The East Region is often the Elite Region come NCAA tournament time. Top college basketball conferences like the Big East and ACC play the brunt of their games on the East Coast and many of those conference’s teams find their way into the East Region bracket this time of year. We will examine East Region odds below. Regional brackets and game lines are now available.
This year’s East Sweet 16 games and Elite 8 Regional Final game will be played at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
East Region odds
Click on odds anywhere on this page to place a bet on the East Region. The remaining teams in the East Region are No. 3 seed Kansas State, as well as No. 4 seed Tennessee, No. 7 seed Michigan State and No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic.
No. 1 seed Purdue got knocked out in the first round by No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson University. It was just the second 1 vs. 16 upset in NCAA Tournament history. No. 2 Marquette was eliminated in the second round by Michigan State, 69-60.
East Region bracket
Check out our interactive NCAA bracket below. You can find East Region odds in the lower left portion of the bracket.
East Region game lines
Find NCAA tournament East Region game lines and betting information below.
No. 7 Michigan State vs. No. 3 Kansas State
Michigan State was favored by -2 over Kansas State Monday morning with total point line of 137.5. This game tips off Thursday, March 23 at 6:30 p.m. ET from New York, NY. The game will be broadcast on TBS.
No. 4 Tennessee vs. No. 9 Florida Atlantic
Tennessee was favored by -5 over Florida Atlantic Monday morning with a total points line of 131.5. This game tips off Thursday, March 23 at 9 p.m. ET from New York, NY, on TBS.
East Regional odds history
Go here for NCAA college basketball tournament odds for every game.
The 2022 East Region final will be remembered as the final chapter to St. Peter’s Cinderella story. This is the one about a small New Jersey college that had never won a NCAA Tournament game. Now they have three wins.
Sure the No. 15 Peacocks ended up losing to the No. 8 North Carolina Tar Heels 69-49 in the East Region final, but the March Madness world suddenly knows all about St. Peter’s. Making it as far as they did required pulling off the rare 15 over a 2 first round upset over Kentucky. St. Peter’s also eliminated No. 3 Purdue 67-64 in the Sweet 16.
North Carolina ended the feel-good story with a dominating performance which included a 38-19 halftime advantage. The deficit ended up being too much for St. Peter’s to overcome. North Carolina senior Armando Bacot finished with 20 point and 22 rebounds.
The Tar Heels represented the East Region in the National Championship Game where they lost to No. 1 Kansas 72-69.
The 2021 East Region produced a surprise Final Four team in UCLA. The 11-seeded Bruins upset No. 6 BYU in the first round, beat 14-seed Abilene Christian in the second round, toppled 2-seed Alabama in the Sweet 16 and capped off their run by taking down 1-seed Michigan.
Abilene Christian made it to the second round by knocking off 3-seed Texas in the first round. There was one other first round upset in the East last year as No. 10 Maryland beat No. 7 UConn.
The 2020 NCAA tournament was wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
East Region history: First round upsets
Upsets, big and small, are a common occurrence in the East Region. The 2012 tournament was the only Big Dance since the turn of the century in which there wasn’t at least one first round upset in the East Region.
The craziest East bracket since 2000 came in 2010 when a 12 beat a 5, an 11 beat a 6, a 10 beat a 7 and a 9 toppled an 8. The biggest upsets in the region came with 14 seeds stunning 3 seeds. In 2016, Stephen F. Austin shocked West Virginia and in 2005 Bucknell upset Kansas.
Here is a look at all of the lower seeds that have taken down higher seeds in the first round of the East over the past 22 years.
