Bracket Breakdown: West Region

Selection Sunday proved to be very helpful for the 1 Wisconsin Badgers. As a projected 2 seed entering the final weekend of Championship Week, a key loss by Virginia to North Carolina in the ACC Tournament and Wisconsin defeating Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament allowed the Badgers to jump into a Number One Seed in the West Region. Led by the Wooden Award frontrunner F Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker, the Badgers look to build off their success last March and compete for a national title this season. Their first game is 16 Coastal Carolina and although the Chanticleers are a solid team that won the Big South Tournament Championship, they are not good enough to knock off Bo Ryan's team. The matchup between 8 Oregon and 9 Oklahoma State is an interesting game that has plenty of upset appeal. The Ducks came up short against Arizona in the Pac-12 Conference Championship and while they don't have much size, Joseph Young and Co. make it up with speed and athleticism. 9 Oklahoma State revolves around Le'Bryan Nash and Phil Forte, so if the duo is able to hit their shots and play defense well, the Cowboys should be able to upset the Ducks. The 5 Arkansas Razorbacks has a quality season in the SEC Conference as they finished second in both the regular season season SEC standings as well as the SEC Conference Tournament, both behind the undefeated Kentucky Wildcats. In a matchup against 12 Wofford, the SEC Player of the Year Bobby Portis will look to pace the team into the next round and junior G Michael Qualls will contribute on both ends of the floor as the Razorbacks aim to dismiss the Terriers in the second round. The 4 North Carolina Tar Heels capped off a great season with a bitter loss in the ACC Tournament Championship Game to Notre Dame, but led by Marcus Paige, Justin Jackson, J.P. Tokoto, and the awesome rebounding of North Carolina will most likely propel them over 13 Harvard and possibly set them up with a third round game against Arkansas. The play-in game last night against Ole Miss and BYU was very entertaining and after trailing by seventeen at half, the Rebels gained momentum on a massive run to topple the Cougars and earn the 11 seed. They are slated to face 6 Xavier, a team that is extremely aggressive and contain several double-digit scorers in Myles Davis, Trevon Bluiett, and Matt Stainbrook. However, they have struggled mightily down the stretch and Ole Miss displayed that they can really knock down three pointers and free throws at a elite level. I expect that Ole Miss puts up a great fight and will pull off the upset against the Musketeers. The next matchup features 3 Baylor taking on 14 Georgia State. I am very confident in this Baylor team because of Rico Gathers, who commands the unbelievable rebounding which leads the country in offensive rebounds, and the Bears are able to shoot from the perimeter efficiently. The Panthers are led by Kevin Ware and Ryan Harrow on the offensive end, but it seems very unlikely that they will upset the Bears. Another extremely interesting game, one of my favorites, is the matchup between 7 VCU and 10 Ohio State. The Rams of Virginia Commonwealth won the Atlantic-10 Conference Championship against Dayton on Sunday and now that they are healthy, Treveon Graham, JeQuan Lewis, and Melvin Johnson look to defeat the Buckeyes and possibly make another run like they did in 2011 when they reached the Final Four. On the other hand, Ohio State is carried by the fantastic freshman D'Angelo Russell, they make a great percentage of their shots from the field and although they have not played well in big games, they defeated Maryland 80-56 on January 29. In this matchup, I think Ohio State can definitely upset VCU considering the struggles that have destroyed the Rams in the last three tournaments. Lastly, the matchup between 2 Arizona and 15 Texas Southern should be a showcase of Wildcat domination. In my opinion, Arizona should have been a number one seed in this year's tournament, especially with the beatdown that they gave Oregon in the Pac-12 Conference Tournament Championship. Arizona has a very tenacious, aggressive defense led by T.J. McConnell and Stanley Johnson in addition to their efficient, smart offense that scores about 76.4 points per game, good for 22nd in the country. Overall, the West Region of the bracket is the most difficult as there are many teams that are talented and deep enough to make a run like 4 UNC and 3 Baylor, but I likely see a very entertaining Elite Eight game between Wisconsin and Arizona for a spot in the Final Four.