2008 NCAA Tournament Predictions - West Region
June 9, 2008
Everyone is looking for that edge when it comes to picking their brackets, as its one of the most difficult things to predict perfectly. In one of the most entertaining sporting events all year long we will see a fair share of upsets an memorable moments. So when you’re trying to figure out just who to pick out west take our expert advice for this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Let’s take a look out west where #1 UCLA heads the class in the West Region. #2 Duke always seems to be a top seed and could be poised for another deep run. What makes this bracket scary is that it has two smaller conference champs that had really impressive season in #5 Drake out of the Missouri Valley and #3 Xavier who came out of the Atlantic 10. These smaller schools might seem like an easy upset pick, but its hard to say how they will play against the bigger conference schools, because they haven’t really been given that chance yet. While there will be upsets, they might come from different places than you might think. Here is our look at the bracket with every game picked all they way to the Final Four.
Round 1
The West will not be so wild when it comes to first round action, as we only see one lower seed falling. We are going to take the minor upset in #9 Texas A&M over a good #8 BYU team. Two games we thought that could be dangerous for the higher seeds was #3 Xavier playing #14 Georgia who made a miraculous run winning the SEC Tournament after finishing the regular season in last place. We were also torn between #7 West Virginia over #10 Arizona, but decided to go with the Mountaineers over an inconsistent Arizona team.
Round of 32
We are continuing the theme from the first round with the bracket pretty much playing out, as it should according to the seeds. The only upset we see coming is #6 Purdue taking out #3 Xavier. This leaves us with a team from 4 of the toughest conferences in #1 UCLA out of the Pac 10, #2 Duke out of the ACC, #4 UCONN out of the Big East, and #6 Purdue out of the Big 10.
Sweet 16
#2 Duke’s tournament run is going to be cut short by #6 Purdue. This came could be one of the more entertaining games of the tournament, as both teams love to chuck it up from downtown. This game should come down to the wire and we just don’t think Duke will have enough to win this one. #1 UCLA will also advance to the Elite 8 with a tough win over a very good #4 UCONN team.
Elite 8
The chance for a trip to San Antonio, TX for the Final Four will take place just a little farther west when #1 UCLA and #6 Purdue will be set to due battle out in Arizona. This might be our biggest upset of the whole tournament coming your way when #6 Purdue’s surprising run becomes something much more special as we have them beating UCLA and representing the Big 10 in the Final Four.
Take a look at the NCAA Tournament Contest at Bodog and it’s completely free to get signed up. So hurry up and get signed up now and get your bracket filed out today.