Welcome to the West region, where Arizona is the top seed and superstars Darius Acuff Jr. and AJ Dybantsa lie.
We also have Purdue, the No. 1 team in the land coming into the season, as the No. 2 seed.
So, here's my 2026 NCAA Tournament West Region Preview, including sleepers, favorites and best matchups.
West Region Favorite
Arizona (-120 to Win West Region)
Arizona put together an incredible season, finishing with a 32-2 record, Big 12 regular-season and conference titles and a No. 2 seed.
Tommy Lloyd’s team is one of two squads nationally that rank top-five in offensive and defensive efficiency.
On the defensive end, Arizona is an absolute force. It ranks third in offensive efficiency and holds opponents to a 43.8% shooting from 2-point range (second nationally).
The Cats have a dominant point of attack defender in Big 12 Player of the Year, Jaden Bradley. Most opposing guards can’t get past him, but if they do, 7-footer Mo Krivas — and one of Tobe Awaka or Koa Peat — will meet the opposition at the hoop.
What should put opponents in a real state of fear is how good Arizona is on the margins. It grabs offensive rebounds at a 38% clip (ninth nationally) and keeps opponents off the glass, to the tune of a 26% offensive rebound rate.
They also dominate the free-throw battle, reaching the foul line 43% of the time while sending teams to the line 27% of the time.
The only drawback for Arizona is shooting, as it attempts 3s on just 26% of its shots — the fourth-lowest nationally.It’s a bit unprecedented for a contender in 2026 to shoot 3s that infrequently.
Brayden Burries and Anthony Dell’Orso are the only two real shooters on the roster. Ivan Kharchenkov can hit them, but he’s hovering around 32%.Bradley hit 40% of his 3s, but he took just 57 all season. None of the bigs are shooters, either.
So, Arizona will be a real test to determine if a team can win a title despite shooting 3s less than a third of the time.
West Region Winner
Arizona (-120 to Win West Region)
It’s chalk, but it’s hard to picture Arizona losing before the Elite Eight. Even on bad offensive nights, the Wildcats' ability to dominate the glass and their elite defense will drag them to a win. On good nights, offensive nights, nobody is beating Arizona outside of the other one seeds.
Arizona also has the easiest path to winning its region among the other one seeds.
As a two-seed, Purdue is probably the weakest of the bunch. Arizona has too much toughness and physicality for the Boilers.
The No. 3 seed, Gonzaga, is a worse version all around of Arizona, and I can't see it winning that one.
The toughest game for the Wildcats might be in the Sweet 16 against Wisconsin or Arkansas. If Arizona wins that one, I think it coasts to a region crown.
West Region Sleeper
Wisconsin (+1500)
Nobody in the Big Ten battled Michigan better than Wisconsin. The Badgers beat Michigan in Ann Arbor and nearly took the Wolverines out for a second time in the Big Ten Tournament.
For a team to beat Arizona, it needs to have an outlier shooting game. Nobody fits that billing more than Wisconsin, which has three wins over top-10 KenPom teams.
The duo of Nick Boyd and John Blackwell could easily combine for 60 points. Boyd averages 20.6 points per game and dishes out over four assists per game.
Blackwell scored 25+ points in three of his final four games this season and can be a game-changer in the tourney.
Do the Badgers have the bigs to out-duel Arizona inside? Of course not, but Nolan Winter, Austin Rapp and Aleksas Bieliauskas can all shoot. That'll help.
West Player to Watch
AJ Dybantsa (BYU)
I bet you expected to see Acuff in this spot, but the most individually important player to a single team is AJ Dybantsa.
Dybantsa leads the No. 6 seed Cougars with 25.3 points, while adding 6.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. He could easily explode for a few 30+ point games to lead BYU to the Sweet 16 or deeper.
The first matchup for the Cougars is the winner of NC State and Texas, then it'll likely meet Gonzaga if it gets beyond the Round of 64. Both of those feel like winnable games if Dybantsa explodes in the scoring column.
Best First-Round West Matchup
No. 4 Arkansas vs. No. 13 Hawaii
One of the most unique defensive teams in the country against the best point guards in the country? Sure, count me in.
By the numbers, Arkansas is a 15.5-point favorite, so you'd expect a blowout.
I'm not there, though. Arkansas had nail-biters in the non-conference slate against Winthrop and Samford — and Hawaii is better than both.
The Rainbow Warriors boast the third-lowest assist rate in the country, which is a result of their no-help defense that forces teams to score one-on-one.
Acuff should be able to score one-on-one, but who else can? Acuff can operate in the mid-range and take advantage, and so can Meleek Thomas. I don't see anyone else who can attack one-on-one and score with ease at the hoop.
Perhaps Arkansas can just lob Hawaii to death with all of its athletes against this drop coverage. I just think it's such a different look than most teams Arkansas saw in SEC play, and it could be a real struggle early on.
Plus, the Bows have real length. 7-footer Isaac Johnson is terrific, and his frontcourt partner — Harry Rouhliadeff — can light it up from deep. The guard play will need to be sharp, though.
I think this one could end up being closer than the spread indicates.
