The East Regional is loaded. So stacked in fact that St. John’s fans have a legitimate gripe over their team’s fifth seed. Whatever team gets out of this region will be tourney-tough. Duke is the top seed, UConn second and so on. The selection committee pressed all the talent it could into these 16 teams. Pointing to the Red Storm again as an example, they could be tasked with facing Kansas of the Big 12 in the second round. That would be great television on a Sunday but Rick Pitino’s squad won 19 of its last 20 and beat the Huskes for the Big East championship by 20. Guess the loss at UConn and a 2-4 mark against ranked teams didn’t sit well with the selection folks. A look at the East Regional.
NCAA East Regional No. 1 seed: Duke
Record: 32-2
Resume: ACC regular season and tournament champion
Top 25 mark: 12-2
NCAA East Regional No. 2 seed: UConn
Record: 29-5
Resume: Big East runnerup in regular season and conference tournament
Top 25 mark: 5-3
NCAA East Regional No. 3 seed: Michigan State
Record: 25-7
Resume: Tied for second in Big Ten regular season
Top 25 mark: 6-4
NCAA East Regional No. 4 seed: Kansas
Record: 23-10
Resume: Tied for third in Big 12 regular season
Top 25 mark: 6-6
NCAA East Regional No. 5 seed: St. John’s
Record: 28-6
Resume: Won Big East regular season and conference tournament title
Top 25 mark: 2-4
NCAA East Regional No. 6 seed: Louisville
Record: 23-10
Resume: Finished sixth in ACC
Top 25 mark: 3-7
NCAA East Regional No. 7 seed: UCLA
Record: 23-11
Resume: Tied for sixth in Big Ten
Top 25 mark: 4-6
NCAA East Regional No. 8 seed: Ohio State
Record: 21-12
Resume: Finished eighth in Big Ten
Top 25 mark: 2-8
NCAA East Regional No. 9 seed: TCU
Record: 22-11
Resume: Finished sixth in Big 12
Top 25 mark: 3-6
NCAA East Regional No. 10 seed: UCF
Record: 21-11
Resume: Eighth in Big 12
Top 25 mark: 3-4
NCAA East Regional No. 11 seed: South Florida
Record: 25-8
Resume: Won American regular season and conference tournament
Top 25 mark: 9-1
NCAA East Regional No. 12 seed: Northern Iowa
Record: 23-12
Resume: Tied for sixth in Missouri Valley, won conference tournament
Top 25 mark: 0-0
NCAA East Regional No. 13 seed: CA Baptist
Record: 25-8
Resume: Finished second in WAC, won conference tournament
Top 25 mark: 0-1
NCAA East Regional No. 14 seed: North Dakota State
Record: 27-7
Resume: Won Summit League regular season and conference tournament
Top 25 mark:
NCAA East Regional No. 15 seed: Furman
Record: 22-12
Resume: Tied for fifth in Southern Conference, won postseason tournament
Top 25 mark: 0-0
NCAA East Regional No. 16 seed: Siena
Record: 23-11
Resume: Finished third in MAAC, won conference tournament
Top 25 mark: 0-0
This article originally appeared on The List Wire: NCAA men’s basketball tournament East Regional