2015 NCAA Basketball Tournament: East Region Preview

Well, look at that. It’s everyone’s favorite time of year again – March Madness. America’s eyes will undoubtedly be on Kentucky in the Midwest region and whether they can cap off perfection. But as we will come to discover in the next few weeks, the Cats’ certainly aren’t the only show in town.

The East region, led by the Wildcats of Villanova, has potential to be the most intriguing bracket if a few teams play their cards right.

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We’ve all seen it before. In most recent times it has been the sweet-16 run of Florida Gulf Coast and Steph Curry’s run with Davidson. The NCAA tourney is no newcomer to upsets and unexpected runs. With that being said, the East region is a must-watch for fans of the ‘Cinderella’ team.

Storylines: With a little help from Virginia and Gonzaga, Villanova found themselves as a leader of their very own region.  Not having any chances to really prove themselves in the regular season definitely puts that at the top of their list this march.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, there are a few teams that plan to stop that from happening. LSU and NC State, the two teams that could play Villanova in the third round have a tad-bit of experience when it comes to giving top teams a run for their money.

Back in January, the Wolfpack handed Duke their first lost. And when Kentucky traveled down to Baton Rouge to battle with LSU, the Tigers put up a worthy fight, only losing by a jump shot, 69-71. Neither team is scared to scuffle with top teams. Should Villanova win their Lafeyette match up as expected, they shouldn’t expect to have an easy one in the round of 32.

The UCI Anteaters are another team catching eyes as a possible Cinderella. Their second-round matchup with Louisville certainly won’t be an easy one, but it certainly is a winnable one. The Anteaters have the tallest player in college basketball, a 7-6 Center out of Senegal named Mamadou Ndiaye. Ndiaye and the rest of the Anteater defense actually received a good draw from the committee with their match up with the Cardinals. Louisville, without former starting point-guard Chris Jones, struggles TERRIBLY on offense. The Cardinal squad is actually in the bottom 25th percentile out of every team in the NCAA in two-point shots. The good part for the Anteaters? They are one of the best at defending said two-point shots.

Safe money is going on the Cardinals, but then again, is there really such thing as safe money in March?

The East bracket boasts the most watch-ability  due to the high amount of Marshall Henderson-type hot handed shooters. There is no excuse for this region not to be the one that basketball fans get excited for.