March Madness West Bracket Betting Odds

March Madness Betting Predictions for the West Region Bracket

MyBookie College Basketball Betting & Expert Analysis | 2024 NCAA Men’s Basketball March Madness.

In this writer’s opinion, the West Region is the easiest of the four in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The top four seeds are North Carolina, Arizona, Baylor and Alabama and none of them won their conference tournament. Decent break for Pac-12 regular-season champion Arizona in still landing out West; getting a No. 2 seed instead of a No. 1 doesn’t matter that much.

The West is the only region where the No. 1 seed is not a favorite to win it as the Tar Heels are +260 and Arizona +200.

When a top seed, the Heels have only one loss ever to a team worse than a No. 5 seed (No. 9-seed Boston College in 1994) and only three other losses to a team seeded lower than two, all of which went on to make the Final Four. Carolina is making its 53rd NCAA Tournament appearance, second in history behind Kentucky‘s 61. The Tar Heels are 131-49 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.

The conference hasn’t even made the title game since 2006. The West Coast has seen five national runners-up this century, including just Arizona (2001) and UCLA (2006) from the Pac-12. The Wildcats are the only realistic Pac-12 team with a shot this year.

Overall, Arizona has now been selected to 38 NCAA Tournaments and has made it as a No. 1 or 2 seed in each of the three years under head coach Tommy Lloyd. This will be the Wildcats seventh appearance in Salt Lake City for the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament, and the first time since 2017. Arizona has a 9-2 record in the 11 previous games played in Salt Lake City.

UA is led by former North Carolina guard Caleb Love, the Pac-12 Player of the Year, so he would be a huge storyline if the teams meet in the Elite Eight.

I expect No. 2 Arizona to face No. 3 Baylor (+650 to win South) in the Sweet 16. The Bears have earned a top-three seed for a fourth-straight NCAA Tournaments. The Bears are the only team in the country to earn a top-three seed in four-straight NCAA Tournaments. Baylor is 22-16 in 15 previous NCAA Championships trips, including a 19-10 record in the Scott Drew era.

If Baylor advances past the first round, it will face either sixth-seeded Clemson (21-11) or 11th-seeded New Mexico (26-9) in Sunday’s second round, with the winner advancing to the regional rounds in Los Angeles for games on March 28 and 30.

Our sleeper pick has to be Michigan State at +1600 even though the No. 9 seed could easily lose Round 1 to No. 8 Mississippi State. March is when Tom Izzo’s Spartans shine. MSU has made eight Final Fours in 24 appearances under Izzo, including three times as a No. 5 seed or worse. Izzo is especially tough in NCAA Tournament games with just one day of prep, with a 24-7 record in such games.

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