2025 NCAA tournament: What you need to know about the East region

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[What to know about each region: South | West | Midwest]

With the 2025 NCAA men’s tournament upon us, here’s everything you need to know about the East region.

Who are the favorites?

Duke is the second No. 1 overall seed, but the betting favorite to win the national title as of early Monday morning ahead of Florida and No. 1 overall seed Auburn. Alabama is a tournament-tested team that followed up last year’s Final Four run with a third-place finish in the nation’s toughest conference to earn a No. 2 seed. There’s little difference in the eyes of bettors between No. 3 seed Wisconsin and No. 4 seed Arizona.

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When will the No. 1 seed go down?

This depends very much on the health status of Cooper Flagg. If he’s healthy and ready to go, the No. 1 seed might not go down at all. Duke’s a juggernaut that stormed through the ACC with a 19-1 record and finished the season with the nation’s largest average margin of victory (20.8 points per game).

And it’s not just Flagg. Freshman sharpshooter Kon Knueppel and 7-foot-2 freshman center Khaman Maluach are projected alongside Flagg as first-round NBA draft picks from a roster that runs deep on talent. This is a team that won two games without Flagg to lift the ACC tournament championship.

Head coach Jon Scheyer says that he expects Flagg to be ready and healthy for Duke’s tournament opener on Friday after suffering a sprained right ankle on Thursday. If that’s the case, then Duke’s the clear favorite in the East and on the short list of favorites to win it all.

Can anyone in the East stop Cooper Flagg and Duke? (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Who is the Cinderella of the region?

No. 10 Vanderbilt is battle-tested after running the SEC gantlet. The Commodores finished a respectable 8-10 in SEC play in a conference that produced an NCAA-record 14 tournament teams.

They have five wins over ranked teams, including three straight in February and top-10 victories over No. 9…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/college-basketball/article/2025-ncaa-tournament-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-east-region-133909447.html

Author : Jason Owens

Publish date : 2025-03-17 13:39:00

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