East Region, unlocked and loaded.
Do you guys like Duke's draw???
1. Pittsburgh
2. Duke
3. Villanova
4. Xavier
5. Florida St.
6. UCLA
7. Texas
8. Oklahoma St.
9. Tennessee
10. Minnesota
11. VCU
12. Wisconsin
13. Portland St.
14. American
15/16. Binghamton, East Tennessee State
Discuss the East Region here. What upsets do you see? What interesting matchups? Who will go to the Final Four?
East Region, unlocked and loaded.
Do you guys like Duke's draw???
I love this draw. Seth Davis just said we're an easy matchup for Pitt, but I think we can beat them. Further, I think FSU could give them all kinds of trouble. Villanova scares me a bit.
I like the draw.. G'boro should be a nice early start.. Pitt/ Villinova,, and gawd, wouldn't it be nice for VCU to get through a few rounds and then have the rematch with Maynor.
Devils make final 4
I'm scared of Blair already. That guy is a freakin monstor.
I TOTALLY agree. I think this is not that bad for Duke. I don't like Nova in our bracket but they are not going to kill us on the inside. Guards we have. We can throw Nolan and Elliot at Reynolds and last I checked, those two did a pretty decent job against Rice, Douglas, and Vasquez the past 3 days.
Pitt is the number 1 seed we match up with best. Yes, Blair is a beast but he's small. Zoubek, Plumlee, etc can give him some trouble just by raising their hands up. Fields is experienced but he is not on the same level as Lawson, Rice, Douglas in terms of speed and outside shooting ability. Elliot and Nolan can stay in front of him. They have young, which is honestly a matchup problem for us. He's likely too fast for Kyle and too tall for Gerald. BUt on the flip side...he cant' guard both Kyle and Gerald.
I like it.
I like our chances against Binghamton, but not sure what to expect about Tx/Minn winner.
We just won a three game in three day tournament, so lets stay focussed on the first two game in three day tournament.
Totally biased, but of course I'm voting for Duke. Duke's beaten Florida State 3 times this year, and also beaten Xavier. I'm happy with this draw.
Nobody will pick Duke. Little inside scoring, disappointments last two tourneys.
This has to be a motivating factor for Duke. They need to play with a chip on their shoulders.
I have not seen Villanova this year but know they score a lot of points. Pitt is beatable. Their big boy cannot score 50 and susceptable to foul trouble trying to guard Singler.
What time do we play Thursday?
I love this Duke team team but I picked Pitt to win it all and I'm sticking by it. I think Pitt will make the Final Four. But of course I'll still be pulling for the Blue Devils.
I like this set up too. Let's hope FSU will pull off the upset AND Jeff Capels' Oklahoma Sooners can upset the tarheels, in the potential match up.
Do not discount Texas. Rick Barnes is familiar with the ACC and if I am not mistaken wasn't Texas very highly rated sometime this year. Do they have any injuries ?
I don't like that first round matchup. Binghamton will be a tougher game than expected - kind of like last year's game with Belmont.
We CANNOT look past the first weekend, especially with Texas. That would be a very tough game for Duke.
THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT: Outside of Texas, our side of the bracket is very guard heavy. Villanova, VCU, and UCLA are very dependent on guards and potentially good matchups for us. Minnesota would be too. TX is the team to look out for. I have seen them live a number of times and Dexter Pittman has the ability to take over for spurts.
Overall, it could be much worse.