The NCAA tournament bracket has been set, and the East region is topped by the Villanova Wildcats this year. Last year’s tournament champion lost just three games this year on the way to conference regular season and tournament titles, and Jay Wright’s club is primed to make a repeat appearance in the Final Four, if not win the whole shebang outright.
NCAA bracket 2017: East region is the region of death
Villanova is the No. 1 overall seed in the death region.
The Duke Blue Devils, after running roughshod through the ACC tournament and becoming the first team to win four games in four days at that conference tilt, grabbed up the East’s No. 2 seed, and they’ll meet No. 15 Troy in the opening round. Duke went through something of a weird season, losing seven in-conference games during the regular season, but the Blue Devils rallied in the conference tournament to blast through the field and top Notre Dame on Saturday Night in the Barclays Center. Mike Krzyzewski and company will certainly hope that momentum continues into the Big Dance.
The No. 4 Florida Gators drew No. 13 East Tennessee State in the tournament’s first round, a rather dangerous matchup for Mike White’s club in this year’s tournament. The Buccaneers won the Southern conference’s regular season and tournament championships, while Florida has struggled to find consistent production on offense all season. The Gators will defend the hell out of teams, but with a field goal rate at just 45 percent, they’re shooting just 142nd in the nation.
Further on in the deepest region of the tournament field, No. 8 Wisconsin will meet with No. 9 Virginia Tech, pitting together a Big Ten finalist and an upper mid-tier team from the country’s best conference this year. The Hokies went on a tear in the early season, gathering wins over Michigan, Duke, and Syracuse, but faded as their ACC schedule set in, prompting many experts to cool on their standing in the tournament field.
No. 3 Baylor played at times lights-out basketball this season, but the Bears faded down the stretch, picking up a bad loss to Kansas State in the Big 12 tournament to end their season. Scott Drew’s club could collect itself and make a run into the Sweet 16, but it’ll first have to get through No. 12 New Mexico State to do it.
Here’s the full East Region bracket, from SB Nation’s updating bracket:
See More:
