Sweet 16 East Region Power Poll

The top four seeds all advanced to the Sweet 16 in the East Region, and this is how they stack up against one another according to the closing pointspread at BetUS Sportsbook.

1) Xavier Musketeers (27-7 SU, 18-12-2 ATS, 2-0 ATS in NCAA Tournament) It feels like the X-Men are in the discussion about the Sweet 16 every single season, but never seem to get much further than that in the tournament. Thanks to a helping hand from the Badgers knocking off Florida State, Xavier hasn’t faced much in the way of challenges so far this tourney, as it disposed of Portland State by 18 and Wisconsin by 11 to advance through Boise. If you throw out a bad loss in Richmond to close out the regular season, the Musketeers have held their L/9 opponents to an average of just 54.9 points per game. No one is truly putting up amazing can’t miss numbers so far in this tournament, but perhaps no one will have to. A date with a very similar Pittsburgh team is on the horizon. With wins over Memphis, Missouri, and LSU on the regular season resume, the X-Men could be the first team to bounce one of the big boys from this tourney.

Up Next: Pittsburgh (+7)

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2) Pittsburgh Panthers (30-4 SU, 16-11-1 ATS, 0-2 ATS in NCAA Tournament) Has U-Pitt been the worst of the #1 seeds so far? While their fellow top-line brethren are dominating foes (combined 5-1 ATS), the Panthers looked mortal and very beatable in each of the first weekend CBB betting affairs. They never were really threatened to lose to East Tennessee State in Round 1, but a 72-62 victory over a lowly 16 seed just isn’t what the doctor normally orders to start a tournament. Many thought that an upset was potentially in the cards against Oklahoma State, and after conceding 49 points in the first half, the likelihood seemed to be there. Give it up to forward’s Sam Young and DeJuan Blair, though. Young went for 32 points against the Okies, and now has a team-high 46 points and 21 boards for the tournament, while Blair has scored 37 points and brought down 28 boards. The truth of the matter is that someone else is going to have to step up and put together a couple big games for the Panthers to advance much further in this tournament. Xavier plays too strong on the defensive end of the court for any more lapses like the first half against OSU.

Up Next: Xavier (-7)

3) Villanova Wildcats (28-7 SU, 17-14 ATS, 1-1 ATS in NCAA Tournament) American jumped out to a 41-31 lead and had all of the momentum in the world going into the locker room against the #3 Wildcats, but after what had to be an incredible HT speech by HC Jay Wright, a new ‘Nova team emerged from the locker room. The Cats outscored the Eagles 49-26 in the second half to win 80-67, and nearly found a way to improbably cover the 15-point spread. In the L/60 minutes of basketball, Villanova has outscored its opponents by a whopping score of 138-95. UCLA HC Ben Howland doesn’t want to remember anything about his squad’s 89-69 loss to the Wildcats in a game that his Bruins were simply never in. F Dwayne Anderson and D Dante Cunningham have been unstoppable, as the duo has combined for 78 points and 36 rebounds in the two games. The #3 seed in the East has the attention of everyone else still standing in the bracket.