March Madness 2017: Four 1st Round West Region Matchups

Our 2017 March Madness West Region first round picks are ready to go. We’ll be covering four college basketball games in this article and four more in our next. Friday is loaded with all eight first round games being played today. In the First Four Round each game was quite close, making betting a tough venture.

We expect some blowouts in this round and some real surprises too. Here are our 2017 March Madness West Region first round picks.

#12 Princeton at #5 Notre Dame

12:15 PM CBS
KeyBank Center, Buffalo, New York

This game is starts our 2017 March Madness West Region first round picks and it also tipoffs the official start of the tournament. Princeton comes in on a 19-game winning streak that included taking down the Ivy League tournament. They last lost on Dec. 20 to Monmouth. The Tigers depend on forward Steven Cook and guard Devin Cannady to generate points as each is averaging 13.7 PPG. Cook is pulling down 5.1 RPG. Forward Spencer Weisz is a solid setup guy with 4.2 APG while scoring 10.4 PPG and grabbing 5.4 RPG

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish won six of their last regular season games, losing the last one to #8 Louisville 71-64. In the ACC tournament they beat #21 Virginia and #16 Florida State before losing to #14 Duke 75-69. Junior forward Bonzie Colson leads the team with 17.3 PPG and 10.2 RPG. Guard Matt Farrell¬¬ is a sound setup man with 5.5 APG. He’s scoring 14.2 PPG.

2017 March Madness West Region First Round Pick: Notre Dame -6.5 & over 134.5

#16 South Dakota State at #1 Gonzaga

2:00 PM TBS
Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah

This is a big game as the outmatched #16 South Dakota State Jackrabbits of the Summit League meet the almost undefeated and number one seed Gonzaga Bulldogs. The Jackrabbits are coming off a six-game winning streak and tournament championship. Sophomore forward Mike Daum will have to have a big game if SDS is going to have a chance. He’s averaging 25.3 PPG and 8.2 RPG.

Gonzaga is 32-1. They are lead by guard Nigel Williams-Goss and his 16.9 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 4.8 APG. This is a team that’s loaded with lights out shooters and tough inside rebounders. They are favored by 22 points.

2017 March Madness West Region First Round Pick: Gonzaga Bulldogs at -22.0 & under 156.0

#13 Bucknell at #4 West Virginia

2:45 PM CBS
KeyBank Center, Buffalo, New York

The Bucknell Bison, Patriot League champs, ran off six straight wins before being chosen for the tournament. The Bison will try to use their frontcourt game against the Mountaineers. Forward Zach Thomas and center Nana Foulland are the team’s top scorers and rebounders. Thomas is averaging 16.0 PPG and 6.6 RPG while Foulland is good for 14.9 PPG and 7.8 RPG. Thomas can pop out and hit threes at a rate of 42%.

West Virginia finished second in the Big 12. In their tournament, they beat Texas and Kansas State before losing to #23 Iowa 80-74. The team is averaging 82 PPG and they have some depth. They’ll look to guard Jevon Carter and forwards Esa Ahmad and Nathan Adrian to be major contributors in points and rebounds.

2017 March Madness West Region First Round Pick: West Virginia at -14.0 and over 147.5

#9 Vanderbilt at #8 Northwestern

4:30 PM TBS
Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah

In the Southeastern Conference, the Vanderbilt Commodores finished seventh with an 8-10 record and beat nationally ranked Florida twice near the end of the season. A trio of players, guard Matthew Fisher-Davis and forwards Luke Kornet and Jeff Roberson are totaling 37 PPG and 17 RPG.

The Northwestern Huskies pulled some upsets this season. One such game was their 66-59 win over #7 Wisconsin. In the Big 10 tournament they ran off two wins, including a defeat of #25 Maryland, before succumbing to #24 Wisconsin 76-48.

2017 March Madness West Region First Round Pick: Vandy at -2.5 and over 140.0

Final Word: 2017 March Madness West Region First Round Picks

Those are our initial 2017 March Madness West Region First Round picks. We’ll have four more very soon as the West has eight Friday games scheduled. Those games include Florida Gulf Coast at Florida State and Xavier at Maryland.