Read the opposing arguments from Loyal Homer and Bleacher Fan.
There are plenty of superficial reasons why the East region remains great for this season’s NCAA Tournament. The national sports writers will all point out that each remaining team is a conference champ, that Cornell is an Ivy League team, that Washington has no pressure and nothing to lose, that West Virginia should be on the lookout after winning an overrated conference, and that Kentucky has the heaviest expectations in the tournament now. But none of those obvious stories give real insight into why each of these games will be excellent… and why the East remains the toughest region.
While Northern Iowa’s upset has gutted a once proud Midwest region of its top talent, the West’s top-heavy bracket has gone to plan, and the South’s St. Mary’s has weakened that region, only one region remains stronger than the rest – the East. As I noted in my original argument last Friday, the primary reasons why I originally believed the East bracket is the entire tournament’s toughest grouping remain true.
Kentucky, the team that is now the number one overall seed in the tournament after Kansas’ ouster – and the team that should have been the number one seed all along – still heads the toughest group of teams in the tournament. West Virginia is still the best second seed, too. However, one fact about college basketball we all learned through the first two rounds of the tournament is that the Pac-10 is not as lousy the experts would have us believe.
Washington proves the value of the Pac-10. Sure the Huskies won the Pac-10 tournament, but they also began their NCAA Tournament experience with a very tough two-point win over Marquette. Shortly after the eleventh seeded Huskies dispatched Marquette they had to face the number three seeded New Mexico Lobos… and crushed them by 18 points. Washington is an interesting and particularly dangerous type of team during the tournament because they play a specific, up-tempo style of basketball that is very difficult to prepare for, unless a team has experienced it before.
Tomorrow is the highly anticipated matchup between the Huskies and the Big East champion West Virginia Mountaineers. While it SEEMS like West Virginia should win, the game is no easy out. First, the Big East has not exactly proven itself out as the top conference in college basketball. The entire conference plays a slower brand of deliberate basketball that a team like Washington is ideally equipped to disrupt. The Huskies like to run, and they love to shoot from beyond the three point arc. After connecting on 64 percent of three point attempts in round one of the tournament, Washington managed “just” 47 percent against New Mexico. The team excels on the fast break and, even though Quincy Pondexter is Washington’s clear offensive leader, several other players can score. Washington’s style and balance makes them a tough out. It also makes them the type of team that West Virginia has not seen much of this season.
While Kentucky’s shoulders are heavy with expectations, the Ivy League’s Cornell Big Red has flown under the radar this season. The Big Red played both Kansas and Syracuse on the road this season, taking number one Kansas to overtime before succumbing. The team’s impressive 13 point win over A-10 champion Temple was nice in the first round, but not an unsurprising 12 seed over five seed upset (unless you are me, in which case you were surprised at first but in retrospect realize you put too much emphasis on the A-10 in your bracket…). For me, the real surprise of the region was the way Cornell handled Wisconsin – by 18 – in a game that was not even close to being close. The Big Ten has thus far been impressive in the tournament with a record of 7-2 that helped put three teams in the Sweet Sixteen. In short, almost more than any other conference, the Big Ten has impressed in the postseason. Wisconsin was a balanced and tournament tested group that was completely dominated by Cornell.
Now, however, Cornell, with a squad laced with seniors, must face an inexperienced group from Kentucky. Sure the Wildcats are an excellent team and deserve recognition as the top seed in the tournament. But they are young, with the two most prominent and important players on the team – point guard John Wall and forward DaMarcus Cousins – both freshman. As good as Kentucky is, they are not the perfect team.
What makes the East still so interesting is that though it still has the region’s top two seeds in contention – a trait only the West can match – its 11 and 12 seeds, Washington and Cornell respectively, do not play as though they were seeded properly. The East still has four conference winners, still has some of the tournament’s star players and personalities, and still promises the best basketball of any other region.
