2021 NCAA Tournament West Region roundtable, key questions

2. Which double-digit seed can make a Sweet 16 or beyond run?

Sinodhinos

I think this comes down to the process of elimination more than anything else. It is going to be difficult for Gonzaga and Iowa to not be in the Sweet 16, so I think the overwhelming answer to this is Drake. The Bulldogs were 18-0 going into February and have a home victory over Loyola-Chicago.

Plus, they had another close game in losing by ten to Loyola-Chicago in the conference tournament without their injured leading scorer ShanQuan Hemphill. Coach Devries had hope Hemphill would return for the conference tourney, but since Hemphill has been declared out four weeks on Feb. 23, there still lies some hope he will be available for such a run.

Mauro

UCSB. The Gauchos have everything a lock-down defender in Josh Pierre-Louis a dominant big man in Amadou Sow and one of the best players in all of college basketball in JaQuori McLaughlin.

Bernstein

The No. 13-seed Ohio Bobcats ranked 78th in the KenPom rankings this past season. Recently, the Bobcats won the Mid-American Conference Tournament over Buffalo and punched their ticket to the big dance. They are led by Jason Preston who averaged 16.6 points and 7.2 assists per game. This hungry Bobcat team will face a talented Virginia Cavaliers squad in the Round of 64.

Although the Cavaliers have been impressive, they will face quarantining and positive cases within the program which may set their preparation back this week. This Ohio team will be ready and will have a strong chance to make a big run and execute upsets along the way.

Loose

UC Santa Barbara (12-seed) is in a fantastic position to make a run. They match up well with Creighton in the first round and could face either a weakened Virginia squad (or 13-seed Ohio) in round two.