West Regional

The West Regional goes through Anaheim, en route to the Final Four in Dallas. TheSportsNotebook has previewed all 16 teams in this quarter of the bracket with basic information on their personnel and schedule. Now let’s tie it all together with nine general thoughts on this region, followed by the game-by-game picks.

*I’m a Wisconsin fan and I’ve thrown the gauntlet down—this Badger team is the most talented I’ve seen in Madison. While there’s been a lot of great wins in this season, there’s been no defining moment for which you hang a banner—no regular season championship in the Big Ten. That went to Michigan. No conference tournament title. That went to Michigan State. All that’s left out there for Bucky is the big prize of the Final Four and maybe, given that this is the one thing that’s eluded Bo Ryan in his outstanding coaching career, this all-or-nothing moment is exactly what Wisconsin wants.

*This is a bracket I see having a lot of upsets along the way, which we’ll get to in a moment, but finishing with a chalk end, as Arizona and Wisconsin, the top two seeds, meet in the regional final. I’m picking the Badgers in that spot and not out of homer-ism. Wisconsin has the size, in Frank Kaminsky, to at least neutralize Arizona’s big men and the Badgers shoot the ball better from the perimeter and the foul line. If Arizona makes their free throws, UW would be in trouble, but that’s not something Wildcat opponents have had to worry about.

*I’m going to start the upset run in Spokane, in picking North Dakota State (12-seed) and New Mexico State (13-seed) to each win their first-round games. North Dakota State has a great individual player in Taylor Braun and I think Oklahoma has mostly overachieved, but now sees its talent shortcomings exposed in not being able to intimidate a small school opponent. New Mexico State, I simply like the matchup—this is a team that’s huge on the inside, including a 7’5” center in Sim Bhuller. San Diego State had a hard time matching up with a similar team, conference rival New Mexico.

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*The San Antonio pod would be a fun one to attend, with Nebraska, Creighton, Baylor and UL-Lafayette all being nearby. Creighton is the 3-seed, but I’m just skeptical of relying solely on Doug McDermott to carry the Bluejays. The guy is great, but someone else needs to step up and unless Creighton has been playing Villanova (on whom they dropped 197 points in two blowouts), they’ve been vulnerable. I like the spunk of Nebraska and the quality of the Big Ten, and am looking for that to shine, as this 11-seed makes it through.

*Oklahoma State is inspiring a lot of talk, including from ESPN’s Digger Phelps who picked them to reach the NCAA final. If you look at this team’s talent and go game-by-game, ever single pick is justifiable standing alone. But when a team goes 8-10 in conference play, should we really expect them to play consistently for four or five games in a row against the best the nation has to offer? I suppose if you want to swing for the fences, this is as reasonable a way as any, but unless they get a slew of bracket breaks I can’t see it.

*On the flip side, there’s Gonzaga, waiting for Okie State in the first round. Last year Gonzaga was rolling, the #1 seed in the West, with All-American Kelly Olynyk at center. Olynyk has taken his talents and his ponytail to the Boston Celtics and the Zags have had a quiet year—mostly beating the teams they should and not beating anyone significant. But is this right where Gonzaga needs to be? No one’s looking at them, everyone’s talking about their opponent and the Zags are nicely under the radar. I like their spot and have picked them to win that first game. I won’t be shocked if they upset Arizona.

*Even though I picked against San Diego State in the first round, I don’t feel good about it. I’m not down on the Aztecs in general. I love the point guard in Xavier Thames, and they’ve gone to Kansas and come out with a win. I do feel like they were better in January than they are in March though and this particular matchup with New Mexico State disturbs me. But if Steve Fischer’s team survives, they get to the Sweet 16.

*Baylor is another team that I picked to lose, to Nebraska in this case, but am worried about. Like Big 12 rival Oklahoma State, the Bears have been wildly up and down this year, starting the conference schedule 2-8, but finishing 9-9 and then reaching the final of the Big 12 tournament. It’s tough to know what you’ll get from Baylor and they beat Nebraska, I think they also beat Creighton.

*I’m going to knock Creighton one more time—which is a sure sign Bluejay fans should rush out and buy Final Four tickets now. But not only do I think they lose the second game, regardless of opponent, I’ve got their opener on upset alert. UL-Lafayette is an improving athletic program in general (three straight bowl games in football) and they have an explosive inside-out combo of Shawn Long and Elfrid Payton that can cause serious problems.

SAN DIEGO
Arizona over Weber State
Gonzaga over Oklahoma State

Arizona over Gonzaga

SPOKANE
North Dakota State over Oklahoma
New Mexico State over San Diego State

New Mexico State over North Dakota State

SAN ANTONIO
Nebraska over Baylor
Creighton over UL-Lafayette

Nebraska over Creighton

MILWAUKEE
BYU over Oregon
Wisconsin over American

ANAHEIM
Arizona over New Mexico State
Wisconsin over Nebraska

Wisconsin over Arizona

The road to the 2014 Final Four that comes from the West will go through Anaheim, as the 16 teams placed in the West Regional will play for the chance to get to SoCal next weekend. Here’s a concise look at all the teams in this quarter of the NCAA Tournament, their personnel and notable aspects of their regular season performance…

#1: Arizona—For most of the year it’s been presumed Arizona would end up in this seed position. They didn’t lose until February 1 and even with four losses overall, still won eight of the last ten. Arizonas was hurt by the loss of forward Brandon Ashley in January, but they’re still a potent team up front with freshman Aaron Gordon and big center Kaleb Tarczewski. The backcourt is well-balanced with 16-ppg scorer Nick Johnson and playmaker T.J. McConnell.

