The East region features the Tourney's #1 ranked team (Ohio State)...a 7-time NCAA Champ (Kentucky)...smart people (Princeton #13 seed)...2006 Cinderella George Mason...6 Conference Champs...let's take a look...
#1 seed - The Ohio State University...32-2...Big Ten...5-2 vs ranked opponents...Head Coach Thad Motta has his Buckeyes as the #1 ranked team in the entire Tourney...kudos on a fine season...now the tough part...only 9 times ever has the #1 overall ranked team won the NCAA Tourney...as you can imagine this team is deep and talented...F Jared Sullinger (damn good) is a Freshman and leads the team in scoring and rebounding averaging a double-double...William Buford, Jon Diebler, David Lighty, and Aaron Craft provide Motta with depth and skill in the backcourt...Their only 2 losses this season were to Top 13 opponents (Wisconsin and Purdue)...the depth and skill in the backcourt coupled with what Sullinger brings to the table makes this team dangerous...Buckeyes one of the best shooting teams in the Nation...
#2 seed - North Carolina Tar Heels...26-7...ACC...2-4 vs ranked opponents...“Early in the year, the young man took a lot criticism from people who said, ‘Oh, he’s not that good,’ ” coach Roy Williams said ”He just stayed focused on being Harrison Barnes.”...That was Head Coach Roy Williams commenting recently on Freshman Harrison Barnes...Barnes had unprecedented hype as a true Freshman as he was a pre-season All-American selection...Only pre-season true Freshman ever to be honoured like that...at 15 points per game Barnes led UNC in scoring, and really got it going late in the season...they also get good production from fellow Forwards Tyler Zeller and John Henson...The Guard position has seen change recently as Larry Drew II left the team early Feb 2011 so the Heels look for more from Guards like Leslie McDonald, Dexter Strickland, and a pair of Freshman in Reggie Bullock and Kendall Marshall...this UNC club is an outstanding rebounding team (likely best in the Nation)
#3 seed - Syracuse Orange...26-7...Big East...7-5 vs ranked opponents...Head Coach Jim Boeheim and Assistant Coach Bernie Fine are in their 35th season as coaches...impressive...Amongst NBA players that have been groomed by this Syracuse staff are Carmelo Anthony,Jonny Flynn, Hakim Warrick, John Wallace, and of course Can-Con with Canadian citizens Leo and Andy Rautins...This current squad is very deep...of course they play the Zone D very well, and they get balanced scoring from F's Rick Jackson and Kris Joseph - plus G's Scoop Jardine and Brandon Triche...Freshman Dion Waiters is getting his # called more and more by Boeheim too...same with 7-foot Freshman Fab Melo from Brazil...The 'Cuse also get production from Freshman C.J. Fair and Baye Moussa Keita (from Senegal)...a very young and diverse roster for the Orange so we see the window of winning is not closing anytime soon for the University of Syracuse...This is a very good rebounding team too...
#4 seed - Kentucky Wildcats...25-8...SEC...6-1 vs ranked opponents...My hat is off to Head Coach John Calipari...This UK team has 5 (wow 5) players drafted in this recent NBA Draft in the 1st round...amazing...even with that massive loss of talent the Wildcats are right back in the spotlight as they win the SEC Tourney and earn a NCAA Tourney #4 seed...impressive...to be able to recover from such a loss of talent so quickly and so effectively must mean that this team again had an influx of talent and youth...we see UK led by Juniors Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins, but this team gets great play from their top 3 scores - all Freshman - Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones, and Doron Lamb...Despite the youth and inexperience this team shoots the 3-ball and scores very well...A ton of talent here, but I feel wary of the inexperience, although they put together a fantastic game in the SEC Champ game vs Florida so this team is a certain dark horse...UK can play great team D too...all 8 of UK losses this season were on road/neutral site games
Other teams worth a look...
# 7 seed Washington Huskies...23-10...PAC-10...1-3 vs ranked opponents...The PAC-10 Champs will have alumni like Detlef Schrempf, Brandon Roy, and Nate Robinson cheering them on in the Tourney...plus this school has some some Can-Con history too as Hall Of Fame Forward Bob Houbregs (Vancouver, BC) went to Washington...8 of their 10 losses came on road/neutral site games...Junior Isaiah Thomas is the big-shot leader of this team...Seniors Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Justin Holiday provide size, leadership, and scoring...the team depth at the Guard positions is great...along with Thomas the Huskies have Abdul Gaddy, C.J. Wilcox, Terrence Ross, Scott Suggs, and Venoy Overton all contributing in the backcourt...pretty nice squad here...a mix of young players and veterans, and a mix of strong Guard play with frontcourt talent too...Very good team at crashing the boards
The winner of the #6 Xavier vs #11 Marquette will likely give Syracuse a tough game in the 2nd round...
!!! #5 vs #12 ALERT !!!...20 of the last 22 years a #12 has upset a #5 in the opening round...in the East we have West Virginia and Head Coach Bob Huggins as the #5...the Mountaineers will have to wait to see if they play UAB or Clemson as the #12 seed...either opponent will test West Va early...
Check out the other NCAA Tourney Region blogs too...follow me on twitter @craigballard77
craig.ballard@hotmail.com
