Bracket Picks: 9-step guide to West Region
The field for the 2017 NCAA Tournament is out, and all the bracket-picking challenges have begun.
In an effort to help you pick your bracket, these nine-step guides for each region in the tournament are designed to give you some information that'll hopefully serve as some background for your predictions.
Other regional guides: Midwest | South | East
As the headline says, this guide is for the West Region, so let's break it down. The four regional semifinalists will play in the Sweet 16 in San Jose, Calif.
1. Team to beat: Gonzaga. Whatever your reservations about the Zags may be, and they are understandable given their history, it's a good time to shed them. Mark Few's team is stacked, great on both ends of the floor and a metrics darling. And don't play that "the West Coast Conference is weak" card: Gonzaga beat Florida, Big 12 Tournament champion Iowa State and No. 2 seed Arizona earlier this season.
2. Contenders: Arizona, Florida State, Notre Dame, West Virginia. This is a loaded region, with a very good top five. Arizona has the most talent, with FSU and Gonzaga not far behind. Is this the year the Wildcats get Sean Miller over the hump? They should at least get to the Elite Eight. As good as FSU has been, the Seminoles' lack of a true point guard will ultimately do them in. Notre Dame could very well see Arizona in the regional final, and WVU has consistently been one of the best teams in the country all season.
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3. Dark horse: Northwestern. As much as I love Gonzaga, the Zags can't escape a potentially brutal second-round matchup against either Northwestern or Vanderbilt. The Wildcats seem to have a certain magic to them that is hard to explain. It's not ideal that they are coming off a 28-point loss in the Big Ten Tournament, but Northwestern did beat Dayton, Maryland, Michigan, Wake Forest and Wisconsin and lost by two to Butler and four to Notre Dame.
4. Cinderella: Florida Gulf Coast. It's hard to pick a Cinderella when you don't actually think it will win its first game, but FGCU is the only lower seed in the region that I think could spring an upset. FSU has been great at times this season, but FGCU won't be far from home and will have the backing of the Florida fans in the house in Orlando.
5. The upset to pick: VCU over Saint Mary's. Not some crazy pick here. The top six seeds are solid enough to get past the first round. VCU (26-8) is physical and sound on defense.
6. Best first-round matchup: Northwestern vs. Vanderbilt. The media darling vs. the strength-of-schedule test-tube baby in the first round. Northwestern was one of the top defensive teams in the Big Ten, while Vandy, which played the nation's toughest slate, has improved quite a bit as an interior scoring team since SEC play started.
7. Best potential matchup: Gonzaga vs. Notre Dame. Uh, yes, please. The top-rated team in Ken Pomeroy's efficiency ratings (Gonzaga) vs. Mike Brey's free-flowing, high-IQ, entertaining Notre Dame offense? Sign me up.
8. Best player: Lauri Markkanen, Arizona. Gonzaga's Nigel Williams-Goss has been incredibly efficient on offense this season, but Arizona's 7-footer is projected to be the No. 7 pick in this summer's NBA draft by DraftExpress.com, and he can step out and shoot it or attack opponents inside. I also love Bonzie Colson, Notre Dame's beast of an undersized power forward.
9. Best coach: Three-way tie. Gonzaga's Few, Notre Dame's Brey and West Virginia's Bob Huggins are all fantastic. While Miller is no slouch, Few has turned Gonzaga into a perennial powerhouse and now has his best team yet. Brey's team has one big man and has won 25 games. Huggins pieced together a cohesive group that can beat anyone.
