Top overall seed Duke gets a tough NCAA East Region draw with UConn, Hall of Fame coaches
Top overall seed Duke headlines the NCAA Tournament’s East Region bracket of March Madness.
The region is stacked with big names, starting with UConn as the 2-seed. That came after the Huskies had been in contention for a No. 1 seed both in the selection committee’s preliminary rankings in February and even this week leading into the Big East Tournament.
In addition, Hall of Fame coaches Tom Izzo from Michigan State, Bill Self from Kansas and Rick Pitino from Big East champion St. John’s lead the next teams up in the 16-team bracket.
Duke (32-2) is a No. 1 seed for the second straight year, with last year’s run ending in the Final Four. Jon Scheyer’s fourth squad has made it back to the top line in different fashion, relying on star freshman Cameron Boozer as the anchor to an inside-out approach that has routinely overwhelmed opponents in the paint and on the glass.
Duke begins play Thursday against 16th-seeded Siena in Greenville, South Carolina.
The rest of the bracket includes Louisville, UCLA, Ohio State, TCU, UCF, South Florida, Northern Iowa, Cal Baptist, North Dakota State and Furman.
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