The NCAA 2010 Bracket: West Edition

 The West Division is pretty much headlined by the Orangemen and Wildcats. These are 16 teams on the Salt Lake City bracket.


1. Syracuse
2. Kansas State
3. Pittsburgh
4.Vanderbilt
5. Butler
6. Xavier
7. BYU
8. Gonzaga
9. Florida State
10. Florida
11. Minnesota
12. UTEP
13. Murray State
14. Oakland
15. North Texas
16. Vermont

1-16 and 8-9 matchups are in Buffalo (c/o MAAC, Canisius and Niagara), 5-12 and 4-13 matchups are in San Jose (c/o San Jose State), 6-11 and 3-14 matchups are in Milwaukee (c/o Marquette), and 7-10 and 2-15 matchups are in Oklahoma City (c/o Big 12). Winners of each pod will proceed to Salt Lake City (c/o Utah)

My thoughts.

1.All eyes on Arinze Onuaku. The ankle he sprained during the Big East Tournament is going to be the key if Syracuse would pull off a title run.

2. Double-digit seed that could make a difference? UTEP. Tony Barbee is the new hot coaching name. Comparisons being made to the 1992 team that went to the Sweet 16. Murray State is a close second with the sort-of Toni Rochette factor.

3. Palatable 1st rd matchup? Butler vs UTEP would make an interesting battle of two mid-major teams. Another one would be Fredette against the Gators.

4. Assembling a quality roster.

Guards:  Andy Rautins (Syracuse), Jacob Pullen (Kansas State), Dennis Clemente (Kansas State), Jimmy Fredette (BYU), Matt Bouldin (Gonzaga), Jordan Crawford (Xavier)
Forwards: Wesley Johnson (Syracuse), Derrick Caracter (UTEP), Gordon Hayward (Butler), Jason Love (Xavier), Steven Gray (Gonzaga), Jamar Samuels (Kansas States), Kris Joseph (Syracuse)

Centers: Solomon Alabi (Florida State), AJ Ogilvy (Vanderbilt)

5. Nightmare-inducing scenario: I am pretty sure Syracuse fans remember T.J. Sorrentine and Taylor Coppenrath very well. It also got Tom Brennan into working for ESPN.

My Sweet 16 teams: Syracuse, UTEP, Pittsburgh and Kansas State,