Second reminder of the day to join our bracket and win a free post. If we can get the number of participants over 300, we’ll thrown in a neat little prize that will not be discussed until it hits your mailbox. The West region is widely considered the weakest, and everyone seems to be giving UCLA a free pass to the Final Four for three reasons: Second-seeded Duke went 5-4 in its last nine games, third-seeded Xavier is from the meek A-10, and fourth-seeded Connecticut went 3-3 down the stretch.

1 UCLA -33 vs 16 Mississippi Valley St. – Avoid it, because 30 is a ton of points, even against a team that’s 0-5 against the Top 50 and scored just 26 points against Washington State.
9 Texas A&M -2 vs 8 BYU – BYU hasn’t won in the first round since 1993, but played UNC and MSU tough at neutral sites this year. Think Cougars.
5 Drake -4 vs 12 Western Kentucky – Altogether now – love the Drake.
4 UConn -12.5 vs 13 San Diego – Despite the Big East tourney loss, we’re thinking the Huskies go on a surprise run.

2 Duke -19.5 vs 15 Belmont – The masses love Duke here, so we’ll avoid it.
7 West Virginia -2.5 vs 10 Arizona – Perhaps the best first-round game, and as much as we like Joe Alexander, we’re going with jekyll and hyde ‘Zona.
3 Xavier -7.5 vs 14 Georgia – Tough to wager against the Bulldogs now, especially since Xavier split its last four games. Like Xavier to win, though.
6 Purdue -2.5 vs 11 Baylor – We pray this excrement isn’t on TV. Two crappy teams who closed weak (3-3, 1-2, respectively).

Most likely double-digit seed to win two games: 1) Arizona, 2) Georgia, 3) San Diego.
Highest seed most likely to lose in the first round: Purdue.
Most likely regional final: UCLA vs. Xavier
Sexy Sleeper regional final: Drake vs. Georgia