March Madness power rankings for the East Region

We’re going to be going region-by-region for our Power Rankings for this year’s NCAA March Madness Tournament, and along the way, we’re going to give each region a nickname. The East is the “Region of Legends,” thanks to its inclusion of Danny Hurley, Tom Izzo, Bill Self, and Rick Pitino on the coaching side, and Cameron Boozer and Darryn Peterson as players.

MORE: Predicting the winner of March Madness 2026

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1. Duke

The Blue Devils enter the tournament as the number one overall seed, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not without concerns. They’re unlikely to have Caleb Foster through the duration of the tournament, and Patrick Ngongba’s status is unknown. Still, no one in the ACC was good enough to beat Duke while missing two starters, and the Blue Devils enter the NCAA Tournament as ACC Tournament champions.

2. Kansas

Mar 12, 2026; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas Jayhawks guard Darryn Peterson (22) during a break in play during the second half against the TCU Horned Frogs at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images

The Jayhawks are the only other team in this region that I could actually envision winning a National Championship, and that’s largely because they have a head coach who’s done it twice before (Bill Self) and the probable #1 pick in the NBA Draft (Darryn Peterson). And he seems to have put all of his nonsense behind him.

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3. Michigan State

March is typically the month for Tom Izzo where his team plays their best basketball and makes a run out of nowhere. Their one-and-done trip to the Big Ten Tournament did not exactly inspire confidence. For the Spartans to outperform their seed, they’re going to need to hold teams to under 65 points, and that will get harder the longer they survive.

4. St Johns

The Red Storm has one of the best big men in college basketball that no one seems to be talking about, and that’s Zuby Ejiofor. He took Tarris Reed’s lunch money in the Big East title game, and he’s going to…

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Publish date : 2026-03-17 14:14:00

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