East Region

So Ohio State is the top overall seed this year, their reward? The hardest region in this years tournament. Ohio State will no doubt run through their first round game so lets look at the other games.

George Mason versus Villanova is the most intriguing game. You have Nova who stumbled into the tournament and that is generous to describe their free fall over the past month. George Mason is riding a 16 game win streak and it seems like everyone has them winning this game. Not so fast my friends. Yes Nova has dropped five straight and blew a 13 point loss to South Florida in the Big East Tournament, but nonetheless this is a Big East school against a CAA school! This was suppose to be the best conference ever and if Nova wants to help prove that then they need to win this game. I am not sure where it all went so wrong with Nova. Their season has been like a Dane Cook movie, you go in with exceptions of it being decent but nothing special. The first thirty minuets you think it's funny but nothing special and then BOOM! the wheels fall off. Ladies and gentlemen your 2010 Wildcats. Cory Fisher is the best player on the floor, he has not lived up to his five star rating but he has just enough left in him to win this game.

Harrison Barnes is good enough to
carry the Heels deep in the tournament

Player to watch in this bracket has to be Harrison Barnes. He has the weight of the world on his shoulders. He came into the season with more hype than the Hangover 2 and failed to live up to it early on, but then he finished out the season on fire and dropped 40 on Clemson in the ACC tournament. Barnes is just 19 but plays like he's 25. He's got that confidence of that kid who walks around thinking he is the man and everyone wonders what he has done to deserve it. Well Barnes will need that swagger if the Heels are to make a run. They tend to sleep walk through the first half of games, they can't do that anymore. And also paging Kendall Marshall's jump shot. One minuet he gives you this no look mid court ally oop the next he is missing free throws and bricking wide open 15 footers. UNC has the talent to make a run, but will their youth hold them back?

Kentucky is peaking at the right time

Remember Kentucky? Well they are back and playing their best basketball of the year. They are fresh off a drubbing of Florida in the SEC championship and what do they get for that? A spit in the face four seed. Nothing is scarier than a young team who thinks they have been disrespected. They have three players who can take a game over in Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb. And unlike last years team this team has a couple upper class-men that play key roles. Josh Harrellson and Darius Miller log a lot of minuets and lets not forget about Coach Cal. This guy wins and knows how to get to the Final Four. I would not be surprised at all if Kentucky makes a Final Four run. They ran threw the SEC tournament like it was nothing and that was with Terrence Jones missing basically. I am not sure where he was for the SEC tournament, he was down right awful. Don't expect that again. This team is young talented and well coached, a short bench could be their only downfall. The next time I hear someone tell me there should be a two year rule I will say hand the championship to Kentucky. It's not enough that he gets three of the five best players every year but to have them more than one year would be scary.

So who comes out of murders row? Ohio State is the obvious pick and I have them in my bracket so I will stay with them. They have good shooters and a good post player in Sullinger. A problem could be that they have a freshmen playing point and center, another problem could be if they were to match up with Syracuse. The Orange zone could create problems. Yes Ohio State shoots very well but if they are off they are done, they rely to heavily on perimeter shooting. The committee did them no favors with a possible sweet sixteen matchup against Kentucky and if they win that then they get to play either UNC or Syracuse and that game would be in Newark, a home game for Cuse of sorts. I think Ohio State can do it but I would not be shocked if they lost to Kentucky. This Ohio State reminds me of that Illinois team a few years ago. That team drew Arizona in their bracket and should have lost in overtime that year. Instead they survived and eventually lost to UNC in the championship. Ohio State like that Illinois team is favored by many and like that team they will have challenges in front of them.