The West Is Absolutely LOADED And For Sure The Region Of Death

Rico Bosco3/12/2023 11:29 PM

Julio Cortez. Shutterstock Images.

Glorious day ! Selection Sunday is what you spend all those nights in January and February grinding out Horizon games, and sweating an over out West in the Pac 12. The possibilities are now endless. Your bracket is perfect, you can fall in love with upsets, you can tell people who's overrated. Everyone has a shot at the Final Four. Selection Sunday is the best. Basically a holiday. Love seeing the bracket, love dreaming up all the matchups, and outcomes.

As everyone knows it's a wide open NCAA Tournament, we've heard that all year. The Barstool Sportsbook odds certainty reflect that.

- The West Is LOADED

Let's start at the top. The defending champion Kansas Jayhawks got the 1 seed, and will face either Arkansas (off two straight Elite 8's), and Illinois who was predicted to be atop the Big 10 in preseason polls, and has beaten UCLA and Texas this year. Absolutely brutal matchup for a 1 seed.

Anyone who doesn't say the the committee has a sense of humor is clearly lying because, they love to give us sequels. UCLA and Gonzaga are lined up as the potential 2-3 Elite 8 matchup. Something that has been epic over the years.

The committee 100% knows what they were doing lining these two teams up again. They know that history, they know we love those clips. They want drama, they gave it to us. Also add this to the list of grievances for Kansas, that they will essentially be playing a road game vs UCLA or Gonzaga in Vegas. Brutal.

My favorite 1st round matchup is UCONN vs Iona. This game would be the best of the 1st round if it was played on Jupiter. The fact that it's in Albany, a 2 hour ride from Storrs, but only a 3 hour ride from New Rochelle is enough to make Hurley's head pop. I need a live camera reaction on Hurley when he saw this. Also, UCONN is a team who is playing great, has a win over the #1 overall seed in Alabama this year, and is 100% capable of winning a title. Did I mention this region is loaded ?

St.Mary's as a 5 and TCU as a 6 are two of the most dangerous teams in the country. The Gaels have 4 double digit scorers in the lineup (Johnson, Mahaney,Ducas,Saxen) and TCU has a world class guard in Mike Miles. Jamie Dixon gave Arizona everything they could handle last year, and this year's team might even be better. TCU will be without Eddie Lampkin, but the Frogs are very talented and play in the best league in the country.

THIS REGION IS LOADED ! I cannot wait to watch it unfold, and it makes it even better it's in Las Vegas. Only thing missing is Bill Walton on the call.