East Rutherford
The teams that could actually win this region: North Carolina, Georgetown, Texas, Vanderbilt, Boston College.
What's that you say? I left out Southern Cal, Washington State, Marquette and Michigan State. Hmmm, so I did.
UNC has tons of talent, the pedigree, a winning coach, yadda yadda yadda. They're the #1 seed and nobody disputes it. They're built on freshmen which is always dangerous and their big guy looks uncomfortable out there with his broken nose. But they did win an ACC Tourney, not an easy task. They're everybody's Final Four pick, including me.
Georgetown has a strong inside presence and a grinding, physical style that a lot of teams simply can't keep up with. Personally, I think the Big East was a little overrated this year so I think I'm not as impressed with G-town as I'm supposed to be. Big and imposing can equal slow-footed and easily frustrated.
Texas got a bit of a raw deal, left with facing UNC in the Sweet 16. I thought with their play down their stretch, making the Big 12 Finals (which they should've won), they deserved a #3 seed--how do you leave them behind Washington State? But hard to imagine them winning it all without playing a team better than them so perhaps its best to get the big dogs out of the way early. Unfortunately for them, I don't think they'll beat UNC.
Vanderbilt is one of my teams to keep an eye on. They've got good guards that play smart and disciplined. They don't have great depth or an imposing inside game and Vandy is not generally a repository of basketball talent. This year's squad, though, isn't bad. They can hang with tougher talent--I'm talking to you, G-town.
Boston College has one fine young star, Jared Dudley, and they're hardened by a brutal ACC schedule. They could go a long way. I have them losing to Texas Tech in the first round but I've been known to be wrong about these brackets and BC is one that I may be totally wrong about.
Tomorrow: San Antonio bracket
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