A look at the NCAA East Region

PLAYER

Last season, Butler averaged 17.1 points, hit 35 percent of his 3-point shots and had a 43-point game (the Big East's best effort since 2003). Yet he was selected to the All-Big East second team. Last week, he was finally recognized as a first-teamer. He kept alive West Virginia with a banked-in 3-point buzzer-beater to defeat Cincinnati in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals, then beat Georgetown for the championship with a crazy leaning runner in the lane. He will finish as West Virginia's third all-time leading scorer. Already, he has joined Jerry West and Hot Rod Hundley in the school's career 2,000-point club.

SCORER

Anthony Johnson, Montana

Can you say microwave? Johnson, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, had a Big Sky Conference Tournament championship-game record 42 points (34 in the second half) as the Grizzlies rallied from a 20-point deficit to defeat Weber State 66-65 for the NCAA bid.

INSIDE PRESENCE

Damion James, Texas

He dabbled with jumping to the NBA but pulled his name out of the draft at the 11th hour. Good thing for the Longhorns. The 6-foot-7, 225-pound senior is a double-double machine. He's making a bid to become the most famous athletic product of Nagocdoches, Texas - an honor long reserved for former Bucs guard Greg Roberts, who won the Outland Trophy at the University of Oklahoma.

PLAYMAKER

John Wall, Kentucky

Another one-and-done? Probably so. Not an unusual concept for UK coach John Calipari, who had Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans at Memphis. But Wall - with captivating speed, vision and explosiveness - is clearly one of the most electrifying first-year players in recent memory. In fact, he's the first freshman to win SEC Player of the Year since 1989 (LSU's Chris Jackson).

UNDERRATED PLAYER

Darington Hobson, New Mexico

When he was 15, on the outdoor courts of Houston, Hobson picked up a nickname - "Butter." His game, the opponents said, was so smooth. And it has been an especially smooth transition to New Mexico basketball after transferring from junior college. Hobson, a 6-foot-7 shooting guard, has filled up the box score and pointed the Lobos back to elite status.

OUR PICKS

Joey Johnston's Sweet 16 picks for Syracuse, N.Y.:

No. 1 Kentucky

No. 4 Wisconsin

No. 6 Marquette

No. 2 West Virginia

INSTANT ANALYSIS

The Kentucky Wildcats haven't been to the Final Four since 1998, when they won a national championship in Coach Tubby Smith's first season. If UK gets back this season, it will have to earn the trip. After dispatching East Tennessee State in the first round, the Wildcats will likely be faced with a matchup they could lose in every round after that. Standing in UK's path are probable opponents such as Texas, Wisconsin and West Virginia. We're expecting UK vs. West Virginia in the East Region final - and we like the Mountaineers to reach the Final Four for the first time since 1959, when the star player was Jerry West.

UPSET SPECIAL: No. 12 Cornell over No. 5 Temple. Cornell, with the most wins (27) by an Ivy League team since 1997-98 Princeton, probably is seeded a bit low. The Big Red have a very legitimate team, led by 7-footer Jeff Foote and guard Ryan Wittman, a three-time first-team all-conference selection. He fills it up from the outside, just like his father, Randy Wittman, the former NBA player who was a key performer on Indiana University's 1981 NCAA championship team. And that's bad news for Temple coach Fran Dunphy, who has lost nine consecutive NCAA first-round games (seven with Penn, which was Cornell's old Ivy nemesis).

LOOKING AHEAD: No. 1 Kentucky has a potentially nightmarish second-round meeting against No. 8 Texas. Remember, the Longhorns were actually ranked No. 1 early this season. But Texas has stumbled and bumbled its way to a No. 8 seed, the second-lowest ever for a team ranked No. 1 in that season (to 2003 Alabama, which wound up as a No. 10, then lost in the first round). We can't wait to see Kentucky freshman DeMarcus Cousins grapple with Texas senior Damion James in the paint.

THEY GOT ROBBED: West Virginia probably deserved a No. 1 seed after winning the Big East Conference Tournament. Instead, the No. 1 designation went to Syracuse, even after it lost the regular-season finale at Louisville, then was bounced out of the Big East Tournament by Georgetown. Ironically, the Mountaineers have an opportunity to reach the Final Four by winning at the Carrier Dome - Syracuse's home court.

WEIRD STUFF: We're not sure why the Pac-10 was so down this season - with just two teams, including league tournament champion Washington, in the NCAA field - but the league has enjoyed plenty of talent in recent seasons. The Pac-10 and ACC each have the most lottery picks (12) in the NBA draft since 2005, followed by the Big East (10), Big 12 (8), SEC (6) and Big Ten (4).

INTRIGUING STORY: At Morgan State, they are playing for 6-foot-10 freshman center Anthony Anderson, who has not seen action after being diagnosed with leukemia before the season. Players are wearing Anderson's No. 4 patches on their uniforms. When guard Reggie Holmes recently broke the school scoring record of Marvin (The Eraser) Webster, the late 7-foot-1 center who played in the NBA, the first thing he did was touch his No. 4 patch.

MYSTERY GUEST: The East Tennessee State Buccaneers, champions of the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament despite being seeded No. 5 in the event. Coach Murry Bartow has three Tampa Bay area players on his roster - sophomore Adam Sollazzo (Armwood), freshman Sheldon Cooley (Plant) and freshman Lukas Poderis (Ridgewood) - along with chief assistant coach Scott Wagers, formerly of Robinson High School.