Many have been quick to say that the Midwest is one of the weaker regions in the nation, but those people are simply flat out wrong. <\/p>\n
The region features three of the Final Four participants from a year ago, starting at the top with the undefeated Wichita State Shockers. Michigan is slotted in at No. 2 after losing the Big Ten title game, and Louisville is in at No. 3 after running roughshod over an AAC that just got no respect from the selection committee.<\/p>\n
Those teams will be joined by a pair of teams whose March resumes stack up against anyone, in third-seeded Duke and ninth-seeded Kentucky. Each of those teams will bring one of the nation\u2019s top freshman to town, as the Blue Devils\u2019 Jabari Parker and the Wildcats\u2019 Julius Randle look to make some noise in their first tournament.<\/p>\n
The region also features three First Four games, with Cal Poly and Texas Southern set to play for a shot at Wichita State, N.C. State and Xavier battling for a date with Saint Louis, and Iowa and Tennessee locking horns for the right to play UMass.<\/p>\n
Odds to win WEST Region from Bovada<\/a>:<\/b><\/p>\n No. 4 Louisville Cardinals<\/strong> The Cardinals\u2019 receiving a fourth-seed was the biggest surprise offered up on Selection Sunday. The team went into the AAC tournament ranked as the No. 5 team in the country in the Week 19 AP poll and went on to demolish all comers in the tournament en route to the inaugural American crown, but that didn\u2019t seem to score them any points with the selection committee, which didn\u2019t take kindly to the new AAC. Still, Louisville is the defending champion and brings a laser-focused and highly competitive Russ Smith, along with the emerging Montrezl Harrell to the competition with them, and head coach Rick Pitino knows his way around this tournament.<\/p>\n No. 3 Duke Blue Devils<\/strong> Duke has a lot more talent than people think, and it goes beyond just Jabari Parker. The team can make some noise because of their ability to hit the three-ball, though that also makes them vulnerable when that shot isn\u2019t falling. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski has been able to smooth out bigger issues than that in the past.<\/p>\n No. 1 Wichita State Shockers<\/strong> Wichita State is the first team to advance to the tournament with an undefeated record since UNLV accomplished the feat in 1991. The problem is they compiled that record on the backs of far inferior opponents \u2013 their best win may have been over Tennessee.<\/p>\n No. 2 Michigan Wolverines<\/strong> Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. The Wolverines made it to the title game a year ago but couldn\u2019t close the deal. This year, the team lost in the Big Ten title game, costing itself a shot at a No. 1 seed. Head coach John Beilein is one of the more underappreciated bench bosses in the country. No. 8 Kentucky Wildcats<\/strong> The Wildcats have all the talent in the world, but turning that into success on the court has proven troublesome in the past. The trouble they\u2019ve had with Florida, the best team on their schedule, makes their chances of making a run seem unlikely.<\/p>\n No. 5 Saint Louis Billikens<\/strong> Saint Louis enters the tournament as a relative unknown despite spending much of the season inside the AP poll. The team faltered down the stretch which doesn\u2019t bode well for its Tournament hopes.<\/p>\n No. 11 Iowa Hawkeyes<\/strong> The Hawkeyes will have to play their way in to the tournament, but don\u2019t be surprised if they make some noise once they get there. The team can score points and gets strong point guard play.<\/p>\n No. 6 Massachusetts Minutemen<\/strong> UMass was a favorite in the AP poll for much of the early part of the year, but they\u2019ve largely gone unnoticed. The selection committee surely noticed them, slotting the Minutemen in as a six-seed.<\/p>\n 1. Louisville wins three of their four regional games by double-digits The play: Louisville +160<\/strong><\/p>\n Looking for the #1 Internet gambling &\u00a0College Basketball handicapping<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0info site on the WWW? Get the best\u00a0MARCH MADNESS picks<\/strong>\u00a0in the industry to help you win more when you bet on the 2014 College basketball Tournament with CappersPicks.com.<\/p>\n MIDWEST REGION PREDICTIONS \u2013 2014 Many have been quick to say that the Midwest is one of the weaker regions in the nation, but those people are simply flat out wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":976,"featured_media":63797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1415],"tags":[61375,61376,11113,11724,4212,11387,53982,12018,53985,53988,1132],"class_list":["post-73757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-2014-march-madness","tag-2014-ncaa-tournament-picks","tag-betting-stats","tag-bracket-picks","tag-college-basketball-handicapping","tag-march-madness-predictions","tag-midwest-bracket-predictions","tag-midwest-region-odds","tag-midwest-region-picks","tag-odds-to-win-midwest-region","tag-sleepers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/976"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73757"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73803,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73757\/revisions\/73803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Favorites<\/h3>\n
\nOdds to win Midwest Region: +160<\/strong>
\nOdds to win Tournament: +650<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nOdds to win Midwest Region: +350<\/strong>
\nOdds to win Tournament: +1200<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nOdds to win Midwest Region: +400<\/strong>
\nOdds to win Tournament: +1000<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nOdds to win Midwest Region: +550<\/strong>
\nOdds to win Tournament: +2000<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n [ad-6571516]<\/p>\nContenders<\/h3>\n
\nOdds to win Midwest Region: +1200<\/strong>
\nOdds to win Tournament: +3300<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nOdds to win Midwest Region: +2000<\/strong>
\nOdds to win Tournament: +10000<\/strong><\/p>\nSleeper<\/h3>\n
\nOdds to win Midwest Region: +2500<\/strong>
\nOdds to win Tournament: +7500<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nOdds to win Midwest Region: +4000<\/strong>
\nOdds to win Tournament: +10000<\/strong><\/p>\nPredictions:<\/h3>\n
\n2. Kentucky is the betting favorite in their round of 32 matchup with Wichita State
\n3. Arizona State beats Texas and gives Michigan a run for their money
\n4. Duke will not make the Sweet 16
\n5. Selection committee members regret making Wichita State a top seed<\/p>\n**CLICK HERE TO GRAB OUR BEST Picks Packages for 2014 NCAA Hoops Betting!**<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"