Virginia, Hampton, Texas Tech, Butler, Purdue, Arkansas Little Rock, Iowa State, Iona, Seton Hall, Gonzaga, Utah, Fresno State, Dayton Syracuase, Michigan State, Middle Tennessee State
Upset City
While it is almost a consensus that Michigan State and Virginia will meet each other in this region's final, I think the rest of this bracket is wide open. Gonzaga, having been a dominant program for the past decade or so, now finds itself back as a double digit seed having been no worse than an eight seed the past four tournaments. Iowa State and Purdue make for two extremely suspect four and five seeds, respectively, as the Cyclones went 5-7 down the stretch and are tied for 257th in the country in points allowed, while Purdue struggled mightily away from home, though they were impressive in the Big Ten Title Game loss. Iona and Arkansas Little Rock, meanwhile, are potential Cinderella stories as Iona has star AJ English carrying their team, and Arkansas LR plays at a snail's pace, but only allows 59.9 points per game, good for 3rd in the country. If there was ever a time to take a chance on a 12-13 matchup in the Round of 32, this would be the place to do so.
Virginia Hosed Again
Someone has got it out for the Cavaliers. For the third year in a row they have a potential matchup with Michigan State in their region. The Cavs were a two seed last year, only to have to face Michigan State, a seven seed, in the second round of the 2015 tournament. That should have been an Elite Eight game. Luckily for the Cavs, it will be an Elite Eight game if they meet this year. Unluckily for the Cavs, the Spartans are better this year. Not only will Virginia, the one seed, have to beat the Spartans, but they will have to do it in Big Ten country in Chicago, rather than a site on the east coast that would favor Virginia. It's unfortunate that both of these teams are worthy of being a Final Four team, but only one will make it.
Wild Card: Utah
I know it sounds weird to call a three seed a wild card, but with Virginia and MSU so heavily favored to come out of this region, you really could've picked anyone. Utah is one of those teams that doesn't do anything exceptionally, but they really don't do anything terrible either. In conference play, they lost to the number one seeded Oregon Ducks three times, but went 2-1 against fourth seeded Cal and beat the sixth seeded Arizona Wildcats in their only meeting this season. Their road to get to the Sweet 16 is fairly easy where a likely matchup with Michigan State looms. While I think they drop that game, I think they give the Spartans all they can handle, which is really all you can ask for a non-Virginia, non-Michigan State team in this region.
Winner of Region: Virginia
The popular pick to come out of this region, and popular pick by many to win the whole thing is Michigan State, so this is going against the grain here. Maybe I'm a sucker for defense, but I am always so impressed with how well they play on the defensive end whenever I watch them, as they rank 2nd in the nation in points per game allowed. They always seem to hang around and it is pretty much impossible to blow them out as their largest margin of defeat in any of their seven losses was seven points. They've answered the call against the big boys, defeating North Carolina, Miami, and Louisville all in the past month. They've also beaten non-ACC, top seeded foes such as Villanova, Cal, and West Virginia. The third time will be a charm for this team as the matchup with the Spartans will be a grind-it-out kind of game, but I think the Cavs make just enough plays at the end.
Matty O
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