West Region Preview

Who will come out of the West Region? Will it be Big East regular season champion Syracuse or will a surprise team like BYU steal the show?

First Round Match-ups
[1] Syracuse vs. [16] Vermont
[8] Gonzaga vs. [9] Florida State
[5] Butler vs. [12] UTEP
[4] Vanderbilt vs. [13] Murray State
[6] Xavier vs. [11] Minnesota
[3] Pittsburgh vs. [14] Oakland
[7] BYU vs. [10] Florida
[2] Kansas State vs. [15] North Texas

The Orange were a surprise fourth overall seed, as Duke jumped them on Selection Sunday. However, this bracket is probably the easiest to pick out of all the Regions, and the Big East regular season champion should have no problem advancing to at least the Elite Eight. Other teams that could stand in Syracuse's way are Kansas State, BYU and possibly Pittsburgh.

Favorite: Syracuse

- Who would have predicted the Orange to be a number one seed at the beginning of the season? They come in as the Big East regular season champion and have only four losses on their resume...all of them in conference. They have a good outside and inside game, but the status of Arinze Onuaku is still up in the air. If he's still not healed from his quad injury deeper into the tournament, then there might be a surprise team representing the West Region in the Final Four.

Best Player: Wes Johnson, F, Syracuse

- The Iowa State transfer has really stood out this year, placing his name beside the Evan Turner's and John Wall's of the world. The junior forward was named Big East Player of the Year and averaged 16 points with a little over eight boards a game. He doesn't get into foul trouble often and plays good defense in Syracuse's tough 2-3 zone.

Sleeper: BYU

- The Mountain West has been really nice this season, sending four teams to the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars get a surprising at-large in Florida for their first round game and although the Gators are a nice team, they are very inconsistent and could drop early. After that is most likely a match-up against Kansas State and if they could slide by the Wildcats, they would have home-court advantage for the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight in Salt Lake City.

Cinderella: UTEP

- Whenever you have an all-conference guard and big man, you'll have a chance. That's what C-USA regular season champion UTEP possesses and their depth can help them make a Cinderella type run. Randy Culpepper and Derrick Caracter lead the Miners against Butler, who currently are riding a 20 game winning streak. However, on common opponents, the Miners have defeated UAB twice where the Bulldogs fell in December to the Blazers. After the first round, they'd get either Vanderbilt or Murray State; another reasonable task.

Upset Alert: Vanderbilt

- The last time Vanderbilt played a 13 seed, they got ran out of the gym by a surprising Siena squad who has recently made a name for themselves for winning two straight first round match-ups. Now they get another talented 13 seed in Murray State; a team that already has 30 wins on the season. The Racers don't have a star player, but they have five guys averaging double-digits and a sixth who averages 9.5 points per game. They have balance both inside and outside, just like the Commodores. If the upset doesn't happen, at least it will be a good game.

First Round Predictions:
[1] Syracuse over [16] Vermont
[9] Florida State over [8] Gonzaga
[5] Butler over [12] UTEP
[13] Murray State over [4] Vanderbilt
[11] Minnesota over [6] Xavier
[3] Pittsburgh over [14] Oakland
[7] BYU over [10] Florida
[2] Kansas State over [15] North Texas

Second Round Predictions:
[1] Syracuse over [9] Florida State
[5] Butler over [13] Murray State
[11] Minnesota over [3] Pittsburgh
[2] Kansas State over [7] BYU

Sweet 16 Predictions:
[1] Syracuse over [5] Butler
[2] Kansas State over [11] Minnesota

Elite Eight Predictions:
[1] Syracuse over [2] Kansas State