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March Madness Preview: West Region

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David Hookstead Sports And Entertainment Editor
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The first round of March Madness begins Thursday and there are lots of questions eager sports fans need answers to as they fell out their brackets.

Look no further because The Daily Caller has everything you need to know about March Madness.

Here is a preview of the West region.

Best team: There are three teams in the West region that could make a solid case for being the best team, but the edge goes to the Oklahoma Sooners. The Sooners earned the second seed in the region after mostly rolling through a brutal Big 12 schedule that has hardened them up for tournament play. The Sooners have 13 wins against top 100 RPI teams.

Potential spoiler: Texas has all the tools necessary to play the role of spoiler. Coach Shaka Smart quickly turned the Longhorns around from where they were when he took over the program. Guard Isaiah Taylor and center Cameron Ridley offer Texas a great foundation to launch a tournament run. (RELATED: March Madness Preview: South Region)

Best mid-major: Northern Iowa is no stranger to the tournament and has been one of the best mid-major basketball programs in America for the better part of a decade. North Carolina found out the hard way earlier in the season that NIU is not a team to be taken lightly. The Panthers feature very even scoring with four players averaging double digits. A first round matchup with Texas isn’t favorable by any measure but it’d be foolish for any team to make the same mistake of UNC and overlook Northern Iowa.

Best player: If Duke was in any other region then Grayson Allen would probably get this honor, but unfortunately he’s in the same region as Buddy Hield. Hield tore up college basketball this season averaging 25 points per game and a great NBA future is ahead of him. There’s not a team in America that Oklahoma has played that has found out a way to stop the electric scorer.

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