If you’re like me you’ve already put in your vacation notice, stocked your fridge full of beer and food, and are preparing to spend Thursday and Friday in front of the TV in basketball heaven.
This is the greatest 4-days of the year, the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. Over the next two days, TastyBooze will be dissecting the four regions and letting you know who will be the survivors into the Sweet 16. First up, the East Region.
Overview: The East is loaded with teams who were highly regarded this year and hit road blocks…Tennessee, Texas, UCLA and Wisconsin, all have experienced rosters and the ability to go off. It just depends on whether the consistency of Duke and Pittsburgh will be enough for the top seeds in the East to make it through the weekend. Also, the fact that Pitts has screwed me the past four years in my bracket, so somehow I’ll have to look past that and see if they should win, and go to hell!
Cinderella: Portland State. They won at Gonzaga and played Washington tough this year, their achilles heel is playing against a dominant big man, which Xavier doesn’t have. Portland State also only has to travel to Boise and should have a strong following of fans. The Vikings (PSU) love to shoot the 3, and if they’re on, Xavier will have a long return flight home (figuratively and literally). In the second round, PSU would face the winner in the 5/12 game, either Florida State or Wisconsin. With the home-minded crowd, Portland State could roll on through to the Sweet 16.
Sleeper: No. 7 seed, Texas. A.J. Abrams is the man. He’s the type of player who can put the team on his shoulders and carry them through a game, or even a weekend. The Longhorns have been tested throughout the Big 12 season, and if they get hot, Duke could be in trouble.
East Region Randomness: Or you could call this, “Player in the East Region Who Looks Most Like A Former NBA Player,” and that would go to Seth Coy - the 6′11″ freshman at East Tennessee State. I am willing to bet that he is George Muresan’s illegitimate son. The center only averages 3 points and 2 rebounds a game…and more than likely Pitt’s DeJuan Blair and Sam Young will have their way with the Muresan look-a-like on Friday.
Favorites: Pitt and Duke should both make it through the weekend, although they both could face potentially dangerous streaky teams in Tennessee and Texas; however Pitt and Duke are too fundamentally strong. The other two spots in the Sweet 16 will be nabbed by Florida State and Villanova. ‘Nova is essentially playing at home in Philadelphia, otherwise on a truly “neutral” court we might be more likely to go with UCLA and all their experience.
Region MVP: Pitt’s Levance Fields will likely rest as much as possible with a sore groin, if the Panthers get big leads. Therefore, it will be between Toney Douglas (Florida State) and Gerald Henderson (Duke). If the Seminoles make it through, it’ll be on Douglas’ shoulders. If Duke doesn’t make it to the Sweet 16 it probably means that Henderson had an off night.
TastyBooze East Region: Pitt, Florida State, Villanova and Duke.
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That Seth Coy motherfucker up there is a freshman!?
Maybe that’s a bad picture but his face looks as wrinkly as a 67-year-old man’s ass.