Written by Jon Lee
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NCAA Tournament Preview: East Region

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Bright lights, big city. Every player grows up dreaming of playing on the big stage at Madison Square Garden, and every team in the East Region will be gunning to make that dream come true. The venerable building will play host to the Region’s second weekend, the first time MSG has served as a tournament site in over 50 years.

While Virginia is a deserving top seed, Michigan State has generated the most buzz as a possible overall tournament favorite. The Spartans have gotten healthy at just the right time, and showed in the Big 10 tournament the skill and talent that led many to rank Tom Izzo’s squad in the top five for much of the season.

Gary Harris, Adreian Payne, Brendan Dawson, and Keith Appling will be a load for any team to handle in this region, but don’t count out the Cavaliers. Iowa State features a star trio of its own in Melvin Ejim, DeAndre Kane, and Georges Niang, and old blueblood North Carolina lurks as the 6-seed. And don’t forget Villanova, the 2-seed, which went 28-4 on the season.

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No. 1 Seed – Virginia
It took Coach Tony Bennett a bit of time, but he finally has the Wahoos rolling once again. His teams every year don’t rank well in traditional offensive categories, but numbers like points per game just obfuscate the true picture: this team is really good. Virginia ranks 25th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency. It just happens to play at one of the slowest tempos in the nation. The hallmarks of any Bennett team are disciplined basketball (check), and terrific defense (double-check). UVA ranks 3rd nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency which, combined with the offense, creates a profile worthy of a Final Four participant.

To get to Arlington, Virginia will likely have to get through Michigan State in the Sweet Sixteen. A game of that magnitude is worthy of a Regional Final or Final Four, but will occur at least a round too early. Virginia would be a 53 percent favorite in that projected match-up, but wins in simulations by just a point on average. Let’s all hope chalk wins out until then.

Upset Alert
Harvard makes the tournament for the third season in a row, and has become the power team in the Ivy League under Coach Tommy Amaker. Cincinnati hangs its hat on defense and star guard Sean Kilpatrick. If Kilpatrick isn’t scoring well, the Bearcats will struggle. Whenever a team struggles to score it is ripe for an upset. The Crimson is a good enough team to make that happen.

Fun Fact
Providence’s Bryce Cotton averaged 41.3 minutes in Big East play. Cotton was an ironman all season, and his Friars played four double overtime games in conference play.