Tournament West Region Breakdown

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Favorite:

UCLA has the experience and tenacious defense to edge Kansas for my pick.

Sleeper:

Virginia Tech possesses the athleticism to possibly match up well against Southern Illinois in the second round or Kansas in the Sweet 16.

Major Sleeper:

Gonzaga, even without Heytvelt, can definitely beat Indiana's two man show of D.J. White and Roderick Wilmont. After that, they have the talented guard play to put a scare into UCLA. Their lack of a post presence won't hurt them as much should they get to that point with the Bruins lacking a true dominant post player as well.

Top Two Games:

#4 Southern Illinois vs #13 Holy Cross
#6 Duke vs #11 Virginia Commonwealth

The Games:

#1 Kansas vs #16 Niagara

Niagara probably wants to rethink getting in a running match with Kansas. The Purple Eagles have a lot of offense, but give it up just as quickly on the other end.

Kansas 87 Niagara 64

#2 UCLA vs #15 Weber State

Weber State is probably more suited for the play-in game instead of the 15 they garnered. This seeding was one of the strangest of the tournament. Not that the 15 seed helped matters much as they play one of the best teams in the country. UCLA, even perhaps without the services of the hobbled Collison, can handle the Wildcats.

UCLA 76 Weber State 51

#3 Pittsburgh vs #14 Wright State

Wright State doesn't have any single person that can effectively match up against Gray, but all it takes is one player to take over the game sometimes. And the Raiders have that with guard Dashaun Wood. Will he be enough against the stingy Pitt defense? Probably not, but I think this could be interesting late into the second half.

Pittsburgh 67 Wright State 59

#4 Southern Illinois vs #13 Holy Cross

Holy Cross is always so close to pulling a huge upset in the tournament but never quite gets there. If you play tough defense against Southern Illinois, which Holy Cross does, they can be beaten. In a game earlier this year against Bradley, SIU was befuddled against a simple zone and lost 48-46. Fortunately for the Crusaders, they didn't play some of the other 4 seeds like Texas or Maryland because they would get crushed on the glass. Now that they're matched up against SIU, they're the ones with the actual size advantage. Holy Cross pulls off the upset with their senior backcourt duo of Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas leading the way.

Holy Cross 57 Southern Illinois 55

#5 Virginia Tech vs #12 Illinois

Illinois may possibly be the ugliest team to watch in this tournament. They absolutely can not score and their defense won't be enough to save them in this game.

Virginia Tech 68 Illinois 58

#6 Duke vs #11 Virginia Commonwealth

One would think it's finally Duke's time to fail to get to the Sweet 16. Virginia Commonwealth's quick backcourt can cause some problems for the Blue Devils, but Duke's Josh McRoberts should be able to take advantage of VCU's smallish frontcourt. The Rams certainly won't beat themselves with mistakes as they're top 30 nationally in most ball control categories, but their defense is suspect and they may have a tough time on the boards with Duke. In any event, this should be a really close game.

Duke 69 Virginia Commonwealth 67

#7 Indiana vs #10 Gonzaga

I definitely think of Gonzaga as the favorite here. Indiana comes across the country after struggling for the last part of the season to play a team that overmatches them offensively. Indiana lacks a second option to D.J. White in the post and Gonzaga may not be able to exploit that weakness, but they do have a backcourt that will really challenge Indiana. The Hoosiers might not have enough scoring options to win this one.

Gonzaga 73 Indiana 69

#8 Kentucky vs #9 Villanova

So, a repeat of last year? Kentucky struggles to find any offense for most of the season, comes into the tournament as an 8 seed, most pick the Wildcats to get upset, and they then fall to one of the more talented #1 seeds in the second round. Watch as Kentucky's Bobby Perry gracefully goes for 20+ points. I believe Perry only comes out of hibernation for March.

Kentucky 68 Villanova 64