March Madness 2026: West Region Preview
· Yahoo Sports
Welcome to our coverage of the 2025 NCAA Tournament! The best event in sports is here and we will be as well, providing step-by-step previews of each region and breaking down what to watch for and who to keep an eye on during the basketball feast that is the NCAA Tournament.
Who the metrics love: #9 Utah StateThe Aggies landed on the 9 line despite being top 30 in both Torvik and Kenpom, largely due to their non conference resume consisting entirely of wins over VCU and Illinois St. on neutral floors and the 10 point oopsie they had at home against UNLV, who went on to complete the sweep in Vegas. In year two under potentially my new least favorite coach in college basketball, pending his response to Cincinnati’s overtures, Jerrod Calhoun, Utah State has maintained their excellent, free flowing offensive attack while also improving 105 spots from 150th to 45th on the defensive end. They have done this by forcing opponents to shoot 4% worse from inside the arc than last season which has surprisingly coniceded with a drop in their block rate.
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Who the metrics hate: #10 MissouriThe Tigers were beneficiaries of the rest of the bubble vomiting in their own laps down the stretch and own the worst NET of any at large team that didn’t end up in the First Four. They are ranked behind 5 of the 6 11 seeds in both KenPom and Torvik. Their offense is decent when they don’t turn the ball over, which they do at the 268th highest rate in the country, but their defense is good at almost nothing save for 2 point defense. The absolutely belong in the field after going 20-12 overall and 10-8 in the SEC, but they also lost their rivalry games against Kansas and Illinois be a combined total of 63 points and have some glaring defensive issues.
Easy to like: #15 QueensThe Royals didn’t even field a basketball team until the 1989-90 season and are only in their fourth year at the Division I level. Furthermore, the school merging with Elon University and will be operated by Elon once the merger is complete, making the future of the athletic department somewhat murky. With all that as backdrop, they ran through the ASun Tournament as the three seed and dropped top seeded Central Arkansas in an overtime thriller to punch their ticket to the dance. They play fast, they play excellent offense, and they’ll probably lost to Purdue by 40, but Grant Leonard and his team may be the most quintessential underdog story in the bracket this year.
Easy to hate: #11 TexasCould it be anyone else? Besides having a reptile for a coach, it is just easy to see the Longhorns as the underachieving paragon of what continuing to throw money at a program no one in the fanbase actually cares about looks like. UT somehow racked up the 4th highest operating budget in DI last season, one which ended in the First Four, and then fired their coach and bought out another for the same result. There was a time when this program had the chops to call itself a powerhouse rather than just spend like one. That time was before 2015, when they ran Rick Barnes out of town for only winning 10 tournament games in his last 10 seasons. In the 10 seasons since, they have won just 5 proving that the grass isn’t always greener even when it is astroturf.
Plus, Sean Miller is a snake.
Fun to watch: #5 WisconsinWhat is more fun to watch in March than a team with a guard who can go takeover mode and torch someone for 30? A team with two guards who can go takeover mode and torch someone for 30. That is what the Badgers have in Nick Boyd and John Blackwell. Blackwell has dropped 30 or more 5 times this season and Boyd has done it 3 times. In their Big Ten Quarterfinal win over Illinois, the rest of the team combined for 22 points in 45 minutes. Boyd had 38 and Blackwell had 31 to power Bucky to victory anyway. If these guys are both off, they can lose to Oregon, if they are both on, they can beat Purdue.
Danger team: #4 ArkansasThese are not Nolan Richardson’s hogs, in fact they seem almost allergic to creating live ball turnovers, but the Razorbacks are going to be a tough out nonetheless. They are led by First Team All-American Darius Acuff Jr and play at a blistering pace on offense, ranking 18th in the nation in possession length. One would thing that might lead to some carelessness with the ball, but Arkansas leads the nation in offensive turnover rate, meaning they are able to find a shot for their 18th ranked EFG% offense on all but 12.3% of possessions. Their interior defense is either terrible or something close to it most games, but the pace and precision with which they operate on offense makes them a nightmare to try to score with anyway.
Best matchup: #8 Villanova vs. #9 Utah StateThese teams have contrasting styles and clashing strengths. Utah State wants to get the ball to the rim and try to convert there or in the ensuing melee for the rebound. Villanova is not good a defending the paint or getting defensive rebounds. Villanova wants to shoot threes and hope Duke Brennan can clean up the craps when they miss. Utah State is not good at defending the arc and has trouble keeping opponents off the glass. Utah State is bigger, deeper, and more experienced. Villanova is more battle tested, has better shooters, and takes better care of the ball. They are both terrible at free throws. It should be a good one.
Player to watch: AJ Dybantsa, BYUThere are two First Team All-Americans in this region as well as a Second Team in Braden Smith, Third Team in Graham Ike, and Honorable Mention in Jaden Bradley. With that array of talent, Dybantsa still stands out as the biggest box office draw amongst these teams. He is the nation’s leading scorer, has made the most field goals, is 4th in free throw makes, and throws in 6.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.1 steals per game for good measure. Without Richie Saunders as backup, BYU’s attack is going to be all Dybantsa all the time and he is absolutely good enough to make that work into the second weekend and perhaps beyond.