NCAA Bracket 2012: East Region Coverage And Updates

The 7-10 games are typically some of the best in the Big Dance and Thursday’s night game, scheduled to be televised at 7:20 p.m. on TNT, should live up to expectations. The Zags are the favorites, a different role than they were accustomed to last decade, but the Mountaineers aren’t slouches.

The Mountaineers are primarily a two-man team, but that worked for them all right during the regular season. Kevin Jones averaged a double-double with 20.1 points and 11.1 rebounds while Truck Bryant did his part to the tune of 17.2 points and some valuable contributions in big games.

The Kansas State Wildcats earned the No. 8 seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament and are coming off a loss in the Big 12 Conference Tournament to Baylor. The Wildcats will look to avoid the upset as they take on the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in the second round of the Tournament.

Southern Miss is also coming off a loss in their conference tournament, going down to Marshall in the semifinal round of the Conference USA Tournament. The Golden Eagles will look to pull the upset over Kansas State, having already beat some other tournament teams this season, including South Florida and Memphis, and narrowly losing to Murray State in double overtime.

The UNC Asheville Bulldogs will try to be the first No. 16-seeded team to ever knock off a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, as they come off mowing right through the Big South Conference Tournament, capping it off with an 80-64 victory over Virginia Military Academy. The Bulldogs lost only twice in conference play this season, but will be facing a much stiffer opponent in Syracuse.

Game Date/Time: Thursday, March 15, 3:10 p.m. ET

Here’s the full East Region bracket for the 2012 NCAA Tournament:

No. 1 Syracuse

No. 16 UNC Asheville

March Madness is here, and SB Nation’s video team is breaking down the brackets of all the regions in the field to help you win loads of dough. Below the jump, feast your eyes on Matt Ufford and Nick Fasulo predicting who come out of the East region.

Fasulo (@billyedelinSBN) believes that top-seeded Syracuse will reach the Final Four, though he foresees some potential trouble spots against Kansas State and potentially Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16. He thinks Ohio State will meet the Orange in the Elite Eight and predicts the WIsconsin Badgers may be in some trouble in their first game.

The Bonnies finished the season 20-11, but before the tournament, they really lacked a signature win. They lost to Illinois — when they were ranked and not a complete train wreck — Xavier, Temple, Saint Louis and UMass, even falling to Arkansas State early in the season.

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Despite lacking the NBA talent they’ve had in previous seasons under Frank Martin, the Kansas State Wildcats made their fourth NCAA Tournament in the last five years in 2012.

Kansas State had non-conference wins over Alabama and Long Beach State, but they made their mark in Big 12 play. The Wildcats finished 10-8 in one of the strongest conferences of the country, beating Missouri twice and Kansas once.

They finished the regular season with a 24-9 record, once again earning a Top 15 ranking and a respectable seed in the NCAA Tournament. As the No. 4 seed in the East, Wisconsin faces No. 13 Montana in their first game.

Wisconsin’s defensive prowess helped the team stay competitive through their offensive struggles. The Badgers gave up just 51.8 points per game in conference play to lead the Big Ten, though that impressive statistic owes much to Ryan’s slowed-down tempo on offense.

The Orange played a relatively light non-conference schedule, notching their best win over Florida in December. The early part of the year was more a of a tune-up, and ‘Cuse passed with flying colors. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, however: The Orange powered through the Big East slate with only a loss to Notre Dame as a blemish.

Syracuse lost to Cincinnati in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament, setting off a chain of reminders that late-season losses can serve as wake-up calls for top-seeded teams.

They played an extremely difficult non-conference schedule, staying competitive but ultimately losing to UNC, NC State, Connecticut and Tennessee. Of their nine losses, only two came in conference play, and they won the Big South conference championship in both the regular and post-season, cruising to a 80-64 victory over VMI to punch their ticket to the Big Dance.

Just like last season, the UNC-Asheville faces historically tall odds in the first round, facing No. 1 Syracuse as the No. 16 seed in the East.

