2018 NCAA Tournament: West Region preview, info, prediction and more

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ORLANDO, FL – MARCH 11: Houston Cougars before the final game of the 2018 AAC Basketball Championship against Cincinnati Bearcats at Amway Center on March 11, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

Predictions for the West Region

This region is very hard to predict because, for the most part, everybody is pretty close together.

You could make an argument for Xavier, UNC, or Michigan to be the best team in the region.

But in the Sweet 16, out of the West I see it being Xavier vs Ohio State and North Carolina vs Houston.

Tar Heel fans saw first hand how good Ohio State is and since they’ve played each other, the Buckeyes have gotten even better. Ohio State will beat South Dakota State in the first round and knock off Gonzaga in the second round.

Xavier will skate through the first round after facing two of the worst teams in the tournament. Then, I think they will face the Missouri Tigers, who will have Michael Porter back. The Musketeers will be too much for the Tigers to handle.

In the bottom half, the Tar Heels will have a tough time with Texas A&M, but in the end they will find their way to yet another Sweet 16. This is assuming the Tar Heels take care of Lipscomb.

Michigan should be able to beat Montana in the 3-vs-14 game, which will help them move on to play Houston, who will face off against San Diego State in the first round in the 6-vs-11 matchup.

Houston can legitimately make a run to the Elite 8 this season, mainly depending on what happens around them. Led by Kelvin Sampson, the Cougars finished second place in the American Conference.

I see Houston pulling the upset against Michigan to get to the Sweet 16, setting up a date with the Tar Heels.

Sweet 16 predictions

For the Elite 8, the first matchup will be between the Xavier Musketeers and Ohio State.

Chris Holtmann has done a phenomenal job at Ohio State in his first year and has turned the Buckeyes back into a national brand. Chris Mack is a very underrated NCAA Tournament coach. He hasn’t reached the Final Four, but that isn’t far behind.

However, the Buckeyes have a little too much for the Musketeers to handle. Keita Bates-Diop has turned into one of the best players in the country and Jae’Sean Tate has stepped up his game to another level.

The Buckeyes advance to the Elite 8.

The second game will feature the Tar Heels vs the Houston Cougars. The Tar Heels would be the heavy favorites in this game, but the Cougars aren’t much worse than the Tar Heels.

Rob Gray, Houston’s point guard, is a North Carolina native. That typically spells doom for the Tar Heels, but with Joel Berry still at the point for the Tar Heels, there is not much to worry about.

The Tar Heels run away from the Cougars in the second half to advance to another Elite 8.

Elite 8 prediction

The Elite 8 would set up a rematch of an earlier season matchup, in which the Tar Heels won 86-72.

Rematches in the NCAA Tournament normally fare better for the losing team, mainly because the winning team gets too comfortable. But the Tar Heels are too good of a team to do that.

The game will be much closer this time, but I still see the Tar Heels pulling away.

The illustrious careers of Joel Berry and Theo Pinson can end no other way than another trip to the Final Four, the third straight for the Tar Heels.

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