The first round of the NCAA Tournament is the best two days of sports in the calendar year. I cannot think of another time of the year when you truly cannot keep track of everything that happened. The NCAA Tournament East is headlined by 1-seed UCONN Huskies. The Huskies are coming into the tournament as the reigning champions but with mostly a new team. The East Region has a lot of potential for upsets and has some of the best scorers in the NCAA.
Round of 64 Games to Watch
The best game of the NCAA Tournament East Round of 64 is easily #7 Washington State vs #10 Drake. The Washington State Cougars finished second in the Pac-12 with a conference record of 14-6. The Cougars are led by senior forward Issac Jones, who averages 15.4 PPG and 7.4 RPG. Washington State is ranked 42nd in Kenpom, with a defensive rank of 27. Now their opponent, the 10-seed Drake Bulldogs. Drake is coming off an MVC Tournament Championship after beating Indiana State in the title game. The Bulldogs are led by father-son duo Darian and Tucker DeVries. Tucker is one of the best scorers in the NCAA, averaging 22/7/4 while shooting 36% from 3pt. The 10-seed Drake is favored over 7-seed Washington State as of Wednesday. The game will be determined by whatever team can shoot better from three and limit the other from making a good percentage of threes. This going to be an exciting game regardless and will be a must-watch for sports fans.
The line coming in is Drake -1.5 with an o/u 137.5. I think Drake wins this game, and then goes over 137.5 in the process.
UPSET ALERT
The NCAA Tournament East Region contains some great double-digit seeds. The reason March is the best time of year is because anything can happen, but here are the teams that I think can upset their higher-seeded opponents. The first team is the Morehead State Eagles. The Eagles are a fun team led by Riley Minix, who scored 20+ points in 12 of the last 13 games. The Illinois Fighting Illini are not great at defending the three, giving up 34.3% to opponents. Illinois could lose because since 2021 the Big Ten Tournament Champion has not made the second weekend, and the last two have lost in their first game. If Morehead and Minix get hot, the Illini are firmly on upset alert.
The other team that could make some noise is the UAB Blazers. They play a good San Diego State team, but UAB has some serious talent. Yaxel Lendeborg and Eric Gaines are both playing great basketball, but UAB has other guys that will just go off. UAB has the 59th-ranked offense on Kenpom along with the 11th-ranked luck stat. If the Blazers keep up the offensive output, then SDSU could be on upset alert.
The Drake team would be on this list, but they are favored over WSU so not a super big upset. The Iowa State Cyclones are another team on upset alert. They have a tough road to get to the Sweet 16, but I think they ultimately lose to Drake/WSU in the second round.
Best Potential Matchup
The best matchup that I want to see is #1 UCONN vs #4 Auburn in the Sweet 16. This matchup could be for a Final Four birth with these two teams being the best two teams in the East. UCONN is the #1 overall seed in the tournament with the #1 offense and the #1 overall team on Kenpom. The Auburn Tigers are the #4 team on Kenpom with the #4 defense. Both teams are coming into the tournament as Conference Champions, with Auburn on a six-game winning streak and UCONN with seven. This is potentially UCONN’s biggest competitor for the Final Four. If this happens it will be a must-watch game in the Sweet Sixteen.
Players to Watch
- Johni Broome, Auburn: Broome is the main piece to this Auburn basketball team. He averages 16.2 PPG with 8.4 RPG while playing only 24.7 MPG. If Auburn wants to make a run, he will be a crucial part of that success.
- Boo Buie, Northwestern: Boo Buie is a prolific scorer in the Big Ten, and is on an absolute tear these past couple of games. Buie is essential for Northwestern to make any noise in the tournament, and if he keeps scoring 19 PPG watch out.
- Tristen Newton, UCONN: The defending champs come back with basically a whole new squad. Newton came back with a much bigger role, averaging 15/7/6 on 41.2% from the field. Newton fuels this elite UCONN offense and can lead them back to the Final Four.
- Jaedon LeDee, San Diego State: LeDee is another explosive scorer averaging 21 PPG. Not only scoring 20+ points in his last 4 games, he also averages 8.4 RPG for the Aztecs in the Mountain West. LeDee is the man for SDSU and will need to have big games if they want to make a deep run.
- Terrence Shannon, Illinois: Shannon is coming off of a Big Ten Tournament Championship, where he broke the points record in a tournament game with 40. He averages 23 PPG since coming back from suspension. He is an electric scorer and can get to the free-throw line with ease.
- Tucker DeVries, Drake: I have already talked about him, but he deserved to be on this list. Drake goes as far as DeVries takes them, and I think that is Elite 8. DeVries averages 22/7/3.5 per game and averaged 26.2 PPG in his last 5 games.
Best Bets
The best odds to win the NCAA Tournament East Region are UCONN(+100), Iowa State(+450), Auburn(+500), and Illinois(+850). I think the best value bet would be Auburn to win the East Region at +500 even though UCONN will be tough to beat.
My Round of 64 Best Bets: Morehead State +11.5, South Dakota State +16.5 against Iowa State, and Drake/Washington State over 137.5.
East Champion
The safe pick would be to take UCONN and move on with my day. But I’m not one for safe picks, so my champion is the Auburn Tigers. Johni Broome and Jaylin Williams lead the Tigers to Final Four after beating UCONN and Drake in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8. This is why I love the NCAA Tournament and the madness that comes with it.
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