Here’s a look at the West Region of the NCAA Tournament as March Madness gets set to tip off Tuesday:
No. 1 North Carolina (27-7)
Conference: ACC
Coach: Hurbert Davis (3rd season)
Post-ing up: A year after missing out on the tournament, North Carolina is back where it’s accustomed to being: one of the favorites to cut down the nets. Senior guard RJ Davis, the ACC’s leading scorer (21.1 ppg), has paced the offense, while fifth-year forward Armando Bacot has been a force on the boards.
No. 16 Howard (18-16)
Conference: MEAC
Coach: Kenny Blakeney (5th season)
Post-ing up: Seth Towns is one of the best stories in this tournament. He started his college career at Harvard eight years ago. Bedeviled by injuries, the 6-foot-9 forward finally stayed healthy this winter, and produced 14.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 30 games, which matches a career high.
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No. 16 Wagner (16-15)
Conference: Northeast
Coach: Donald Copeland (2nd season)
Post-ing up: Wagner is one of the best stories of this tournament, a team with just seven healthy players. Led by Copeland, the former Seton Hall star, it is dancing for the first time since 2003 after pulling off two consecutive upsets on the road in the NEC Tournament after a 7-9 regular season.
No. 8 Mississippi State (21-13)
Conference: SEC
Coach: Chris Jans (2nd season)
Post-ing up: A shocking rout of Tennessee and deep run in the SEC Tournament helped solidify the Bulldogs’ spot in the NCAA Tournament after struggling in regular season. An extremely active defense, they record a plethora of steals and make life difficult for opposing offenses.
No. 9 Michigan State (19-14)
Conference: Big Ten
Coach: Tom Izzo (27th season)
Post-ing up: A Sweet 16 run last March created high expectations this year. Michigan State didn’t meet them, battling inconsistency most of the season. It did just enough to return to the tournament for the 26th straight season. A lengthy stay, however, feels unlikely for a .500 team in the watered-down Big Ten.
No. 5 Saint Mary’s (26-7)
Conference: WCC
Coach: Randy Bennett (27th season)
Post-ing up: The Gaels play slow and they defend the daylights out of the opposition, allowing just 58.7 points per game, the second-fewest in the country. After starting the season 3-5, Saint Mary’s won 23 of its last 25 games to beat Gonzaga for both the WCC regular season and conference tournament crown.
No. 12 Grand Canyon (29-4)
Conference: WAC
Coach: Bryce Drew (4th season)
Post-ing up: Lopes star wing Tyon Grant-Foster is a player worth rooting for, a one-time junior college star who had heart surgery after collapsing on two separate occasions. He has made the most of his return to the court, propelling Grand Canyon to the WAC title as its leading scorer.
No. 4 Alabama (21-11)
Conference: SEC
Coach: Nate Oats (5th season)
Post-ing up: In contention all season with conference-mate Kentucky for the nation’s highest-scoring offense, Oats — despite his program’s off-court controversy a year ago — has the Crimson Tide humming again. Guard Mark Sears is one of the best scorers in the country, averaging 21.1 points a game.
No. 13 Charleston (27-7)
Conference: CAA
Coach: Pat Kelsey (3rd season)
Post-ing up: The Cougars repeated in the CAA despite losing three of their top five scorers, an impressive achievement for Kelsey, who is now 58-11 over the past two years with two conference titles. A smart power-conference program will hire him soon, possibly after Charleston is done dancing.
No. 6 Clemson (21-11)
Conference: ACC
Coach: Brad Brownell (14th season)
Post-ing up: Clemson had made the tournament just once in the previous five seasons before P.J. Hall (18.8 ppg) helped get the Tigers back there thanks to big wins on the road at Alabama and North Carolina. Brownell has won just two NCAA Tournament games in his lengthy tenure, both coming in 2018.
No. 11 New Mexico (26-9)
Conference: Mountain West
Coach: Richard Pitino (3rd season)
Post-ing up: Coached by Rick Pitino’s son, the Lobos are one of the highest-scoring teams in the country (82.4 ppg) and play at an extremely high pace (fifth in KenPom’s adjusted tempo), often running opponents out of the gym. They are among the nation’s leaders in fast-break points, as well.
No. 3 Baylor (23-10)
Conference: Big 12
Coach: Scott Drew (21st season)
Post-ing up: The backcourt quartet of RayJ Dennis, Ja’Kobe Walter, Langston Love and Jayden Nunn are lethal, four potent shotmakers who play well off of each other. They make high-powered Baylor go. Drew will be looking to make the second weekend for the first time since winning it all in 2021.
No. 14 Colgate (25-9)
Conference: Patriot
Coach: Matt Langei (13th season)
Post-ing up: Colgate has reached five straight tournaments under Langel but is still looking for its first March Madness victory, having lost to Texas last year. It is one of the deepest teams in the field, with 10 players averaging double-figures in minutes and seven who score at least 5.3 points.
No. 7 Dayton (24-7)
Conference: Atlantic 10
Coach: Anthony Grant (7th season)
Post-ing up: The Flyers got off to a 9-1 start in conference play before slipping into mediocrity that nearly derailed their season. DaRon Holmes II, a 6-foot-10 junior, led in the conference in scoring. This is Grant’s first tourney appearance at Dayton after the 2020 COVID cancelation ruined his 29-2 team.
No. 10 Nevada (26-7)
Conference: Mountain West
Coach: Steve Alford (5th season)
Post-ing up: An NCAA champion and Indiana legend who played under Bob Knight, Alford’s team jumped out to a 15-1 start and ended the regular season on a seven-game win streak before losing to Colorado State in the MWC Tournament. Senior guard Jarod Lucas (17.8 ppg) leads the Wolf Pack.
No. 2 Arizona (25-8)
Conference: Pac 12
Coach: Tommy Lloyd (3rd season)
Post-ing up: The Wildcats were shockingly bounced in the first round by 15 seed Princeton one year ago. But only Alabama and Kentucky scored more points per game than Arizona’s 88.8 this season. Led by Pac-12 Player of the Year Caleb Love, the Wildcats ranked second in the nation in rebounds (42.9), fast-break points (16.6) and assists (18.8).
No. 15 Long Beach State (21-14)
Conference: Big West
Coach: Dan Monson (17th season)
Post-ing up: On Monday, Long Beach State announced Monson would be let go after the season. On Saturday, he led the school to the Big West Tournament crown. What a wild five days for Monson and his team, which had lost five straight games before the conference tournament.
