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This year, the blue bloods won’t be the top headlines in March Madness brackets.
However, the East region has three of them in the middle, and they could come roaring into Madison Square Garden next weekend.
The Garden had to wait 53 years in between stints hosting the NCAA Tournament, but for the third time in the past 10 years, it’ll return to 33rd Street.
If the top four seeds all advance, Purdue, Marquette, Kansas State, and Tennessee will meet in the Sweet 16.
In a stacked quadrant of the bracket, though, teams like Kentucky, Michigan State, and Duke could mix up the results. March 23-26 could be a weekend filled with college basketball blue bloods at the Garden.
Purdue, which clinched the Big Ten title Sunday, would enter with National Player of the Year contender Zach Edey as its focal point.
The 7-foot-4 center has averaged 22.3 points per game and will pose a defensive — and offensive — challenge for any team.
The Golden Eagles could recreate some magic at the Garden after sweeping through the Big East tournament last week, including a win in the title game against Xavier to clinch its first conference championship since joining the league.
Tennessee and Kansas State — the latter with four players from Harlem and Queens — have both spent time in the top 10 of the Associated Press rankings this season, too.
But then comes the intriguing part. The part where Duke, Michigan State, and Kentucky enter with their historic reputations.
The Blue Devils are in their first year of the post-Mike Krzyzewski era yet still won the Atlantic Coast Conference championship.
They have a blend of youth (Kyle Filipowski) and experience (Jeremy Roach), and have been pegged as a group that could make a deep run as March stretches closer to April.
Michigan State advanced to MSG in 2014 and lost to UConn in the Elite Eight, a Huskies run that brought Big East nostalgia to the Garden.
Florida and Wisconsin created an overtime thriller in 2017, with South Carolina then knocking off the Gators to clinch their first Final Four in program history.
This time, a Kentucky versus Michigan State matchup — with Duke possibly awaiting in the Elite Eight — could provide a desirable alternative to the higher seeds advancing.
Those blue bloods, ranked lower than their peak years, still loom large.
»March 23-26 could be a weekend filled with college basketball blue bloods at the Garden«
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