NCAA Bracket 2012: West Region Coverage And Updates

The Lobos and 49ers at 4:10 p.m. in Portland to determine which team will advance through to the next round in a game scheduled to be televised on TBS. It seems New Mexico should have the upper hand despite all of the 5-12 upset rules that have become the talk of most brackets.

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The Spartans have experience facing tournament-caliber teams, having played Marquette twice. The Golden Eagles blew them out in the season opener by 31 points, but when the two teams played again a week later, the Spartans only lost by two.

They enter the tournament on a seven-game winning streak, but they have had a few slip-ups, losing twice to Delaware State and to tiny Elizabeth College.

Missouri didn’t earn a No. 1 seed, but did come away with a No. 2 seed. The Tigers will face No. 15 seed Norfolk State in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament

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The Spartans entered the 2012 Big Ten Tournament as the No. 1 seed and went all the way. They defeated No. 8 Iowa in the quarterfinals and bested No. 4 seed Wisconsin in the semifinals. They managed to defeat No. 3 seed Ohio State Buckeyes in the Championship Game to cap off their big season.

Michigan State managed to grab a No. 1 seed in the West Region by virtue of its Big Ten Tournament Championship. The Spartans will face Long Island in the Second Round.

Not only were the Long Beach State 49ers picked as the overwhelming favorites to win the Big West this year, but they even got a bit of national attention by picking a pair of votes in the AP Top 25 Poll. Expectations of a huge season were driven upward when the 49ers took down then-No. 9 Pittsburgh in their second game.

But a loss to San Diego State kicked off a brutal run of games in which the 49ers faced four teams ranked in the Top 15 over their next nine and played just three of 11 games at home. The bad news was that they started off by going 2-5 during that stretch. The good news was that they finished that stretch off by winning 3 of 4 that included a win over No. 15 Xavier and in which the only loss was in the final of the Diamond Head Classic to Kansas State. The 49ers also managed to hang tough with teams like then-No. 13 Kansas and then-No. 6 North Carolina, losing by no more than eight in both games and actually leading the Jayhawks at halftime.

At Madison Square Garden, this team showed its capable of beating anyone in the field of 68.

The Cardinals earned the No. 4 seed in the West Region and will face Davidson in the Second Round.

They didn’t play a lot of top-caliber talent, earning most of their wins over NEC and small conference schools. They finished the season third in scoring in all of the Division I with 81.9 points per game, which will certainly come in handy once they enter the tournament.

LIU Brooklyn earned the No. 16 seed in the West Region and will meet top-seeded Michigan State in the Second Round.

The Rams began their 2011-12 campaign with some excellent play in non-conference action, piling up an 11-4 record before the Mountain West slate began. Colorado State fell by double digits to Duke, Stanford, and Southern Mississippi, but the six-game winning streak that the Rams carried into conference play helped give them the basis for a 20-win season.

And the Rams got to that plateau despite a few bad losses in the MWC, to TCU and Boise State, in particular. They made up for those with victories against UNLV and San Diego State. However, a loss to the Aztecs in the quarterfinals of the MWC Tournament left Colorado State worrying about its at-large status on Selection Sunday. Those worries, it turns out, were unfounded.

Davidson was given the No. 13 seed in the West Region and will meet Louisville in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.

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Michigan State earned the fourth No. 1 seed in the 2012 NCAA Tournament with a spectacular performance in the Big Ten Tournament. The Spartans got rewarded with a regional stocked with tournament champions.

No. 2 Missouri won the Big 12 Tournament, No. 4 Louisville ran through the Big East Tournament, No. 5 New Mexico took home the Mountain West title, and a slew of other tournament winners will join the Spartans in the West. The biggest surprise of Selection Sunday so far is in the West, too: Iona will play BYU in the First Four in Dayton for the right to earn a No. 14 seed and play No. 3 Marquette.