I previously gave you my take on the Midwest Region, so I'd like to wrap up the day of college basketball with my West Region thoughts.

Best First Round Games:  Purdue/Northern Iowa, Marquette/Utah State, and California/Maryland. 

The Boilers have a scrappy Northern Iowa team to deal with, but Matt Painter has his team playing some very tough defensive ball.  Purdue should come out on top in this one.

Buzz Williams isn't showing any signs of panic going into the tourney without his floor leader, Dominic James, but I bet on the inside his stomach is doing flips.  Utah State is tough draw for Marquette and I have them pulling off the upset in round one.

Mike Montgomery vs Gary Williams in the first round?  What a great coaching matchup!  Williams will be sweating like there is no tomorrow and if the Terps don't win, there might not be a tomorrow for GW at Maryland.  In the end, I think the California Golden Bears will prevail in this game of "who get's to lose to Memphis next?!"

Final Four Pick:  UConn

I just don't see Memphis making it back to the Final Four this season.  Yes, they have a great team, but they are not unbeatable.  Nobody is for that matter, but in the end, I see UConn coming out on top of the Tigers in their Elite Eight showdown. 

Possible Sleepers:  Purdue, Washington, and Missouri could all cause a lot of trouble for this region.  While they aren't sleepers in terms of being lower seeds, all three are really overlooked since UConn and Memphis are in this region.  All three teams are scrappy and play quality defense.  Washington was the Pac10 regular season champion and nobody is talking about them!  The same can be said for Missouri (Big 12 tourney champs) and Purdue (Big 10 tourney champs). 

The only lower seeded team that I think could do some damage in this part of the bracket is Utah State.  I really feel that they will beat Marquette in round one and if things go right for them, I could see them pulling off the upset in round two in a possible matchup with Missouri.