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West Region
First Round
The always popular 12th seed defeating a No. 5 seed shows up here with South Dakota State defeating Ohio State. This particular seed match-up has produced a lot of upsets, but lately the fifth seed has played stronger, and I expect them to go 3-1 this year.
South Dakota State has a combination of great shooting and few turnovers which is dangerous in March. Ohio State has a first-year head coach who may not be able to combat the Jackrabbits.
Second Round
There are two key games here with my first No. 1 seed going down in Xavier as I believe the return of Michael Porter Jr. to the Missouri line-up will propel them deep into the tournament.
Michigan finished fifth in the regular season within the Big Ten, but for the second straight year, they got hot at the right time to win the conference tournament. Last year, they made the Sweet Sixteen before the flame went out. This year, I think they only get one win before losing to Houston.
Sweet Sixteen
A pair of unique matches in the West Region's Sweet Sixteen with Missouri against Gonzaga and Houston against North Carolina. I'm going to lean on tournament experience over upstarts here with the original mid-major powerhouse Gonzaga and the storied program of North Carolina moving onto the Elite Eight.
Elite Eight
The Elite Eight in the West is a rematch of last year's championship game where Gonzaga finally broke through into the Final Four but fell short to North Carolina in the championship game. Both teams are quite different from a year ago, with North Carolina rebuilding slightly better than Gonzaga. Enough to carry them back to the Final Four.