- 2022: No. 15 St. Peter’s over No. 2 Kentucky
- 2021: No. 11 UCLA over No. 6 BYU, No. 14 Albilene Christian over No. 3 Texas, No. 10 Maryland over No. 7 UConn
- 2019: No. 12 Liberty over No. 5 Mississippi State, No. 10 Minnesota over No. 7 Louisville, No. 9 UCF over No. 8 VCU
- 2018: No. 13 Marshall over No. 4 Wichita State, No. 10 Butler over No. 7 Arkansas, No. 9 Alabama over No. 8 Virginia Tech
- 2017: No. 11 USC over No. 6 SMU
- 2016: No. 14 Stephen F. Austin over No. 3 West Virginia, No. 9 Providence over No. 8 USC
- 2015: No. 11 Dayton over No. 6 Providence
- 2014: No. 12 Harvard over No. 5 Cincinnati
- 2013: No. 12 California over UNLV, No. 9 Temple over No. 8 NC State
- 2012: None
- 2011: No. 11 Marquette over No. 6 Xavier
- 2010: No. 12 Cornell over No. 5 Temple, No. 11 Washington over No. 6 Marquette, No. 10 Missouri over No. 7 Clemson, No. 9 Wake Forest over No. 8 Texas
- 2009: No. 12 Wisconsin over No. 5 Florida State
- 2008: No. 9 Arkansas over No. 8 Indiana
- 2007: No. 9 Michigan State over No. 8 Marquette
- 2006: No. 11 George Mason over No. 6 Michigan State
- 2005: No. 14 Bucknell over No. 3 Kansas, No. 10 North Carolina State, No. 9 Iowa State over No. 8 Minnesota
- 2004: No. 12 Manhattan over No. 5 Florida
- 2003: No. 12 Butler over No. 5 Mississippi State, No. 10 Auburn over No. 7 St. Joseph’s
- 2002: No. 12 Tulsa over No. 5 Marquette, No. 11 Southern Illinois over No. 6 Texas Tech
- 2001: No. 12 Utah State over No. 5 Ohio State, No. 9 Missouri over No. 8 Georgia
- 2000: No. 11 Pepperdine over No. 6 Indiana, No. 10 Seton Hall over No. 7 Oregon
NCAA champions from the East Region
The East Region has produced a respectable eight NCAA champions since 1990. Considering the Region often has top seeds from elite basketball conferences like the ACC and Big East, this is not too surprising.
The East had a three-year win streak in the early 2000s with Duke, Maryland and Syracuse going all the way. It also produced the second lowest seed to ever win the National Championship when UConn shocked the world as a 7 seed in 2014.
NCAA champs coming from the East Region over the past 31 years include:
- 2018 Villanova
- 2014 UConn
- 2005 North Carolina
- 2003 Syracuse
- 2002 Maryland
- 2001 Duke
- 1993 North Carolina
- 1992 Duke
Here is a look at NCAA champs by region and seed since 1990:
| Year | NCAA Champion | Region | Seed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Kansas | Midwest | 1 |
| 2021 | Baylor | South | 1 |
| 2020 | *Tournament canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | N/A | N/A |
| 2019 | Virginia | South | 1 |
| 2018 | Villanova | East | 1 |
| 2017 | North Carolina | South | 1 |
| 2016 | Villanova | South | 2 |
| 2015 | Duke | South | 1 |
| 2014 | UConn | East | 7 |
| 2013 | Louisville | Midwest | 1 |
| 2012 | Kentucky | South | 1 |
| 2011 | UConn | West | 3 |
| 2010 | Duke | South | 1 |
| 2009 | North Carolina | South | 1 |
| 2008 | Kansas | Midwest | 1 |
| 2007 | Florida | Midwest | 1 |
| 2006 | Florida | Midwest | 3 |
| 2005 | North Carolina | East | 1 |
| 2004 | UConn | West | 2 |
| 2003 | Syracuse | East | 3 |
| 2002 | Maryland | East | 1 |
| 2001 | Duke | East | 1 |
| 2000 | Michigan State | Midwest | 1 |
| 1999 | UConn | West | 1 |
| 1998 | Kentucky | South | 2 |
| 1997 | Arizona | South | 4 |
| 1996 | Kentucky | Midwest | 1 |
| 1995 | UCLA | West | 1 |
| 1994 | Arkansas | Midwest | 1 |
| 1993 | North Carolina | East | 1 |
| 1992 | Duke | East | 1 |
| 1991 | Duke | Midwest | 2 |
| 1990 | UNLV | West | 1 |
How the East Region is selected
On Selection Sunday each year, the NCAA Div. 1 men’s basketball “Selection Committee” meet to determine the field, choose each team’s seed and which region each team will be playing in. Southland Commissioner Tom Burnett is the current chairman of the Div. 1 men’s basketball committee. Thirty-two teams receive automatic bids by virtue of winning their respective conference tournament. The committee chooses the teams who receive “at-large” bids.
At-large selection and seeding is based on:
- Record
- Strength of schedule
- Scoring margin
- Location of wins, losses
- Net offensive and defensive efficiency
- Quality of wins and losses
As for which region each team is placed in, the committee will look to give top teams preferential treatment when it comes to travel. The best teams in the field will typically play close to home, and the teams that just barely make it will often have to go on the road.
For instance, the top teams in the 2019 East Region were:
Duke, Michigan State, LSU and Virginia Tech.
Had Michigan State posted a slightly better regular season record in 2019, they likely would have wound up in their traditional portion of the bracket – the Midwest. And had LSU been slightly better in the regular season, they would have likely landed in their traditional bracket of the South.