NCAA Tournament East Preview Day 1

Posted byLawrence LangPosted inUncategorized

By Lawrence Lang

With the NCAA Tournament set to begin today here is a preview for all of today’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship – East Region.

2:00 PM 16 Norfolk State @ 1 Baylor 

  • NF State 24-6 1st in MEAC 
  • NF Joe Bryant Jr. (G) 16.8 PPG 
  • Baylor 26-6 1st in Big 12 
  • Baylor James Akinjo (G) 13.4 PPG 
  • Baylor Looking to repeat as Champions 
  • Looking at 1 vs 16 matchup this is the one that most likely an upset can happen 

4:30 PM 9 Marquette @ 8 North Carolina 

  • Marquette 19 -12 5th in Big East 
  • Marquette Justin Lewis (F) 17.1 PPG 
  • NC 24-9 2nd in ACC 
  • NC Armando Bacot (F) 16.5 PPG 
  • The 8 vs 9 matchup is my favorite matchup because its like flipping a coin for their seeding purpose and also when it comes to bracket challenges it’s always a tough one to pick because its the most even matchup in the opening around unlike a 16 vs 1 matchup.

7:10 PM  15  Saint Peters @ 2 Kentucky

  • Saint Peters 19-11 2nd in MAAC 
  • Saint Peters Daryl Banks III (G) 11.0 PPG 
  • Kentucky 26-7 2nd in SEC 
  • Kentucky Oscar Tshiebwe (F) 17.0 PPG 
  • If Saint Peters win they can become the 10th 15th seed to beat a 2nd seed in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Last 15th seed to beat a 2nd seed was in last Year tournament where Oral Roberts beat Ohio State 75-72 
  • For Kentucky this is interesting because they are always in the conversation of a team that can win every year but somehow have gone down in going home. 
    • 2012 won it all 
    • 2014 runner up 
    • 2015 final four 
    • 2019 Elite 8
    • 2022 Sweet 16 or first around ???

7:20 PM  12 Indiana @ 5 Saint Mary’s 

  • Indiana 21-13 9th in Big Ten 
  • Indiana Trayce Jackson- Davis (F) 18.4 PPG 
  • Saint Mary’s 25-7 2nd in WCC
  • Saint Mary’s Matthias Tass (F) 12.6 PPG 
  • Go Indiana for Grandma and because momentum is on their side after winning in the play-in game to get into the tournament.  

9:40 PM  10 San Francisco @ 7 Murray State 

  • SF 24-9 4th in WCC
  • SF Jamaree Bouyea (G) 16.7 PPG
  • Murray State 30-2 in OVC 
  • Murray State KJ Williams (F) 18.2 PPG 
  • With a 10 vs 7 matchup this is another fun matchup to watch, probably one of my favorites to watch because this is a situation where an upset can happen and let’s face it, upsets are always fun in the NCAA tournament. 

9:50 PM 13 Akron @ 4 UCLA 

  • Akron 24-9 3rd in MAC
  • Akron Ali Ali (F) 14.2 PPG 
  • UCLA 25-7 2nd in Pac- 12 
  • UCLA Johnny Juzang (G) 16.0 PPG 
  •  What’s interesting here is that the 13th seed has beaten the 4th seed 31 times in the last 36 years. Last year it happened twice when Ohio beat Virginia 62-58 and North Texas beat Purdue in overtime 78-69. If Akron can jump ahead early you never know we might be talking about Akron in tournament upset history. 

Leave a comment