NCAA East Region: Hurricane Warning

Ball So Hard Sports is breaking down each of the 4 regions before giving you our Final Four and title picks as well as unveiling our full bracket for you to compete against. We've already covered the Midwest and West Regions and now come back East, where Indiana holds the #1 seed.

This region feels like the one where nobody is really overwhelming, some teams have disappointed and fell into low seeds here. Others got seeded a bit better than they should but are here as well. You'd like to think one of the top 2, Indiana and Miami, would view this as a weak draw and roll through to Atlanta, but you can't help but think one of the lower seeds or a real Cinderella could come out of this one and not just because the new King of Cinderellas, Butler, is here either.

Favorites: Indiana has to be on the top of most prediction lists. They were at or near the top of the polls all year long, they have Victor Oladipo and Tyler Zeller, quite possibly the best duo in the country and after a steady rise, Tom Crean has the Hoosiers ready to return to glory. Miami, led by Jim Larranaga (who knows a thing or two about NCAA Tourney runs) has come from the unknowns this year to run through the ACC with regular-season and tournament titles. Syracuse has had its ups and downs, but they're always a threat in march with Boeheim manning the sidelines.

Sleepers:  NC State was a chic pic early in the season to do exactly what Miami did. While they sputtered all year, they are playing well now and could pose a big problem for the Hoosiers in round three. Butler is hoping the third time is the charm with coach Brad Stevens. Illinois is being talked about simply for being a Big 10 team and the dominance of the conference this year. While not region winner worthy, Cal, Bucknell, Montana and Davidson all could provide some first round upsets to mess up your bracket.

Best First Round Game: UNLV/Cal was my pick, simply because UNLV is playing with a chip on their shoulder as they hear they were over-seeded and have to play Cal in San Jose, but the best game to watch in this region is going to be the Davidson/Marquette contest. A lot of people picking Davidson in the upset and if it happens, watching a 14 over a 3 will be a highlight of your day, unless you have Marquette, of course.

Best Potential Late Round Game: Indiana vs. Butler. While I don't have this match-up in my bracket, you have to love the potential of this rematch. Indiana getting a shot at revenge and the Final Four by beating a Butler team who beat them on a buzzer-beater and would be heading to their third straight Final Four. Full of drama that we'd all love, but I don't think either will be playing on that day.

Ball So Hard Sports Pick:  Miami. I think point guards are going to be critical in this tournament. Shane Larkin is one of the best in the country and he's going to get a chance to show everyone that, as well as show that Miami isn't a fluke by bringing them to the Final Four. Hell, Miami is currently the capital of the basketball world, so why shouldn't the Hurricanes be our pick?

Let The Madness Begin!

Forget Christmas, THIS is the most wonderful time of the year for me as a sports fan. The NBA is in full swing heading toward playoff mode, golf is picking up steam as we get closer to Augusta, Spring Training has everyone thinking about summer and mock drafts fill the blogosphere. Oh, yeah, and March Madness is here, shutting down offices and stirring debate like no other sporting event around.

Look, anyone with a bracket and a pen (or keyboard) has a chance. We all have our opinions, our alma maters, our favorite teams, you name it. The receptionist in the office who thinks a Jackrabbit is way cuter than a Wolverine has just as good a shot of winning the office pool as the guy who thinks he's smarter than Jay Bilas and the guy who gloats about staying up every night to watch the west coast games and says that's why he is going to win.

The truth is: this year, its anyone's title to win. We've seen the VCU's and Butler's crash the party the last couple of years and that was when there were heavy favorites. Now we enter a tournament where realistically, any of the top 4 seeds in each region could head to Atlanta and cut down nets. Not to mention, there are probably 2 or 3 lower seeds in each region that could surprise and advance. That's around 20 teams out of the 68 that could make it. Pretty good odds for everyone heading into Thursday and Friday's first round (Yes, first round. These 4 Dayton games are play-ins, stop kidding yourselves, NCAA!) match-ups.

Here at Ball So Hard Sports, we're trying real hard to take our San Diego State Alumni hat off (I swear, this team can get hot and be playing in the Sweet 16...but just as likely is one and done) and not pick our favorites like we do every year (Hey, Berman had SF and Buffalo in the Super Bowl for like 15 years, why can't I have Duke, Syracuse, Arizona and Michigan in my Final Four AGAIN?) and pick the best teams to go to Atlanta.

With that said, here's how the BSHSB is breaking down the brackets:

-Region-by-region analysis: Favorites, sleepers, upset specials. We'll give you all the tools to pick your brackets and be ready for the office pools.

-Final Four picks: Learn who Ball So Hard has cutting down nets and heading to Atlanta.

-The Full Monty: See our bracket and go head-to-head with us.

Six blogs. All coming your way over the next two days. Keep checking back for updates and send us your Final Four, upset and sleeper picks on Twitter.