West Region – San Jose
1 Gonzaga
16 UC Irvine
8 South Carolina
9 Kansas State
5 Virginia
12 Rhode Island/Texas Tech
4 Butler
13 Monmouth
6 Minnesota
11 Middle Tennessee State
3 Duke
14 Belmont
7 Iowa State
10 Seton Hall
2 Oregon
15 North Dakota State
I’m sorry, but if Gonzaga finishes up with a perfect record like I expect them to, they need to be at least the second overall seed. They have beaten some high-quality teams like Florida and Arizona, so they have not simply been coasting. We could be in for a great West coast battle in the Elite Eight here if the top two seeds go the distance, as Oregon is headlining the bottom of this bracket. Minnesota gets the unfortunate draw of Middle Tennessee State, while I have enough faith in Texas Tech to do some damage in the Big 12 tournament to sneak in. Meanwhile, Duke has been playing at a level that should have Ducks fans scared.
First and second round locations: 1/16 and 8/9 (Salt Lake City), 5/12 and 4/13 (Buffalo), 6/11 and 3/14 (Greenville), 7/10 and 2/15 (Salt Lake City)