The West Region of the men’s NCAA tournament bracket is incredibly strong on each opposite end.
Between 1-seed Kansas and 2-seed UCLA, it’ll be hard to resist going chalk up to the regional final.
But while the other teams in this region may be a step below the top seeds, they’re mostly all in the same relative ballpark as each other. I sorted through the madness to find some good bets throughout the region.
1 Kansas to reach Sweet 16 (-250)
Let’s take a look at all the potential matchups for Kansas before the Sweet 16. Round 1: Howard. Round 2: Arkansas or Illinois. Now tell me, which one of those teams do you think is beating the Jayhawks?
I don’t think any of them score good enough to pose a threat to the team with Kempom’s seventh-best adjusted defensive efficiency. Especially not with Bill Self set to return to the sideline for Kansas.
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9 Illinois vs. 8 Arkansas: Over 143.5 points
Speaking of Illinois and Arkansas, they might not knock off Kansas, but they should make for a heck of a game between one another. Both teams allowed just 67 points per game to opponents, so this should be a hard-fought battle. But the total is too low, in my opinion.
Illinois is 3-0 to the over in its last three games, and Arkansas is 5-0 to the over in its last five games with a total of at least 140.
12 VCU (+4.5) vs. 5 Saint Mary's
Not only does Saint Mary’s enter this tournament coming off a really ugly loss to Gonzaga, but the Gaels are also just 4-7 ATS in their last 11 games. VCU, on the other hand, is riding a nine-game winning streak, including three straight wins ATS and seven total in that stretch.
I’m not saying the Rams will win this game — I still think Saint Mary’s is the better team. But they should be able to keep things tight.
