NCAA Tournament: East Region Preview

In this year’s NCAA Tournament, the East Region features the top overall seed and reigning national champion in UConn. The bracket gets more interesting the farther down you go as it also features two teams who were in last year’s Final Four in FAU and San Diego State, as well as three other power conference champions including Iowa State, Illinois, and Auburn.

UConn comes into this tournament being led by sixth-year head coach Dan Hurley, who has a well-rounded roster featuring five players who average double-digit scoring. The Huskies are the betting favorites to win the national championship at +380. This comes as no surprise as the defending champions have been the most dominant team in the country throughout the year finishing with a record of 31-3.

The road will not be easy however, as San Diego State and FAU, who faced off in the Final Four last year, are also featured in the East. Both teams return their head coaches in Brian Dutcher and Dusty May respectively, as well as much of their production from last year’s teams. The experience and talent levels of these two teams will make them very tough to beat.

The East also features the Big 12 champion in Iowa State as its No. 2 seed, the Big 10 champion in Illinois as its No. 3 seed and the SEC champion in Auburn as its No. 4 seed.

Iowa State comes into the tournament fresh off a blowout win over then No. 1 Houston 69-41 in the Big 12 Championship, and it's won seven of its last eight games.

Illinois has also won seven of their last eight games and beat Wisconsin 93-87 for the Big 10 title. They rank eighth in the country in points per game at 84.4. How far will their ability to score carry them?

Auburn is also red hot having won six in a row on their way to an SEC title and will be led by big man Johni Broome who is averaging over 16 points and 8 rebounds per game. Head coach Bruce Pearl led Auburn to the Final Four as a No. 5 seed in 2019. How far will the fourth-seeded team go this year?

The 7-10 matchup in the East is the only matchup where the lower seed is favored. Drake is a 1.5-point favorite over Washington State. It’s one of five matchups in the Round of 64 where the lower seed is the favorite.

One potential upset in this region is 11th-seeded Duquesne over sixth-seeded BYU. Duquesne comes into the tournament fresh off an Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship which included beating then No. 24 Dayton.

Illinois is another team on upset alert even though they just won the Big 10. They face 14th-seed Morehead State, winners of the Ohio Valley Conference. Morehead State comes in ranked eighth in the nation in points allowed per game at just 62.8, and they are led by Riley Minix who averages over 20 points and just under 10 rebounds per game.

May the madness begin!

Jacob Rudy is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jar7371@psu.edu.