This years East Regional is at the Garden in Boston. I happen to have a few tickets to the event.
Tickers for the East Regional are going for over $400 (in my section) on StubHub. What kind of fan would I be if I sold them though? These prices are in comparison to the other regions which are not even reaching $200.
Although each of the four regions are stacked and obviously, at this point have good games, the east region is probably the most interesting.
#1 Pitt vs. #4Xavier, Thursday @ 7:27 p.m. ET
This game has the best chance of the #1 seed getting upset. Pitt is still a great team but they are making it interesting for their fans. Pitt’s Sam Young has been more than outstanding. For the Panthers to move on he is going to have to continue on his way to MOP of the Tourney.
Xavier, as always, is flying under the radar. The now seemingly perennial Atlantic-10 conference cream of the crop had another great season. It seems like no one knows it but they have non-conference wins over Missouri, Virginia Tech, Memphis, Auburn and Cincinnati as well as wins over Dayton and Temple. In their last tourney game they beat up on Wisconsin on the second half showing some heart after a close game up until halftime.
#2 Duke vs. #3 Villanova, Thursday @ 9:57 p.m. ET
You have to think that this is a better match-up for the Blue Davils than the Longhorns were. ‘Nova is a small team just like Duke. If these teams are having good offensive nights this one could be a shootout. The only games with higher over/under’s right now are the ‘Cuse game and the UNC game.
If this game comes down to one player making a big play or two for his team, I would have to take Gerald Henderson over just about anyone in the nation.
I think I am going to where my Villanova tee to the game in hopes to get into it a little bit with some Duke fans. I’m not certain about my plans for graduate school so I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see Duke play in person. On a similar not, it’s somewhat rare to get to see this type of national power house programs under one arena roof. Needless to say I am excited.
More on the East and the other Regionals in the coming days.
