NCAA tournament: A capsule look at the East Regional
Top-seeded teams
No. 1 Kentucky: Coach John Calipari guided Massachusetts and Memphis to the Final Four and is now in position to match Rick Pitino’s feat of doing it at three different schools.
No. 2 West Virginia: With a starting lineup entirely made up of players from the New York metropolitan area, the Mountaineers won their first Big East Conference tournament title.
No. 3 New Mexico: The Lobos open in San Jose, the start of a journey that could give Coach Steve Alford a triumphant return to the Hoosier state for the Final Four.
No. 4 Wisconsin: The Badgers limit opponents to 56.1 points a game, third fewest in the nation.
Cinderella search
Cornell, with a core of seniors, lost one Ivy League game. Its only other losses came against Seton Hall, Kansas and Syracuse.
Top players
John Wall, guard, Kentucky: The freshman is averaging 16.9 points and 6.2 assists a game for a team that also includes freshman forward DeMarcus Cousins among others.
Da’Sean Butler, forward, West Virginia: The senior averages 17.4 points and has made multiple game-winning shots this season, including one in the Big East tournament title game against Georgetown.
Ryan Wittman, forward, Cornell: Wittman is 12th nationally in three-point shooting, making 43.4% of his attempts for a team that ranks first in three-point shooting.
Rim shots
—Texas might be the most unpredictable, and dangerous, team in the tournament. The Longhorns started 17-0 and were ranked No. 1 before a 7-9 finish.
—Wofford, a liberal arts school in Spartanburg, S.C., won the Southern Conference and is making its first NCAA appearance. The Terriers would need to win twice to possibly meet Kentucky, making its 50th tournament appearance.
—Morgan State, with former California Coach Todd Bozeman, is in the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season.
—Washington was winless in its first seven games away from Seattle, but has gone unbeaten in seven road or neutral-court games since.
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