Headlined by No. 1 seed Virginia, the Eastern region of the bracket looks to be a grueling, hotly-contested South region, which has a good chance at producing an eventual champion.
Virginia was named the No. 1 seed in the South, making their second year in a row being named as a No. 1 seed. Head Coach Tony Bennet’s most recent No. 1 seed will be looking for a longer stay in the NCAA Tournament this year, after their historic 20-point loss in the first round against No. 16 UMBC. Led by Kyle Guy and De’Andre Hunter, the Cavaliers are looking for tournament revenge, and it all starts against Gardner-Webb on Friday in the South bracket.
At the opposite end of the South bracket, the Tennessee Volunteers get the No. 2 seed and will be looking to ride a talented starting five deep into the heart of the tournament. With three starters playing over 30 minutes, Tennessee uses elite athleticism to bring down almost forty rebounds per game to compliment hot shooting.
The South region also features three tough Big Ten teams in the Wisconsin Badgers, Purdue Boilermakers and the Iowa Hawkeyes. Wisconsin is led by Ethan Happ, who has shined in four years in Madison and features several dangerous scorers like D’Mitrik Trice and Brad Davison.
Purdue boasts its own Player of the Year candidate in guard Carsen Edwards, and are a consistent threat to score in loads. Equally as dangerous on the offensive end is the Iowa Hawkeyes team that has, at times, been one of the best three-point shooting teams in the nation. Led by Tyler Cook, Luke Garza and Jordan Bohannon, this team is a consistent threat to shoot the lights out of a building if they get hot.
In addition to the more well-seated teams, the South region boasts several dangerous high seeds like the No. 7 Cincinnati Bearcats. A 7-seed seems a bit harsh to a Cincinnati team that is coming fresh off a win in their second straight AAC Championship game, and who was consistently hailed as a threatening team coming into this year’s tournament after a successful season that saw them finish at 28-6.
Bruce Weber’s Kansas State team is coming into the tournament fresh off of a conference win in the Big 12 regular season, despite falling to another tournament-bound team in Iowa State in a contest where only four points separated the two teams. Weber has been in this situation before and has had many a deep run into the tournament in his time spent at Kansas State and Illinois.
In addition to all these teams which definitely pose a threat to any region they may have fallen into, you can’t count out what could be one of the hardest games to call: No. 8 Mississippi against No. 9 Oklahoma. A tough, offensive matchup of SEC and Big 12, either of these teams could go on to be a mid-ranked bracket buster down the stretch.