Busting Brackets
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Bracketology 2024: 1st projected field of 68 of the 2023-24 season

By Jason Burgess

The bracket banner is updated on the side of the J.W. Marriott with the results of the first day of games during the 2021 NCAA Division I basketball tournament in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Saturday, March 20, 2021. Mandatory Credit: Barbara Perenic/IndyStar via USA TODAY Sports
The bracket banner is updated on the side of the J.W. Marriott with the results of the first day of games during the 2021 NCAA Division I basketball tournament in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Saturday, March 20, 2021. Mandatory Credit: Barbara Perenic/IndyStar via USA TODAY Sports /
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Oumar Ballo #11 of the Arizona Wildcats (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)
Oumar Ballo #11 of the Arizona Wildcats (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images) /

West Region (Los Angeles)

(1) Arizona vs. (16) Purdue Fort Wayne
(8) Virginia vs. (9) Oklahoma
(5) Texas vs. (12) Bradley
(4) Mississippi State vs. (13) UC-Irvine
(6) Ohio State vs. (11) Iowa State
(3) Alabama vs. (14) Weber State
(7) Memphis vs. (10) Nevada
(2) Marquette vs. (15) Iona

The West regional will be held in Los Angeles and the top seed looking to make their way to the City of Angels is the Arizona Wildcats. So far, the road win over Duke is the big feather in the cap of Arizona’s resume, but they also have that win over Michigan State in the Acrisure Classic.  Their resume has a chance to get even better with games against Purdue, Alabama, and Florida Atlantic before league play begins.

The rest of the top four seed lines in the west region are filled out by Marquette, Alabama, and Mississippi State respectively. Shaka Smart’s Golden Eagles just missed being on the top seed line thanks to a 3-1 quad 1 record, handing then No. 1 Kansas their only loss of the year and then falling to Purdue in the Maui Invitational title game. The defending Big East tournament champs also have a road win at Illinois in their pocket and with the veteran trio of Tyler Kolek, Oso Ighodaro and Kam Jones leading a team that is top-5 in all the predictive metrics early on, a No. 1 seed is certainly possible.

The team to watch in this region is the No. 9 seed Oklahoma Sooners. Porter Moser’s Sooners were picked to finish 12th in the Big 12, but have begun the year 7-0. The litmus test for the Sooners will be in December where three of their first four games are against Providence, Arkansas, and North Carolina. Oklahoma does their best work inside the three-point arc. They rank in the top 10 in two-point percentage and in the top 25 in the same category on the defensive end. Otega Oweh leads them offensively with 15.7 points and 4.7 rebounds and Sam Godwin has been extremely effective in limited minutes with 7.7 points and a team-leading 6.7 rebounds in just 16 minutes per game.

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