West Region: March Madness Bracket Predictions

March 16, 2021

NCAA Tournament bracket picks and team predictions for the West Region. Read Seth's March Madness picks, sleepers and busts including teams to target and avoid.

March Madness is officially here, so let's fill out some winning brackets! RotoBaller will be bringing you a full breakdown on each tournament region, including some potential sleepers and busts. Today we'll be taking a look at the West Region and my bracket picks.

I'm here to tell you some teams that I believe in to help you make the right tournament bracket decisions. Below I analyze the top four seeds, a potential bust, and a potential final four candidate. Hopefully my college basketball predictions can help you win your March Madness pools. I really like to use Ken Pomeroy's advanced analytics to help determine a champion. Since 2002, each team to win the title except for one, was ranked top-20 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. I'll be putting those numbers in parentheses after each breakdown of the top-four seeds. Now let's get to it.

Once you're done here, be sure to also check out the rest of our NCAA Tournament articles and analysis including previews, predictions, sleepers, busts and guides on how to fill out your brackets including other predictions for the East, South, and Midwest regions.

West Region Top Four Seeds 

Top four seeds: No. 1 Gonzaga | N0. 2 Iowa | No. 3 Kansas | No. 4 Virginia

Gonzaga has beaten Iowa, Kansas and Virginia back in November and December. They have not lost a game and are looking to become the first team since Indiana in 1985 to go undefeated winning the title. This is their best team yet. Jalen Sluggs is a lottery pick and a difference-maker. Gonzaga hasn't had a player like him who can just take over a game. (Ken Pom: #1 offense, #10 defense)

Iowa has a great offense led by big man Luka Garza. They've surrounded him with stealth three-point shooters.  Their defense has been a weak point for most of the year but they've really stepped it up of late. Will that carry over to the tournament? (Ken Pom: #2 offense, #50 defense)

Kansas is in all sorts of a mess. They had to remove themselves from the Big 12 semifinals due to a COVID positive test. Now they're heading to the NCAA Tournament without three players. It's too bad because Kansas struggled to start the season before winning nine of the last 10. They're a complete question mark heading to the tournament. (Ken Pom: #59 offense, #6 defense)

Virginia is another team dealing with COVID issues. Most of their team is in quarantine and they won't even be traveling to Indianapolis until Friday. They won the ACC regular-season title and beat Syracuse on a buzzer-beater in the ACC Quarterfinals before the positive test knocked them out. (Ken Pom: #12 offense, #33 defense)

Most Intriguing First Round Matchup

No. 5 Creighton vs. No. 12 UC Santa Barbara 

The masses love the 12-5 upset angle. No. 12 seeds have won 50 out of 140 times. I hate trends like that because it's one game. People are really doubting the Bluejays after their awful performance against Georgetown in the Big East Championship. But they can play. They're led by junior guard Marcus Zegarowski who can get a bucket whenever he chooses to. They can win in a high-scoring game or a defensive battle like the way they beat UConn in the Big East semis. I'm not going to pretend I know much about the Gauchos because I don't. But they play in the Big West and have not faced a physical team like Creighton all year.

Bust of the Region

Virginia. They have a really tough first-round matchup with Ohio. Jacob Preston became a star in the MAC Tournament. The junior guard averaged 22.6 points per game in three games. Virginia will have no practice time as described above because of COVID. Even if they get by Ohio, they still have Creighton to deal with in the next round.

Final Four Pick

Gonzaga. The Zags have the easiest region and should have no issue getting to the Final Four. There are no excuses this year.

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