Did everyone forget about Wisconsin? That's no surprise.

CHJ’s final regional preview comes to you in the dinner hour, and it’s a full meal of games that the East is offering up. In fact, a buffet’s more like it, and you won’t want to treat this group of tilts like an à la cart menu (too heavy on the food metaphors? Stopping now). In the past decade no region has had more unpredictability, in terms of which seed gets to the Final Four, than the East. There’re quite a few storylines to get mention, and we’ll get to those below, but the lingering question for me with this bracket is: When does West Virginia lose?

The sites of the first weekend: Jacksonville, New Orleans, San Jose, Buffalo.

Most total tournament appearances: Kentucky (50), Temple (27), Texas (27), Marquette (27).

Least: Cornell (four), East Tennessee State (one), Wofford (none).

Ready for his March moment: Darington Hobson. The New Mexico forward has been no secret to any hoops fan living in the Mountain time zone, but I think it’s time he introduced himself to the rest of the country. Hobson was the Player of the Year in the Mountain West and led New Mexico to a 29-4, 14-2 record. He leads the Lobos in scoring, rebounds and assists. He’s a middle-class man’s Evan Turner.

The stats, trends and notables:

Dairese Gary, left, and Darington Hobson. They are Lobos; hear them roar.

—Clemson coach Oliver Purnell has never won a Tournament game. Clemson fans collectively chime in, “Yeah? And?”
—Temple coach Fran Dunphy has a 1-11 career record in The Dance.
—You’ve heard the stat, but it’s worth repeating: Texas went from No. 1 in the country to an overvalued 8-seed in six weeks.
—Midwest Final Four representative the last five seasons: 3, 1, 2, 11, 1.
—The youngest team in the field, Kentucky, is playing in New Orleans. Just sayin’.
—We’ve got some slow ones. Temple, Cornell, Wisconsin and Marquette (if it loses offense) are content to win a game in the 50s.
—Missouri’s last game was a los to Nebraska. Angry and ready to redeem, or checked out on a season?
—West Virginia has won eight of nine.
—Wake Forest has lost five of six.
—Da’Sean Butler hits more game-winners than anyone, but will we have some buzzer-beater fatigue? Butler has hit home SIX game-winners this year. Boy’s gun might be empty..

The storylines:

Kentucky is young, stupid and ridiculously talented. Should I waste words on this? Does it matter? Probably. But Kentucky plays on emotion. Biggest key: avoid falling behind by as many as 10 points. If that happens in the second half of any opponent second round and beyond, I question UK’s ability to fight back. Damn are they fun, though.

Morgan State is dealing with an illness. DeWayne Anderson has been in and out of the hospital and battling leukemia. Terribly sad. Way too much sadness around The Tournament this year.

Temple-Cornell and all that’s involved. They both got screwed! The little guys! But we’re all eager to watch. And I’m absolutely on Temple in this one. Cornell fell to a terrible team from Philly this season, Penn, and Temple’s like everything Penn wishes it could be. An absolute must-watch, this game is a noon tip on Friday. I feel so, so bad for you if you’re working then.

Can Texas scare Kentucky if it gets past Wake? Yep, we know Texas has the talent to hang with Kentucky, but is it even going to get past Wake? If so (man, I cannot pick that game for the life of me), Damion James would need to have the game of his season to lift the Longhorns up. Dexter Pittman-DeMarcus Cousins is get-your-popcorn viewing, though, and I’m ready and eager for that. I can absolutely see Texas staying with Kentucky through until the end and losing it in the final minute.

Bruising battle of the Tigers. Clemson and Missouri face off in the biggest toss-up of all the 8/9 and 7/10 games. Underrated game that should be good, but could be a 20-point difference if one team overextends itself a 20-turnovers its way to a loss. Friday at 2:45.

A healthy Jon Leuer. Wisconsin is the sleeper Final Four pick and I don’t have the stones to make it. Leuer is a classic Wisconsin player. Not afraid to say it: white, stable, country-strong and willing to take seven charges per game. Badgers vs. Wildcats in the regional semis would be unimaginably interesting. Leuer determines how far this team goes.

You know who wins lots of close games? Marquette. Golden Eagles lost a lot of close ones early and then learned how to right the ship. Or it was good karma. Either way, they get Washington in the first round, which has won seven straight. Lazar Hayward vs. Quincy Pondexter in a battle of the shoulders. Both teams are small. Tough call.

Anthony Johnson. Went into detail about his great story here, and it’s going to be hard to root for New Mexico when Montana has all the makings of a great Cinderella story.

¶

The Sweet 16 teams I WANT to see (bolded is Final Four desire): Kentucky, Temple, New Mexico, Morgan State.

The Sweet 16 teams I THINK we’ll get: Kentucky, Temple, New Mexico, West Virginia .

Buzzer-beater karma from the ghost of the East region’s past: