First round exits by Marquette, Louisville, Notre Dame and Georgetown, along with second round exits to smaller conference teams by Pitt (Xavier/ A10) and Villanova (St. Mary’s/ WCC), have made this a rough year for the Big East.

West Virginia gets a shot at conference redemption when they face off against Pac-10 champion Washington.

The Mountaineers beat Morgan State handily in the round of 64 and then put away a pesky, full court-pressing Missouri team in round two.

Washington is the only team in the tournament with possibly a bigger responsibility to their conference than either Big East team.  After a year of ups and downs, criticism and obvious struggles by the usual tradition-rich powerhouses (see: UCLA, Stanford, Arizona), Washington enters as the Pac-10 conference tournament champ looking to silence the critics by upending the Mountaineers.

Led by forward Quincy Pondexter and point guard Isaiah Thomas, ths Huskies have made a somewhat surprising run in the tournament, and look to knock off their second Big East team in three games, after edging Marquette in the opening round 80-78.  The Huskies also laid a thorough beating on thee-seed New Mexico 82-64 to pave their way to Syracuse.

The match-up to watch in this game will be Quincy Pondexter against Mountaineer forward Devin Ebanks.  West Virginia gains the advantage because of the seemingly endless supply of lanky forwards they can throw at the UW front line. Kevin Jones (6’8″), Wellington Smith (6’7″), Da’Sean Butler (6’7″) and John Flowers (6’7″) all could find themselves guarding Pondexter and any three of them could be on the court at the same time.

Can Pondexter be stopped? That remains to be seen, but it is entirely feasible to think they will be able to contain the senior forward. The Mountaineers should prove to be too much defensively to let Pondexter get comfortable for 40 minutes.

The other key match-up will be Truck Bryant or Joe Mazzulla against Isaiah Thomas. Both are decent defenders, but must stop the ball in order to disrupt the sophomore point guard.

Key to the Game: WVU’s Three-headed monster. Washington has to find a way to keep Ebanks, Butler and Jones from scoring and off of the offensive glass.

Outcome: WVU 72, Washington 59. A close one until Butler gets hot with 10 minutes to go in the second half.

CHD Bracket Challenge for the Sweet 16 is open at Yahoo sports.

Password is chd group name is collegehoopsdaily.com

The first video is Da’sean Butler, Joe Mazzula and Jonnie West dancing to “What is Love?” and doing their best Night at the Roxbury. Next Butler and Mazzula play backup singers/ dancers to West lip-syncing to a Brian McKnight song.  Lastly, the terrific trio stuff their pants with some weird pillows and proceed to have a pillow fight.

Thanks to Deadspin and John Flowers via Twitter for these vids. (videos after the jump)

Article at SportbyBrooks.com

1-Kentucky vs 16-East Tennessee State – Welcome to the Big Dance East Tennessee State. We hope you enjoyed your stay. There’s the door. Kentucky cruises in this one.

8-Texas vs 9-Wake Forest – Both Texas and Wake limped into the Big Dance. Wake Forest has one of the best all around players in the nation in sleek, combo forward Al Farouq Aminu. Texas started out the season 17-0, then got ranked as the #1 team in the nation, and finished the season at a 7-9 clip. Damion James is a stud, averaging 18 points per game and 10.4 rebounds a contest. The Longhorns have all the talent in the world, but for the most part, outside of James, they are young and inexperienced. If Texas can put it all together at the right time, they have a legit shot to upset Kentucky in round two and make a deep run. While I’m not sure if that is going to happen, I do expect Texas too be too much for Wake in this one, and move onto round two for what should be a very exciting match up with Kentucky.

5-Temple vs 12-Cornell – This game showcases the classic student vs teacher storyline as Temple’s Fran Dunphy matches up against former assistant Steve Donahue of Cornell. Due mainly to their 5 point loss at Kansas earlier in the season, Cornell comes in as a sheik pick by many to pull a first round upset. Two excellent big men, Jeff Foote (12ppg, 8rpg) and Ryan Wittman (17.5ppg), lead the way for the Big Red. While those two are fine players, neither has the overall ability of Temple stud forward, Lavoy Allen. Allen, who averages a double double, led the Owls to a 29-5 overall record this season. With quality wins against non conference competition (Siena, Villanova, Virginia Tech) and throughout the A-10 schedule (Xavier and Richmond), the Dunphy led Temple squad will be able to hold off the upset-minded Big Red in round one.

4-Wisconsin vs 13-Wofford – The Badgers are always a dangerous team come March. Couple their stellar defense with their slow-paced half court style offense that does a great job of limiting its opponents number of possesions, Wisconsin often does well at tourney time. This is Wofford’s first ever trip to the Big Dance, so they are excited just to be here. The co-Big Ten regular season champion Badgers are just too experienced, too well coached and too talented to be upset in this one. Wisconsin marches easily into round two, potentially setting up an intriguing matchup of similar offenses against Temple.

6-Marquette vs 11-Washington – Washington enters the tournament hot, winning seven in a row and 12 of their last 14. Outside of beating Georgetown and losing to Texas A&M, the Huskies haven’t faced too much quality competition this season,  mostly due to the Pac-10 being so down this season. Senior Quincy Pondexter leads a talented, yet inexperienced Washington squad. Pondexter has the ability to score in bunches, so he will give the Huskies a chance to pull off the first round upset. Marquette, led by dynamic forward Lazar Hayward, comes to compete every night. After battling through a tough season in the Big East, the Golden Eagles are as well prepared as anyone to face tough competition back to back in this tournament. This has the potential to be one of the premiere match ups in round one, so don’t miss this one. In the end, I expect Marquette to win a close nail-biter and move into round two.

3-New Mexico vs 14-Montana – Often referred to as the “Evan Turner of the West”, Darington Hobson (16.2ppg, 9.2rpg, 4.6apg) is the main reason New Mexico was a top 10 to 15 team all season long. Hobson is a very special player and looks poised to carry the Lobos on his back for a deep run in this tournament. Keep your eye on Montana guard Anthony Johnson. Johnson almost single-handedly got the Grizzlies into the Big Dance by scoring 42 points (and his teams last 21 overall) of Montana’s 66 points in the Big Sky championsip game. Anytime a team has a player like Johnson, who can score in bunches like that, they will always have a chance to pull an upset come tourney time. Not for lack of Johnson’s effort, the Grizzlies will be a game bunch, but in the end will fall to the Hobson-led Lobos in round one.

7-Clemson vs 10-Missouri – It’s Tigers vs Tigers in this intriguing first round match up. Clemson is paced by big man, Trevor Booker who is a dominating force inside. Missouri really doesn’t have any one on the interior that can match up with Booker, sothe potential is there for Booker go off in this one. Missouri likes to get the ball up and down the floor at a frenetic pace and keep you on your toes. Predominately a guard oriented attack, if the likes of Kim English, JT Tiller and Marcus Denmon are shooting well from the field, they are a tough team to stop. Look for Clemson’s experience advantage to come into play and when you couple that with the likelihood of a monster game from Booker, you’ve got the recipe for a Clemson round one victory.

2-West Virginia vs 15-Morgan State – Morgan State presents one of the best comeback stories in the tournament. Over the last few seasons, their coach, Todd Bozeman, has resurrected his once promising career as he leads the Bears to their second consecutive NCAA tournament. Guard Reggie Holmes and Forward Kevin Thompson make up one of the most formidable duos in the entire field. Before the brackets were announced, Morgan State figured to be a sexy upset pick as a likely 14 or 15 seed. Things may have changed once everyone saw their first round opponent. West Virginia comes in to this tournament as hot as anyone. After an impressive run through the Big East tournament, the Mountaineers and Da’Sean Butler will  be too much for Morgan State to handle. While Morgan State may have the firepower to hang around for a while in this game, West Virginia will pull away in the end.

1-Duke vs 16-Arkansas-Pine Bluff/Winthrop – The good news is Arkansas-Pine Bluff or Winthrop gets to add an NCAA Tournament win to their resume. The bad news is they will be rewarded with a date with Duke in a first round game two days later. Duke coasts through easily in this one and moves into round two.

8-California vs 9-Louisville – This is an intriguing match up. Led by Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher, Cal is one of the best shooting teams in the tournament. The Bears, though, don’t play a lick of defense. Louisville plays solid defense and has a lot of weapons on the offensive end including its stud in the post, Samardo Samuels. This is a tough one to call. In what should be a barn burner, look for the Big East battle tested, yet inconsistent Cardinal (who swept their two meetings with Syracuse this season) to barely nip Cal in this one.

5-Texas A&M vs 12-Utah State – Texas A&M is one of the toughest and most physical teams in the bracket. They also have one of the best scorers in the tournament, in Donald Sloan, who has the ability to create shot opportunities at will. Utah State put together a great run in the WAC regular season this year, but lost to New Mexico State in the WAC final and was lucky to receive an at-large bid. They have a couple nice players, on the outside with Jared Quayle and on the interior with Tai Wesley. But they just don’t have enough big game experience to be able to pull off the upset of a hard-nosed, tough Texas A&M team. Texas A&M has won their first round game the last two seasons,  and look for that streak to continue in this one.

4-Purdue vs 13-Siena – Purdue looked abysmal in their loss in the Big Ten Tournament to Minnesota, failing to  reach the 40 point mark. The loss of Robbie Hummel for the season with a torn ACL makes the Boilermakers a completely different team. With Hummel, Purdue would’ve come into this tournament as a top ten team and had a legit chance to make a Final Four run. Without him, they will be lucky to keep this one competitive throughout. On the other hand, Siena may be the most talented non-power conference team in the field. Blitzing through the MAAC regular season with a 17-1 conference record, the Saints are a force to be reckon with. Big man Ryan Rossiter averages a double double; Forward Alex Franklin chips in with 16 and 8 per game; Wing Edwin Ubiles is a proven scorer at over 15 a game; and on top of all of that, they also have the leading assist man in the nation, Ronald Moore at 7.8 dimes per game. Watch out for Siena in this tournament. They will definitely be too much for Purdue, and could easily make a run into the Sweet 16.

6-Notre Dame vs 11-Old Dominion – After not even being on the bubble radar as recently as two weeks ago, Notre Dame closed out the season very strong,  doing most of it without All-American Luke Harangody who was out with an injury. Harangody is back now playing the 6th man role and the Irish are thriving. Playing a grind-it-out, half court style of play, ND has been tough to beat as of late. Old Dominion is going to be a very tough first round match up for the Irish. The Monarchs are an experience and battle tested team that owns a win over Georgetown earlier this season. This definitely has the possibility of being an upset special. However, I’m going with the Irish in a hard-fought, close victory.

3-Baylor vs 14-Sam Houston State – Led by guards LaceDarius Dunn and Tweety Carter, Baylor has the scoring punch to outscore any team in this tournament. Sam Houston State earned their bid by winning the SWAC conference tournament. Enjoy the experience Sam Houston, cause you’re a one and done this year.

7-Richmond vs 10-Saint Mary’s – Richmond is powered by guards David Gonzalvez and Kevin Anderson, who combined for 53 points in the A-10 semifinals last week. Omar Samhan led Saint Mary’s to an upset win in the final of the West Coast tournament, as they blew out Gonzaga.  Samhan is one of the best big men in the country, averaging 20.9 points and 11 rebounds per contest this season. While the Spiders will have their hands full inside with Samhan, the dynamic duo of Gonzalvez and Anderson will prove too much for the Gaels to overcome as Richmond marches on to round 2.

2-Villanova vs 15-Robert Morris – Losing five of their last seven coming in, Villanova isn’t exactly playing their best basketball of the season. Will they be able to turn it around and make another Final Four run? We’ll have to wait and see. Irregardless, Scottie Reynolds and company will have more than enough to get by Robert Morris in round one.

Now that we’ve broken down the West Region, let’s move on to talk about Kansas and the rest of the Midwest Region.

1-Kansas vs 16-Lehigh - Congrats to Lehigh for winning the Patriot League conference tournament. Their reward: a first round date with the best team in college basketball. Enjoy your short stay, MountainHawks. Rock Chalk Jayhawk will have this one in the bag by halftime. Next…

8-UNLV vs 9-Northern Iowa – These are two of the better defensive teams in this year’s tournament. Led by big man Jordan Eglseder and forward Adam Koch, Northern Iowa’s main objective is to slow the game down and limit its opponent’s possessions. While this isn’t your father’s Runnin’ Rebels (or Jerry Tarkanian’s for that matter), UNLV does have the ability to put up points in bunches, but can also play the slow-it-down half court style that Northern Iowa aspires to play. This is a really hard game to call. Northern Iowa is the better shooting team but UNLV is more athletic.  Look for this to be one of the most closely contested games in the first round and I give Tre’Von Willis and UNLV a slight edge due to their overall advantage in athleticism.

5-Michigan State vs 12-New Mexico State – Few teams come into the Big Dance year after year better prepared for a deep run than Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans. Backing into the tournament with a 5-5 record over their last ten games, Michigan State just doesn’t seem to have it in them this season to make another deep run in March. The talent is clearly there, but due to injuries and inconsistencies, Kalin Lucas, Raymar Morgan, Draymond Green and the rest of the Spartans, haven’t been able to live up to the preseason hype that surrounded them. If they can put it together now, they have the talent to make a deep run. The New Mexico State Aggies possess a very high powered offense, but don’t play much defense. They added a new wrinkle to their attack when versatile sophomore forward Troy Gillenwater (14.4ppg, 6.3rpg) returned from academic suspension in late January. Jonathan Gibson (17.5ppg) and Jahmar Young (20.5ppg) make up one of the most explosive back-courts in the tournament. Call me crazy, but I’m picking the Aggies here to pull off the upset and just sneak by Michigan State.

4-Maryland vs 13-Houston – Houston really caught fire at the right time and managed to slip past UTEP in the Conference USA final and capture the automatic bid. Aubrey Coleman of Houston became the first player in history to lead the nation in scoring and steals in the same season. Maryland is led by do-it-all guard Greivas Vasquez. Vasquez, the ACC Player of the Year, led the Terps to a share of the regular season ACC crown with the #1 seeded Duke Blue Devils. While Houston is hot and full of confidence at the moment, expect Coleman to lay between 30 plus on Maryland, but in the end, Vasquez’ veteran leadership will prove to be just enough to get the Terps into the second round.

6-Tennessee vs 11-San Diego State – One day Tennessee looks like a Top 5 team, the next day they look like they’re barely a top 50 team. The only team in the nation this year to beat both Kansas and Kentucky, Tennessee seems to be like many other teams in the field: very talented but extremely inconsistent and constantly in search of its true identity. San Diego State, on the other hand, is riding high after capturing the Mountain West Tournament title.  Led by a scintillating front-court trio of Billy White, Malcolm Thomas and freshman double-double machine Kawhi Leonard, look for the Aztecs to overpower Tennessee on the glass, and continue their hot streak and upend the Volunteers, to move onto round two.

3-Georgetown vs 14-Ohio – No one played a tougher schedule this season than the Hoyas. No team won their conference tournament this season coming from a lower seed than the 9^th seeded and eventual MAC Champion Ohio Bobcats did. Led by super stud sophomore center Greg Monroe, Georgetown looks poised for a possible Elite 8 run and will easily get past Armon Bassett, D.J. Cooper and the Bobcats.

7-Oklahoma State vs 10-Georgia Tech – Oklahoma State showcases one of the best shooting guards in the nation in James Anderson. Anderson averaged over 22 points per game and led the Cowboys to a 22-10 overall record this season. Oklahoma State loves to press the opposition, and with inconsistent guard play, that could pose big problems for the YellowJackets. While Iman Shumpert and the rest of the Tech back court has been suspect at times this season, the front court duo of Gani Lawal and super frosh Derrick Favors, has been spectacular. If Georgia Tech can get even competent play out of its back court, not get rattled by the OSU full court pressure, and continuously feed the ball inside to take advantage of its dominance in the post, look for Georgia Tech to pull off a slight upset and defeat Oklahoma State in round one.

