NCAA March Madness: West region preview

The 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament officially kicks off tomorrow and with the field set, it’s time to take a look at the west region of the bracket.

Every spot in the west is filled, with there being no First Four games taking place.

The No. 1 seed in this region is the Florida Gators. The Gators are coming off of an SEC Tournament title, which saw them defeat the Tennessee Volunteers in the championship game 86-77.

Florida will take on No. 16 seed Norfolk State in the first round.

The Gators command what seems to be a very competitive side of the bracket, with other teams like St. John’s, Texas Tech, Maryland and the defending champion UConn Huskies.

St. John’s, the No. 2 seed, won the Big East Tournament championship over Creighton 82-66. Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr. had a game-high 29 points to lead the Red Storm.

This region has some very intriguing matchups. The ones that I have my eyes on are:

No. 5 Memphis vs. No. 12 Colorado State

Memphis comes into this one fresh off of an AAC Tournament title over UAB and have one of the most electric players in the country in PJ Haggerty, who averages 21.8 points per game this season.

Colorado State, the Mountain West champs, are riding a 10-game win streak and have a prolific scorer in their own with Nique Clifford, who averages 19 points per contest and shoots 39.8% from three.

No. 6 Missouri vs. No. 11 Drake

6-seed Missouri has a top-10 scoring offense in the country, coming in at No. 9 with 84.5 points per game. The Tigers come in cold, having lost four out of their last five games.

Drake has the best scoring defense in the country, only allowing 58.4 points per night. Led by junior guard Bennett Stirtz, the Bulldogs went 30-3 this season and won the Missouri Valley Conference title.

No. 7 Kansas vs. No. 10 Arkansas

It’s a battle between two of the sports’ most legendary coaches, Bill Self of Kansas and John Calipari of Arkansas.

Self’s squad rolls into this one sputtering a little bit, having gone 5-5 over the last month, however Big 12 play was not too kind to the Jayhawks. They do have wins over Michigan State and Duke on their resume, so if they can get things going, I’d watch out.

Calipari’s squad has a win over Big 10 Champion Michigan and two 15 point per game scorers in Adou Thiero and freshman Boogie Fland. The Razorbacks started SEC play 0-5, but rallied to finish 8-10.

No. 8 UConn vs. No. 9 Oklahoma

The defending champs had some bumps along the way this season but have won five of their last six games. True freshman Liam McNeeley is emerging as a star for Dan Hurley.

After starting 13-0, including wins over Michigan and Arizona, Oklahoma fell back to Earth finishing 6-12 in SEC play. The team is very talented though, led by guard Jeremiah Fears who averages 17 points per game, 4.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game.

While these are the games that I have the most interest in, that does not mean the other games are not worth mentioning.

13-seed Grand Canyon has wins over fellow bracket-mate Norfolk State and another tournament team in Bryant. Their opponent, Maryland, has been rock solid. Kevin Willard’s team touts five double-digit scorers.

Texas Tech, the three seed, finished second in the Big 12 at 15-5 and have a star in forward JT Toppin, who averages 18.1 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. 14-seed UNC Wilmington won the CAA Tournament and have won six straight games.

I already mentioned St. John’s, but not their opponent, Omaha. The Mavericks won the Summit League title and went 13-3 in conference. Forward Marquel Sutton averages 19.1 points and 8.0 rebounds per night.

16-seed Norfolk State, the unfortunate team that meets Florida, won the MEAC title and has wins over tournament teams Alabama State and High Point.

This region is going to be a lot of fun, there is a lot of talent here and a ton of chances for Cinderella’s to rise.

If I had to pick a winner of the Wild West, I’d have to be boring and go with Florida, the one seed. I believe they are playing too well right now and just ran through the toughest conference tournament in college basketball this year.

This is March however and anything can happen.

Evan Pochas is a second-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him email ejp5753@psu.edu.