – Forget about it…Georgetown, but look for Belmont to give them a hard time as they know how to shoot it from 19’9”.

Sleepers in the East –

Vandy and MSU