2008 NCAA TOURNAMENT PREDICTIONS

WEST REGION - Phoenix, AZ

1 UCLA

16 Miss. Valley St

8 BYU

9 Texas A&M

UCLA

Texas A&M

5 Drake

12 Western Kentucky

4 UConn

13 San Diego

Drake

UConn

3 Xavier

14 Georgia

6 Purdue

11 Baylor

Xavier

Baylor

7 West Virginia

10 Arizona

2 Duke

15 Belmont

Arizona

Duke

UCLA

UConn

Xavier

Duke

UCLA

Duke

Regional Champ
UCLA

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE WEST REGION

The Xavier-Georgia-Purdue-Baylor pod is really interesting. I can see ANY of those four teams reaching the Sweet 16. But I'm going with the unheralded Musketeers over Georgia, which is simply going to run out of gas a la Syracuse in 2006. And I'll take Baylor in a mild upset over cold-shooting Purdue.
Arizona is a pretty darn good road team. West Virginia is not. Arizona is healthy and matches up really well against the Mountaineers. Their defense is suspect, but the 'Eers really only have one or two offensive options.
UConn is going to have their hands full with Drake in the second round, as Thabeet's defensive strength is going to be nullified by a torrent of threes from the Bulldogs. But look for Adrien to get about seven offensive rebounds & carry the Huskies to the W.
UCLA will not lose in Anaheim. Phoenix is another story; I'm not as comfortable with their chances against both UConn and Duke. Interesting tidbit: Kyle Singler's team defeated Kevin Love's in the Oregon High School state finals last year...we should see a rematch in the Elite Eight & I think Love gets the revenge on the bigger stage.