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The regions and seeding for the NCAA Tournament have been decided with Selection Sunday in the rearview mirror. The East Region includes quite a few notable teams that have a chance to make some noise in the tournament.
Below, we look at Tipico Sportsbook’s NCAA Tournament East Region futures odds and and make our expert college basketball picks and predictions.
Purdue (29-5) earned the top seed in the East Region, while Texas Southern (14-20) and Fairleigh Dickinson (19-15) will face each other Wednesday in the First Four to determine who will take on the Boilermakers in the round of 64. Even though they aren’t the top seeds, Duke (26-8), Kentucky (21-11), and Michigan State (19-12) were all selected for the East Region.
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East Region futures odds
Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 10:30 a.m. ET.
1 seed: Purdue Boilermakers +300 (bet $100 to win $300)
2 seed: Marquette Golden Eagles +450 (bet $100 to win $450)
3 seed: Kansas State Wildcats +900 (bet $100 to win $900)
4 seed: Tennessee Volunteers +550 (bet $100 to win $550)
5 seed: Duke Blue Devils +750 (bet $100 to win $750)
6 seed: Kentucky Wildcats +900 (bet $100 to win $900)
7 seed: Michigan State Spartans +1300 (bet $100 to win $1,300)
8 seed: Memphis Tigers +1200 (bet $100 to win $1,200)
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9 seed: Florida Atlantic Owls +3000 (bet $100 to win $3,000)
10 seed: USC Trojans +2000 (bet $100 to win $2,000)
11 seed: Providence Friars +2000 (bet $100 to win $2,000)
12 seed: Oral Roberts Golden Eagles +7000 (bet $100 to win $7,000)
13 seed: Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns +10000 (bet $100 to win $10,000)
14 seed: Montana State Bobcats +10000 (bet $100 to win $10,000)
15 seed: Vermont Catamounts +8000 (bet $100 to win $8,000)
16 seed: Texas Southern Tigers/Fairleigh Dickinson Knights +10000 (bet $100 to win $10,000)
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East Region expert pick and prediction
Marquette Golden Eagles (+450)
The Golden Eagles (28-6) are one of the hottest teams entering the tournament with 9 straight wins, including a 14-point victory over No. 14 Xavier to win the Big East tournament. Coach Shaka Smart has Marquette playing fantastic basketball at the perfect time and it wouldn’t need to face Purdue until the Elite Eight at the earliest.
Guard play is vital in the NCAA tournament and the Golden Eagles have two good ones in G Kam Jones, who leads the team with 15.0 points per game, and G Tyler Kolek, who averages 7.7 assists per game. With Marquette playing at a frantic pace on offense and slowing teams down on defense, it’ll be a tough out in this year’s tournament.
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East Region contenders
Purdue Boilermakers (+300)
I’d be remiss not to mention Purdue as a threat in the East Region as the No. 1 seed. The Boilermakers lean on C Zach Edey, who creates plenty of mismatches with his size.
Purdue is a well-rounded squad and it just secured the Big Ten title with a win over Penn State. As long as Edey is on the floor, the Boilermakers have a chance to win against any team in the country.
Duke Blue Devils (+750)
The Blue Devils seem to be finding their groove recently as they cruised to beat No. 15 Miami and No. 10 Virginia in the ACC tournament to secure the conference crown. Duke has won 9 consecutive games and has gotten remarkable production from C Kyle Filipowski recently.
Duke has been a formidable unit on the defensive end all season and it is great at rebounding. If the Blue Devils can make a decent number of their 3-point attempts, they can advance pretty far under new coach Jon Scheyer.
Memphis Tigers (+1200)
Could a double-digit win over No. 1 Houston to win the AAC Tournament give the Tigers (26-8) some life in the Big Dance? Memphis plays stifling defense and is great at turning turnovers into points on the offensive end.
G Kendric Davis averages 22.1 points and 5.6 assists per game, and he enters the tournament having scored 20 or more points in 6 straight contests. With the Tigers forcing teams to make mistakes, they could advance further than some expect.
East Region long shots
Providence Friars (+2000)
The committee certainly knew what they were doing when they pitted Kentucky against Providence (21-11) in the round of 64. Friars F Bryce Hopkins will square off against his former team, and he’s posted 16.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game this season.
Kentucky has seemingly figured some things out recently, but Providence is a lethal offense that can catch fire at any moment. If the Friars can get past the Wildcats, they’ll be a dangerous team for whoever they play next.
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (+7000)
Cue the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia meme where Mac says “I’m playing both sides so that I always come out on top”. I listed Duke as a contender above, but Oral Roberts (30-4) could give it a stiff test and be a tough out if it advances.
The Golden Eagles still have G Max Abmas leading the way after helping Oral Roberts advance to the Sweet Sixteen last year. All it takes is one win to get a team rolling and we’ve seen the Golden Eagles go on a special run before.
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