4 Regions in 4 Days!

So far I have previewed the Midwest and the West.

Today I'm going to give you my preview of the East region that will play in Boston.

The top seed is Pittsburgh. They are solid inside and outside on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor. Sam Young has had a breakout year and if you haven't heard of him yet you will by the end of it all. Levance Fields has had a great year and well you all heard about Dajuan Blair when he housed Thabeet a couple of weeks ago. I thought this team was the overall number 1 seed but I was wrong. They will go very deep however.

The 8/9 game in this region is going to be great. Oklahoma State really came on strong late in the season and is probably playing its best ball of the year. Tennessee on the other hand has not been consistent at all this year and you never know which Bruce Pearl is going to show up. I have no idea which way this one is going to go.

Florida State is the 5 seed and Toney Douglas is probably the fifth best player in the country. This is another guy you haven't heard of but he is great. Wisconsin was a team that I felt was comfortably in but they got a 12 seed. I was confused but the committee obviously didn't feel too good about them. This is a danger zone for the Seminoles but I think the combination of Douglas and the big guys inside gets the job done.

Xavier is the 4 seed and if you listen to the podcast you will hear what I think about them. I can sum it up with this. I don't think they were the best team in the A-10 this year. I think that was Dayton. Portland State comes in is a 13 seed. I don't know much about this team other then they were in it last year. I'm not sure what to say here. I hope I don't have to watch this one.

UCLA got a 6 seed. I am ok with that. What I'm not ok with here is that they have to fly across the country and play in Philly. Eric Maynor and VCU come in as the 11 seed in this one and that may be a little high but I still think they are riding some of the momentum from beating Duke 2 years ago. I think this is going to be a great game and just the matchup of Collison and Maynor is worth watching. This winner of the game may get to play Villanova in Philly. Wow!

As I just mentioned Villanova got the 3 seed and is playing in Philly. That's right, an arena that they actually played "home" games in this year. That's crazy! They deserve but still, I didn't think that was allowed. Anyway, they play American U and this one won't be close.

Texas and Minnesota play in the 7/10 game. This one is going to be good. Minnesota is a bit inconsistent but so is Texas. AJ Abrams will be the best player in this game and in my opinion he will have to be the difference maker if Texas wants to win. He may be the best shooter in all of college basketball. Horns fans have to hope he is knocking them down.

Duke and Binghamton play in the 2 vs. 15 game. Since it is a well-known fact around here that I am a Duke fan I am going to refrain from giving my analysis here. I don't think I really need to say anything but you get my point.

This is a really hard region to pick for me but I know Pitt is coming out of the top but the bottom I'm torn on. Do I take my Dukies or do I take the team that I feel may be the most dangerous not top 2 seed team in Villanova. As I said above, since I am such a big fan, I'm going to not pick.

Check back on Thursday when I give you my final four predictions to see who I pick to win the region.

Man, I love college basketball, especially in March!