The Buckeyes, who were No. 3 in the AP preseason Top 25 poll, started the year strong with an 85-63 demolition of Duke before running into trouble in Big Ten conference play.

However, despite all the consternation, the Buckeyes did receive a share of the Big Ten conference championship, earning their place with a dramatic last-second victory at Michigan State on the last day of the season. In the Big Ten Tournament, Ohio State entered as the No. 3 seed and powered past No. 6 Purdue and No. 2 Michigan before falling to No. 1 seed Michigan State in the championship game. A win likely would have resulted in a No. 1 seed. Instead, the Buckeyes enter the NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 seed in the East, where they’ll face No. 15 Loyola in their first game.

Safe to say, then, that the season has gone well. Despite some early stumbles to the likes of Denver and Murray State, the Eagles got off to a 13-2 non-conference start and at one point reeled off 10 straight wins. They continued their strong play in Conference USA action, as they started 7-1 with their only loss being to Memphis.

The final win during that 7-1 stretch was a rematch against Memphis. In that one, Darnell Dodson led the Eagles with 23 points and six rebounds. That win gave them the conference lead and seemed to have them pretty well set up, as most of their toughest games were behind them.

Montana is in the NCAA Tournament after winning the Big Sky Tournament, earning the conference’s auto-bid in the process. As the No. 13 seed in the East, they’ll face No. 4 Wisconsin in the second round.

The Grizzlies defeated Weber State in the championship, avenging a January loss to the Wildcats. That Montana won the tournament and entered the March Madness field should come as no surprise: the Grizzlies nearly ran the table in the Big Sky, finishing 15-1 in conference play and 25-6 overall.

Gonzaga split its season series with Saint Mary’s, losing on the road and winning at home, while also slipping up two other times in conference play. Newcomer BYU knocked the Zags off in Provo, Utah, in early February and San Francisco put away the Bulldogs two weeks later.

In the non-conference schedule, Gonzaga only lost twice while playing a strong, but not brutal slate of teams. The losses came in back-to-back fashion to two Big Ten teams -- Illinois and Michigan State -- a week apart. The Bulldogs built up a solid resume and it was needed after the slip-up in the WCC Championship prevented Gonzaga from taking the auto-bid. Nevertheless, they earned the No. 7 seed in the East, and will face No. 10 West Virginia in their first game.

The Crimson opened with eight consecutive wins that included a victory over then-No. 20 Florida State before losing their first game of the year, to then-No. 9 UConn. The Crimson would eventually start 12-1 and rise as high as No. 21 in the coaches’ poll before a loss to Fordham temporarily halted their ascension. Harvard eventually regained that lofty ranking after nine straight wins had them sitting at 20-2 before a loss to Princeton knocked them back out of the Top 25.

Harvard did manage to finish the regular season with a 26-4 overall record and 12-2 record in the Ivy League. That was good enough to edge out Penn for the league title and earn their automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. As the No. 12 seed in the East, they’ll face No. 5 Vanderbilt in their first game.

The Cincinnati Bearcats put together quite the run in the Big East Tournament, perhaps putting aside any doubts that they’d be in the NCAA Tournament field in the process. Cincinnati already was on fairly solid ground ahead of the tournament, but a run to the finals with wins over Georgetown and Syracuse proved to be a significant resume-booster. As a result, Cincinnati is dancing, despite falling to Louisville in the Big East Tournament Championship.

Cincinnati finished in a logjam for fourth in the Big East standings along with Georgetown and South Florida. The Bearcats compiled a 12-6 conference record that included regular season wins over Georgetown, Lousville and UConn. However, it was the non-conference record that was cause for concern with Selection Sunday approaching.

The Florida State Seminoles were supposed to finish third in the ACC, and that is exactly where they finished in the regular season. However, they finished in that position in extremely disappointing fashion.

Any doubt about whether or not those two victories were flukes was cleared up during the ACC Tournament, as Florida State rolled past Duke and UNC once again on their way to the conference championship. In the process, the Seminoles enter the NCAA Tournament as the No. 3 seed in the East, facing No. 14 St. Bonaventure in their first game.