West Region: First Weekend Review

The West seems like the region that all goes according to plan.

Jimm. Er.

So far there have only been two upsets in this region. Pretty much the only exciting thing to happen was some guy on BYU named Jimmer Fredette. His name... is Jimmer. How freaking awesome is that? Jimmer and the Cougars beat Florida in 2OT in the first round, but then bowed out to Kansas St. in the second round because Jacob "Abe Lincoln" Pullen scored 34 points including seven threes. I am not sure how good Kansas St.'s front court is, but Pullen and Clemente alone may be good enough to win the Wildcats a few more games.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Conclusion: Absolutely sick.

Pitt easily beat Oakland in the first round while Xavier survived a tough matchup vs. Minnesota. When they met in the Round of 32 on Sunday it was a rematch of last year's Sweet 16 game when Pitt squeaked by and move on the Elite 8. Both of these teams are not as good as they were last year, but with each team's season on the line it turned out to be a great matchup. Simply put, Pitt missed a ton of short shots and Xavier made a ton of tough, contested shots. That was the difference and Pitt missed two potential game-tying threes in the final five seconds and lost 71-68.

Stupid gold jerseys...

At the top, Syracuse took care of business for two games without Onuaku by beating the #16 seed and then whooping Gonzaga. Murray St. knocked off overrated Vanderbilt on a buzzer beater in the first round, then bowed out to 22-game winning streak Butler. In the next round, most people will say Butler has no chance, and I am one of them. Syracuse saw Kansas go down and there is blood in the water. Some say Kentucky is the favorite, but I believe the Orange are the most complete team remaining in this tournament, assuming Onuaku comes back this weekend.

Poor little fella.