Jake's East Region Bracket

"This is March."- Jon Rothstein. Welcome to the most fantastic three weeks of the year, and I have you covered. In my previous articles, I finished second out of twenty-five in my conference tournament pool, and this month has been an excellent month for me. There are three more weeks, and let's try to capitalize on the most intriguing tournament in years! Here is my East Region Bracket:

My winner: Duke

Duke might be THE hottest team in college basketball right now. Although a rocky start for Jon Scheyer as he took over the reins at Duke this year. Duke's season aged like fine wine, with a slow start, and started to heat up towards the end. At the end of the year, Duke ended up 16-0 at Cameron and won the ACC Tournament. In the ACC Tournament, they destroyed Pitt, handled the one-seed Miami, and beat Virginia by ten in a defensive battle. Duke has much momentum going into March, but they are tasked with Oral Roberts, the spoiler of the 2021 March Madness. Oral Robert's still has Max Abmas, who became known after his performance in 2021. As this is his final dance, he and Oral Robert's will make it hard for Duke to get out of the first RoundRound, but momentum impacts college basketball. Duke this year is led by Kyle Flipowski, who is a center and averaging nearly a double-double each game. In addition to Flipowski, Duke gets a lot of help from their guards, Jeremy Roach, Tyrese Proctor, and Mark Mitchell, which has helped elevate the three-ball. Their slow start was because they needed help to hit the three ball at the beginning of the year. As ACC play rolled around, the three balls started falling, and Duke was able to win the ball games. To accommodate a new hot offense, Duke has prided itself on stellar defense and held Virginia to 49 points on Saturday. Duke will find themselves in Houston if they make threes and win the rebound battle.

My path for Duke: Oral Roberts, Lousiana, FAU, Kansas State

My highlight game of the Round of 64: Providence vs. Kentucky

Providence and Kentucky both surprised me this year. Providence exceeds expectations, and Kentucky is lucky to be a six-seed. Providence had a bad end to the season with a terrible loss at home to Seton Hall and losing in the first round of the Big East Tournament to UConn. Although the scoreboard said, Providence lost by seven to UConn, the second half of that game showed why Providence is not out of any game. Providence went on a 25-6 run to cut the lead to five with three minutes left. Some missed calls helped UConn survive the upset, but Providence can play. Ed Cooley has made Providence a contender this year, and Byrce Hopkins, Noah Locke, Devin Carter, and Ed Croswell have helped the Friar have a top-20 offense this year. In addition, their defense is mediocre at best, and Kentucky's top-15 offense can exploit that. Similarly to Duke, Kentucky is led by a big man in Oscar Tshiebwe and has three-point shooters in Antonio Reeves and Carson Wallace. Betting against Jon Calipari, one of the tournament's most prized college basketball coaches is challenging. One area for Kentucky that could affect them is that they have a lot of turnovers but have found places to win elsewhere, usually through the three-ball. I feel this game will be a back-and-forth shootout, and I will take the over. 

My pick: Providence

For more picks, follow @sharpapp_jake on Instagram for content updates throughout March!