2-Ohio State vs 15-UC Santa Barbara – No last second heroics needed in this one. Look for (expected) National Player of the Year, Evan Turner, to lead the Buckeyes to a blow out victory over the Gauchos as they easily stroll into round two.

1-Syracuse vs 16-Vermont – Even with Arinze Onauku sitting this one out due to injury, Syracuse is too much for all-world talent Marqus Blakely and Vermont. Blakely, who was one of only two players in the country to average at least 15 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals a game this year (the other being wing Paul George of Fresno State), will do all that he can to try and keep the Catamounts close, but Syracuse will pull away in the final ten minutes of the game and win it by 15-20.

8-Gonzaga vs 9-Florida State - Both teams have very good size inside, but the difference in this one will be guard play. The better guard play will win out, as Matt Bouldin and the high-powered Gonzaga offense will be too much for the offensively challenged Seminoles to overcome.

5-Butler vs 12-UTEP – This will be one of the best 1st round match ups of the Tournament. Whoever wins this game, has the potential to make at least a sweet 16, possibly even an Elite 8 run. Gordon Hayward and Matt Howard are one of the best forward tandems in the nation. UTEP is also very long and athletic with Derick Caracter, Jeremy Williams and Arnett Moultrie inside. Look for UTEP to pound the ball inside to Caracter and Co., and in the process get Matt Howard of Butler, who fouled out of nine games this season, in foul trouble early. In the end, look for the more talented Miners, led by Conference USA Player of the Year Randy Culpepper, to win a squeaker.

4-Vanderbilt vs 13-Murray State – While Murray State forms one of the best cohesive units in this tournament, they just don’t have any one player that can take over a game offensively. So, unless the Racers can really control tempo, and keep the game in the 50’s, Vanderbilt is just too talented and has too much outside shooting, i.e. Jeffrey Taylor, John Jenkins, Jermaine Beal, etc., that in the end will prove too much for a game, yet over-matched Murray State squad.

6-Xavier vs 11-Minnesota - Minnesota really came on at the end of the season and made it all the way to the Big Ten Championship in order to grab an at-large bid. The Gophers will be a game opponent, but Xavier is just too talented and battle tested, and in the end the Musketeers combination of explosive offense (led by Jordan Crawford and Terrell Holloway) and postseason experience will be too much for Damian Johnson and the Gophers to overcome.

3-Pittsburgh vs 14-Oakland – Watch out for Oakland. Junior center Keith Benson (17 points and 10 boards a game), guard Jonathan Jones and 5^th yr senior forward Derick Nelson won’t be intimidated in their match up with the Panthers. If Pitt decides to take this game a bit lightly, the Grizzlies will beat them. Look for this one to go down to the wire, but in the end, the Panthers will pull out a hard fought victory.

7-BYU vs 10-Florida – It’s good to see Florida back in the tournament after a two year hiatus. However, it will be a short stay.  BYU is very suspect against big, physical teams, which the Gators are not. The Cougars lucked out in their first round draw this season, as opposed to their last few NCAA Tourney appearances. BYU has one of the best scorers in the nation in guard Jimmer Fredette. Fredette can drop 30 on you in the blink of an eye, and is fully capable of putting up 40-plus. No matter how long BYU hangs around, make sure to catch Fredette, as he will put on one of the best offensive shows you’ll see all tournament.

2-Kansas State vs 15-North Texas – Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente can flat out light up the scoreboard and form one of the best backcourt duos in the nation. But, the key to how deep the Wildcats go in this tournament lies with their frontcourt. Curtis Kelly, Jamar Samuels, Dominique Sutton and company are extremely talented, but not always consistent.  If K-State can get consistent play from their bigs in this tournament, they could very well make a run all the way to the Final Four. Regardless, look for the Wildcats to have no troubles disposing of the Green Wave in round one.