Top Seeds
(1) Wisconsin
(2) Arizona
(3) Baylor
(4) North Carolina
Elephant in the room
At last year's West Region Elite Eight in Anaheim, Wisconsin's then junior forward Frank Kaminsky put on the showing of a lifetime. When the Badgers needed a big shot, Kaminsky - the favourite to win the 2015 Wooden National Player of the Year Award - was video game-esque in his delivery, coming through for the team, time and time again.
In what turned out to be a physical, back and forth game, chalk full of late-game/overtime heroics between last year's only 1-2 regional final, we find ourselves wondering if another epic performance is on the horizon in this year's West bracket.
While it would certainly be difficult to top what was one of the 2014 tournament's best games, the prospect of seeing a rematch in 2015 is something I, and I'm sure plenty of others, have been hoping for since the brackets were released on Sunday.
In less than just two weeks, we'll have our answer.
Dark horses to ride
I'll be blunt. My pick here is North Carolina. Now I must admit it seems kind of strange to put UNC in this spot, given the program's tremendous history, North Carolina basketball and dark horse aren't exactly synonymous. The fact of the matter is, I just don't see any other team hanging with Wisconsin or Arizona in the West so why not give a shot to an athletic, high scoring Tar Heels team. Especially one coming off an impressive victory over Virginia in the ACC semifinals.
Leaning on that depth and its excellent coaching, look for Carolina to get to a Sweet 16 vs Wisconsin where, if they can contain the Badgers stars, Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker, we could be seeing UNC competing for a spot in Indy.
Player you've likely never heard of...
6'6 G R.J. Hunter, Georgia State Panthers
If you don't know about Ohio State's D'Angelo Russell by now... you shouldn't be watching this tournament, so I won't even go there. Bobby Portis from the Arkansas Razorbacks is another solid choice here but even he's had his profiles raised throughout the season. For me, it's the coach’s son who steals the spotlight in the West region. Even if Georgia State's only game at this tournament is its opening round game against Baylor, Hunter is poised to make a big impression.
The funniest part about it is, R.J.'s dad and the team's head coach, Ron Hunter is perhaps more famous heading into the tournament than his NBA-bound son. During coach Hunter's Sun Belt championship celebration, he hobbled to the floor with an apparent injury, which would later be diagnosed as a ruptured Achilles. Undeterred by his injury, the elder Hunter is ready to go regardless of his condition, so make sure you keep an eye on the animated coach "rolling" the sideline.
Cinderellas to "Swipe Right" On
From everything I mentioned above, Georgia State isn't the worst pick as the West region's potential Cinderella team. With the combination of Hunter, Kevin Ware (Sun Belt tournament MVP) and perhaps Georgia State's second NBA-hopeful, Ryan Harrow (former Kentucky pg), this is far from your average Sun Belt team. By the way, how great is it to see Kevin Ware (see injury while playing for eventual champion Louisville in 2013) back in the tournament? It's fantastic he's been able to resume any career at all, given the issues he's had following that brutal injury.
Much like Tinder, I've teased you far more than I probably should have because despite my well-wishes for the Panthers, I couldn't find the courage to put them ahead of Baylor in any of my brackets.
But, hey, if you're looking for an incredible long-shot Cinderella story, you can't do any better than a team with a father/son combo, two transfer players from national contending programs and one of which just so happened to sustain the most gruesome sports injury's caught on TV. Best of luck Panthers!
Elite Eight Prediction
#1 Wisconsin vs #2 Arizona
Basketball Gods...please let this happen!
I don't even care who really comes out of this one because no matter what I know it will be another insanely entertaining battle. Not to mention, I think these are the two programs with the tournament's best chance at knocking off Kentucky.
Although Arizona fields a much different team than last year's edition (no Aaron Gordon, no Nick Johnson); they're bigger, deeper and better on both sides of the ball.
With stud lottery-bound freshmen Stanley Johnson leading a balanced attack along with Brandon Ashley, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, T.J. McConnell, Gabe York & Kaleb Tarczewski; all hovering around the double-digit mark in scoring, the Wildcats are without a doubt the deepest team outside of the OTHER Wildcats from Kentucky.
Expect another classic in the South final with strong performances by Wisconsin's Kaminsky, Sam Dekker and Nigel Hayes. In the end, it will be the outside shooting, speed, length & incredible depth of Arizona that wins out.
Arizona 77
Wisconsin 74
Midwest Region
East Region
South Region
