Lots of questions to answer in this region, led by the health of Duke freshman Cooper Flagg.
Sick of hard-hitting analysis of the 2025 NCAA Tournament? Up to your eyeballs in expert picks chock-full of astute takes on players to watch and budding upsets?
Fear not, friends: your pals at Anonymous Eagle are here to inject some half-baked, homespun “insight” into the proceedings, with our (mostly) annual region-by-region tour, as we go Anonymously Through the Brackets.
For each region, we’ll give you our patented Anonymous Eagle Half-Arsed Analysis with: a gutless pick to win the region; a sleeper regional champ; a CRUSH YOUR MAN upset special; a player/team we’d pay to watch; a player most likely to carry his team singlehandedly to the Sweet 16; and the best player in the region that you’ve never heard of before.
Let’s see what Bracketville has in store when we make our way to the East Region, shall we?
GUTLESS WONDER Pick To Win The Region
You have a question in front of you here. Do you truly believe Duke when they tell you that superstar freshman Cooper Flagg’s ankle is going to be fine when the Blue Devils start their tournament run on Friday against one of the First Four #16 seeds? Do you believe Flagg will be fine on Sunday when Duke (presumably) advances to take on Baylor or Mississippi State? What if Flagg ends up sitting out the first weekend, and if that happens, then how comfortable are you trusting them to get to the second weekend and then with the chances he plays in the Sweet 16?
As such, the coward’s way out is to take Alabama, because no one is going to challenge your assertion that the #2 seed in the region with KenPom.com’s #4 offense won’t make it to the Final Four.
CHEX BOLD PARTY MIX Bold Pick To Win The Region
If Wisconsin is hitting their three-pointers, they are nigh unstoppable. The Badgers are 11-1 this season when they shoot better than 39% from long range, and six of those wins have happened since the loss back on January 21. If anything, they got too three-point happy in that road defeat against UCLA, as they attempted a season high 61% of their shots from behind the arc. Made 50% of them, but the Bruins got the two point victory.
No, it’s not particularly bold to pick the #3 seed in the region as a BOLD PICK TO WIN. If Wisconsin isn’t hitting their threes, then you get something like their 7-for-39 performance in the Big Ten title game where they lost 59-53. That’s the bold part. You’re crossing your fingers that their shots are going in the net.
CRUSH YOUR MAN Upset Special
It’s a seed line upset, so that’s good enough for our work here: KenPom.com has #9 Baylor as a 1 point favorite over #8 seed Mississippi State. No, that’s not going to be a traditional CRUSH YOUR MAN by getting an underdog to win, but if you want to find a spot to catch an edge on a lower seeded team winning, this is a pretty good spot.
Both of these teams have been Going Through It in their respective leagues, with Baylor coming in with a record of 10-11 since New Year’s Day, and MSU is just 7-11 against SEC squads since January 10th. Someone’s going to be more desperate than the other to hang a positive note on their season, why not side with the lower seeded team that’s actually favored here?
Player I’d Pay To Watch
The obvious answer here is Duke’s Cooper Flagg. He’s probably going to be the #1 pick in the NBA Draft in June, he’s great, his team is great, cool. Good, great fun.
Buuuuuuuuuut like I said at the top, there’s at least a chance that Duke is not telling the 100% truth about Flagg’s availability as the tournament starts.
Thus, my attention turns to a guy I came reasonably close to actually paying money to see in person: Fellow Duke freshman Kon Knueppel. The Wisconsin Lutheran High School product was being recruited by Marquette to some degree, one way or another, but he’s having a great freshman year for the Blue Devils: 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal per game, knocking down 39% of his threes, and kiiiiinda looking like he’s well past this “I’m a freshman” thing. If Flagg doesn’t go, or is limited even, then get ready to hear and see a lot about Knueppel picking up the slack for Duke.
The Chiropractor Special: aka Who Can Put The Team On His Back?
If Caleb Love is on, you’re in a lot of trouble when you play Arizona. In 7 KenPom.com Game MVP performances this season, all in victories, Love is shooting a preposterous 47% behind the arc. He is capable of personally ending your NCAA tournament run if you are first round opponent Akron or anyone else that the Wildcats end up facing off against. The man is instant offense, just add ball.
WITH THAT SAID, the category is who CAN put the team on his back, not who WILL put the team on his back. In Arizona’s other 27 games, where they went 15-12, Love shot 28% on threes. Have fun guessing which one shows up in Seattle on Friday afternoon!
Best Guy You’ve Never Heard Of
Robert Morris might get shuffled off this mortal coil by Alabama pretty quickly on Friday afternoon. BUT. BEFORE THAT. Alvaro Folgueiras is a 6’9”, 215 pound sophomore who just won Horizon League Player of the Year honors for the Colonials. He averages 14.1 points by knocking down 42% of his three long range attempts per game, he mixes it up inside to the tune of 9.1 rebounds per game, and he dishes it out pretty well with 3.1 assists a night. This game absolutely could turn into Bama’s Grant Nelson giving Folgueiras the business in the paint for 40 straight minutes, but this is the big Spaniard’s time to shine on a national stage.
Follow Anonymous Eagle on social media
Facebook: AnonymousEagle
Instagram: AnonymousEagleSBN
Bluesky: AnonymousEagle