#2: Wisconsin—Another team that started faster than they finished, the Badgers rolled through a non-conference schedule that included Florida, St. Louis and Virginia, all league champions. Wisconsin finished 12-6 in the Big Ten and has a balanced attack led by Frank Kaminsky, who can score in the post and behind the arc. Sam Dekker is an effective driver and most of this team shoots the three-ball well.

#3: Creighton—Doug McDermott is looking like a lock for Player of the Year (announced in early April) with his 27 points/7 rebounds per-game average and shooting 45 percent from behind the arc. Ethan Wragge is an even better three-point shooter, while Grant Gibbs and Austin Chatman keep the ball moving on offense. Creighton finished on a ho-hum note, splitting their last six games and coughing up the Big East regular season race to Villanova and the tournament final to Providence.

#4: San Diego State—The Aztecs have aggressive forwards in Josh Davis and Winston Shepard, but the best player is guard Xavier Thames, who averages 17 ppg and does everything well. San Diego State won at Kansas, knocked off Creighton and played competitively in a loss to Arizona. Steve Fischer’s team outlasted New Mexico for the outright Mountain West regular season championship.

READ ABOUT THE MODERN HISTORY OF THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
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#5: Oklahoma—Very quietly, the Sooners put together a second-place finish in the Big 12 thanks to five players averaging in double-digits. Buddy Hield is the best of the group and the 6’4” sophomore went for 17 a night and hits over 40 percent from trey range. Ryan Spangler, who gets nine rebounds a game, will be important to any NCAA Tournament success.

#6: Baylor—A strong non-conference run included wins over Colorado, Dayton and Kentucky. Then the Bears went 2-8 to start Big 12 play and looked finish. Another drastic swing followed, they won seven of eight to close the regular season and then reached the final of the Big 12 tournament. Corey Jefferson is a solid forward, averaging a 14/8 and Brady Heslip is lights out from downtown.

#7: Oregon—The Ducks swept a soft non-conference slate whose best win was BYU—ironic, given that’s who they’ll play on Thursday. Joseph Young leads up a productive backcourt that includes Jason Calliste and ball handler Jonathan Loyd. It’s a small trio, with heights going from 5’8” to 6’2”. Oregon got needed frontcourt help from UNLV transfer Mike Moser and his 14/8 average. The Ducks were up and down in conference, going 10-8 in the Pac-12.

#8: Gonzaga—For a 28-6 season it was pretty ho-hum for the Zags. They lost to Dayton, Memphis and Kansas State but beat everyone they should. Gonzaga had some embarrassing slip-ups in conference play, but still won the West Coast Conference, both regular season and tournament. They’re led by sharpshooter Kevin Pangos outside and 6’9” senior Sam Dower inside. Gonzaga gets good ballhandling from David Stockton, son of NBA legend and Zags alum John Stockton.

#9: Oklahoma State—This is a team that can explode, although whether the explosion is good or bad is the real question. Marcus Smart, Markel Brown and Le’Bryan Nash combine for 49 points/17 rebounds per night, with Smart being the most explosive of the group. He’s also been suspended for losing his cool with fans (albeit ones who were race-baiting him and deserved it). The Cowboys managed to lose seven in a row in Big 12 play, but somehow righted the ship and got to 21 wins and an NCAA bid.

#10: BYU—The Cougars stepped out and played good competition. They beat Stanford and Texas, while losing to Iowa State, Oregon and Wichita. Tyler Haws is a big-time scorer, averaging 23 ppg from the wing, while 6’6” sophomore Kyle Collingsworth averages 14 points/8 rebounds/5 assists. Matt Carlino is another good scorer in the backcourt.

#11: Nebraska–Terran Petteway put the Cornhuskers on his back and give the good people of Lincoln something to cheer about during basketball season Petteway averaged 18 ppg. There’s no strong inside presence, but Nebraska went 11-7 in Big Ten play and finished fourth in the toughest league in the country.

#12: North Dakota State—Taylor Braun is a 6’7” senior and averaging 19/6/4 is sort of a poor man’s Doug McDermott. Another top player from one of the Plains States, has to carry a heavy load and is of Euro-American descent (it was either me say it or Charles Barkley).

#13: New Mexico State—This team has some serious height, starting with 7’5” sophomore Sim Bhuller. Yes, that’s seven feet and five inches. And 6’10” Tshilidz Nephawe is pretty imposing itself. Together, they get 16 rebounds per game and you wonder why it’s not more.

#14: UL-Lafayette—Two great players in 6’3” junior Elfrid Payton and 6’9” sophomore Shawn Long, each of whom averages 19 ppg, make ULL a threat.

#15: American—They went 7-8 in non-conference play and the only NCAA team on that slate was Ohio State and the only other opponent even notable was St. Mary’s.

#16: Weber State—Joel Bolomy is a nice rebounder and Davion Berry an entertaining scorer, but no under-the-radar non-conference result that offers any hope for an upset.