The second week of March Madness is here, and there are all sorts of loaded matchups to watch for. The region with the best matchups seems to be the East Region, with Duke playing St. John's to start and Michigan State playing UConn to close out the doubleheader. The ticket prices are skyrocketing, and it is also making coaching history among all coaches for the success they have achieved.
According to ESPN Insights, this will be the first time all four coaches in a Sweet 16 region each have an NCAA tournament win percentage of 70% or greater. Rick Pitino and Tom Izzo have been around college basketball forever and are legends of the game. Dan Hurley has emerged as the best coach in college basketball today, and Jon Scheyer has been great in his short time as the Duke head coach since taking over from Mike Krzyzewski.
Dan Hurley has a 77.3 % winning percentage, Jon Scheyer has a 76.9% winning percentage, Rick Pitino has a 72.2%, and Tom Izzo has a 70.1% percentage.
The first game up pits the old generation against the new, with Duke playing St. John's. The Blue Devils regained their footing after a scare against Siena to open the NCAA Tournament with a dominant win against TCU. The Horned Frogs could have been a good preview for what the Red Storm likes to do. St. John's is elite at dominating the paint, scoring points off turnovers, and turning offensive rebounds into offense.
A key point of the game could be what ends up happening with Duke at the point guard spot because Caleb Foster is still injured, and Cayden Boozer has played well in his spot, but the pressure St. John's will put on him is on a different level.
Michigan State and UConn will also have another very physical game. The Spartans' defense loads the paint, cuts off driving lanes, and sprints back out to contest three-pointers, which is why the difference might hinge on whether UConn can make them consistently. UConn has been inconsistent from three-point range recently, but they do have an advantage with Tarris Reed Jr. down low.
