While the East bracket does not quite have the offensive firepower and sharp contrasts that the South bracket that I also previewed does, there are still plenty of compelling talking points.


The burden of expectations: Pittsburgh has accumulated a lot of success in the last seven years under first Ben Howland and now Jamie Dixon, who have combined to make the NCAA tournament each of the last eight years. Most of the seeds the Panthers have been given have been high (2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 9) and they’ve managed to go 10-7 over this time period. Their expected win total given those seeds is 10.77, so they haven’t underperformed too badly, it’s just that they haven’t had the big breakthrough into the Elite Eight and beyond that everyone in the Steel City has been hoping for.


With their highest seed yet, though, the expectation and pressure to make the jump to the next level will be enormous. No longer will a nice little run suffice. This Panthers team starts three seniors and a likely underclassmen declaring for the NBA draft, so the time is now. As a No. 1 seed, Pitt was given a pretty good draw in its half of the region. Xavier and Florida State aren’t the toughest No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in the Tournament, and, while both Oklahoma State and Tennessee are a bit more dangerous than their No. 8 and No. 9 seeds would project, Pitt shouldn’t have a major problem advancing to the Sweet Sixteen. It’s what happens that second weekend that will define whether this Panthers’ season is considered a breakthrough or a bittersweet memory.


Four in a row? UCLA has been reinvigorated under Ben Howland back into perennial national-title contender status. This has culminated in three straight Final Fours, an incredible accomplishment in any era but even more so since the Tourney expanded to 64 teams. Is four in a row possible after losing so many pieces over the last few years? In a single word — no. Still, UCLA is a very dangerous team led by one of the best point guards in the country. The last three UCLA teams have finished third, second and third in defensive efficiency in the nation, an extraordinary feat. This year’s UCLA team actually features the best offense of the three, but the defense is “only” ranked 41st in the nation.


In the end, if the bracket had been favorable, I could have seen a legitimate run for a fourth straight Final Four, but, alas, the committee does not wish this so. UCLA was drawn in the Philadelphia pod, and will have to travel cross country to play a dangerous Virginia Commonwealth team. VCU is led by super guard Eric Maynor, he of the CAA tourney heroics, the last-second buzzer-beater to upset Duke, and also the neck-and-neck with Steph Curry to be the first mid-major player drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft this June. Their reward for beating VCU? A likely matchup with a very solid Villanova team in its hometown. Should UCLA survive the first cross-country weekend, they will actually have to travel even farther east to Boston where they will probably face Duke and then Pitt. Is winning all four games possible? Yes. Likely? Not at all. Sorry, Bruins fans, you’ll have to work on starting up that streak again next season.


The X-Factor: Can Xavier turn it around? The NCAA selection committee certainly thinks so by giving the Musketeers a more-than-generous No. 4 seed. Xavier started the season brightly, including wins over Missouri, Virginia Tech and Memphis to take home the title in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. XU also beat major-conference foes Cincinnati and Virginia on the road and tacked on a home win over Auburn and road win at LSU. The last month however has seen Xavier really slip in its quality of play. The Musketeers are only 5-5 in their last 10 games including losses to Charlotte, Richmond and Duquesne. While four of these losses were conference road games and the fifth a neutral court loss to a talented Temple team, that shouldn’t excuse a team slotted to be one of the nation’s 16 best. Several of these losses have been the result of poor defense and turning the ball over. The first part should be correctable if Xavier can channel the energy that launched its to such a strong non-conference record, but the turnovers are going to be a problem for the Musketeers. Should they be upset by a lower seed, I think those giveaways will be the key reason.


The Empire strikes back? Since its national title in 2001, Duke has been the most disappointing team in the NCAA tournament, and there’s no real competition:

The Blue Devils are nearly averaging a full win less than they should be in the NCAA tournament. I’m not sure anyone has an obvious reason for this other than Duke being overseeded each year. The committee would have had to lower their seed just more than one full seed line each year for them to reach their expected win totals. Maybe teams really get geeked up to play the Blue Devils each year or maybe the “ACC” calls that they get every year aren’t called in the NCAA Tournament. Whatever the reason, though, it’s important for Duke to try to reverse the trend and put in its first solid since 2004. Should Duke make the Elite Eight (and that really is not a guarantee), every media pundit has been harping on how badly Pitt will be able to dominate the paint, and rightfully so. A Duke Final Four appearance most likely would involve some upsets along the way such as facing a Xavier or Florida State.


Major-conference bracket buster? While I considered Virginia Commonwealth as the bracket buster of the East region due to the previously mentioned heroics of Eric Maynor, and Portland State isn’t that bad of a shout at an upset over a downswing Xavier, I decided to go with the No. 12-seeded Wisconsin Badgers as my potential team to ruin this bracket. What do the Badgers do well? Unlike previous years, this iteration is not a dominant defensive team but still retains it’s incredible ability to combine few turnovers on offense with above-average shooting. While retread low-seeded major-conference teams like Wisconsin don’t normally seem that dangerous, the Badgers are dealing with a favorable pod group in Florida State, Xavier and Portland State. Florida State thrilled with its run to the ACC tournament final, but the Seminoles have a fatal flaw in having poor ball-handling and weak defensive rebounding. Making things even more delicious for Wisconsin is that Xavier joins FSU in being the only teams with better than a No. 15 seed that are in the bottom quartile of the field in offensive turnover percentage. Look for the Badgers, the slowest-paced team in the tournament, to shorten the game and use the extra possessions their opponents give them to make life difficult for the higher seeds.


The Best Matchup I think the potential UCLA vs. Villanova matchup in Philadelphia is definitely the matchup to look out for. As I previously stated, UCLA has had the deck stacked against it this year despite having quite a talented team that is flying under the radar as much as a team with three consecutive Final Fours can. If the Bruins have the mental toughness to make it to the Sweet 16 — and it’s hard to believe that mental toughness will be a problem for a Ben Howland-coached team — then maybe there really is some special sauce that BHowland is feeding them out in Westwood. For Villanova, this home-court advantage should be enough to put it over the top. Once in the Sweet 16, Villanova would be buoyed by its regular season victory over these same Pitt Panthers and the knowledge that a Final Four trip could be a reality.


How it all ends up: I actually like most of the chalk picks in this region, as I think the teams are seeded in decreasing order for the most part. The one exception to this is Wisconsin, who I like for the above reasons to pull a shock Sweet 16 trip. The funny thing is I would put No. 12 seeded Wisconsin and No. 10 seeded Michigan in South as nearly as likely to make the Sweet 16 as Big Ten big dogs Michigan State, Purdue and Illinois. The most intriguing aspect of the East Region, to me, remains the fate of the Pittsburgh Panthers.