Jay Bilas picks Kansas State to win East region of NCAA Tournament

The first weekend of the NCAA Tournament has come and gone, and everyone is reassessing their Final Four predictions after the historic upsets throughout the first two rounds.

ESPN’s Jay Bilas is no different and has a new pick coming out of the East region: Kansas State.

“In the East, I think it’s Kansas State. Kansas State has the best 1-2 punch remaining in the region with Keyontae Johnson, who transferred in from Florida, and Markquis Nowell, we just came off a 24-point game and he had 14 assists in the first round,” Bilas said on SportsCenter. “He’s a truly outstanding player and those two can be difference-makers together.”

Nowell was sensational in the final minutes against Kentucky in the second round and is playing his best basketball of the season at the perfect time. Johnson’s toughness goes without saying, and his 17.5 points per game are the highest of any player still in the region.

Those still alive are Tennessee (4 seed), Michigan State (7) and Florida Atlantic (9). Kansas State (3) is the highest seed still alive after 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson‘s historic upset over 1-seed Purdue in the first round and Michigan State’s upset over 2-seed Marquette in the second round.

Bilas originally selected Duke to make it out of the East region and advance to the Final Four. The Blue Devils were disposed of by the Volunteers in the second round, and he also selected Marquette to be Duke’s Sweet 16 opponent.

Of those still alive in the region, he had FAU losing in the first round to Memphis and even more importantly, he had Kentucky taking down Kansas State in the Round of 32. He’s now retracting that pick after seeing how impressive K-State was against UK on the nation’s biggest stage.

The Wildcats were picked to finish 10th in the Big 12 preseason polls, and first-year head coach Jerome Tang has now led his team to their first Sweet 16 since 2018. With Nowell and Johnson at the helm, Kansas State has the opportunity of making a TCU-like run from this past college football season. From expected Big 12 bottom-feeder to a national championship contender in a matter of months.

Before Bilas’ prediction pans out, the Wildcats will take on Tom Izzo and Michigan State in the Sweet 16. This is the sixth time Izzo has led his team to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament as a five-seed or lower and has tied UK’s John Calipari for the most Sweet 16 berths by an active head coach with 15.

After taking down Marquette on Sunday, Izzo has now won 16 games in the NCAA Tournament as the lower-seeded team, the most since seeding began in 1979 — and Kansas State will try to avoid being another number in Izzo’s incredible March statistics.

Tip-off between the Wildcats and Spartans is set for Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ET live on TBS. Michigan State has opened as two-point favorites over K-State.