2009 Men's NCAA Tournament First Round Picks: West Region, March 19

At CBBPlace.com, we've been doing College Basketball Picks Against the Spread all season. There are five of us from CBBPlace who also write on B/R: Ryan, Mitch, Dave, Shaun, and Steve. There is a very good chance that if you have been following college basketball this season (even just casually), you have read something by one of us.

With that in mind, we have decided to do our first ever collaboration article—we are all going to do quick picks against the spread for the NCAA Tournament, and they will be posted in a series of articles broken out by the date of the game and region of the tournament.

We have posted well over 1,000 Free Picks Against the Spread this season and have amassed more than 500,000 hits since the site went up at the end of January! The bottom line: Hopefully we know a little something about the teams involved in these games!

NCAA Tournament—West Region

Thursday, March 19

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No. 1 Connecticut vs. No. 16 Chattanooga
3:00 PM EST

	Record	Conf	ATS	PF	PA
No. 1 Connecticut	27-4	15-3	12-14	77.3	64.0
No. 16 Chattanooga	18-16	11-9	8-12	76.8	76.0

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG	BPG
No. 1 Connecticut	47.0	37.7	34.7	31.3	67.7	45.4	5.8	15.4	12.7	8.0
No. 16 Chattanooga	44.4	43.8	35.7	36.6	65.5	43.1	6.3	13.7	15.6	2.3

Line: Connecticut -21.5

Mitch: Connecticut -21.5
Dave: Connecticut -21.5—Block city in this one.
Ryan: Connecticut -21.5—Jim Calhoun is going to have the Huskies ready for this one after losing their six OT game against Syracuse. Look for them to bounce back in a big way.
Shaun: Connecticut -21.5—The Huskies have gotten their share of tourney scares recently, but the Mocs won't be able to keep this close.

No. 2 Memphis vs. No. 15 Cal State Northridge
12:25 PM EST

	Record	Conf	ATS	PF	PA
No. 2 Memphis	31-3	16-0	20-9-1	74.1	56.9
No. 15 Cal State Northridge	17-13	11-5	16-11	73.7	69.9

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG	BPG
No. 2 Memphis	44.3	36.2	32.0	29.3	69.6	42.7	8.8	13.8	12.4	6.2
No. 15 Cal State Northridge	45.4	41.7	35.2	32.4	69.4	40.8	9.0	14.0	17.7	2.7

Line: Memphis -20.0

Mitch: Memphis -20.0—In my Final Four.
Dave: Memphis -20.0—Neither team at home in KC, but Memphis mad at seeding.
Ryan: Memphis -20.0—The Tigers are currently on a 25-game win streak and have been winning big along the way. They struggled against Big Six teams, but they've been dominating teams like Cal State Northridge left and right this season.
Shaun: CS-North +20.0—Memphis should win soundly, but this game probably won't get out of control.

No. 4 Washington vs. No. 13 Mississippi State
5:00 PM EST

	Record	Conf	ATS	PF	PA
No. 4 Washington	25-8	14-4	16-13	78.9	69.6
No. 13 Mississippi	22-12	9-7	14-11-1	75.1	69.0

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG	BPG
No. 4 Washington	45.9	42.1	34.0	32.9	69.9	44.3	7.6	13.1	14.9	2.8
No. 13 Mississippi	43.7	39.5	36.7	34.0	71.0	41.7	7.1	12.7	14.2	7.5

Line: Washington -5.0

Mitch: MSU +5.0—The points.
Dave: MSU +5.0—In a buzzer beater.
Ryan: Washington -5.0—Pac-10 tested. MSU made it to the Big Dance on a prayer at the end of the SEC Tournament.
Shaun: Washington -5.0—Don't let the Bulldogs' SEC run fool you; they're not nearly as good as Washington.

No. 5 Purdue vs. No. 12 Northern Iowa
2:30 PM EST

	Record	Conf	ATS	PF	PA
No. 5 Purdue	24-9	11-7	16-15	69.5	59.1
No. 12 Northern Iowa	23-10	14-4	15-13	67.7	63.5

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG	BPG
No. 5 Purdue	45.0	38.7	35.2	32.6	70.2	36.7	7.2	15.1	11.8	4.8
No. 12 Northern Iowa	45.5	41.9	34.7	35.1	75.2	36.6	4.2	12.2	11.6	2.4

Line: Purdue -8.5

Mitch: Purdue -8.5—Looking good right now.
Dave: Purdue -8.5—Love this one. NI slumped midway through the Mo Valley and probably wasn't the strongest team (Creighton).
Ryan: Purdue -8.5—The Boilermakers haven't been the most consistent team this season, but they're hot right now.
Shaun: N. Iowa +8.5—N. Iowa is going to scare the pants off the Boilermakers in what has the potential for the upset that no one really sees coming after Purdue won the Big Ten.

No. 7 California vs. No. 10 Maryland
2:55 PM EST

	Record	Conf	ATS	PF	PA
No. 7 California	22-10	11-7	14-12-1	75.0	68.3
No. 10 Maryland	20-13	7-9	16-10	71.5	68.5

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG	BPG
No. 7 California	48.5	44.0	43.4	34.9	75.6	36.4	4.9	15.5	12.0	2.0
No. 10 Maryland	42.2	41.7	33.1	34.4	76.8	40.9	4.3	14.7	12.5	4.3

Line: Cal -1.0

Mitch: Maryland +1.0—Cal is overrated, even at a seven.
Dave: Cal -1.0—Like this one as well.
Ryan: Maryland +1.0—Both teams have been tested through their respective conferences. I like Maryland in a close one.
Shaun: Cal -1.0—Nice backcourt battle here, so whoever's shooting better from the outside will win this one, and Cal's been more consistent.

No. 8 BYU vs. No. 9 Texas A&M
12:30 PM EST

	Record	Conf	ATS	PF	PA
No. 8 BYU	25-7	12-4	17-13	77.4	64.7
No. 9 Texas A&M	23-9	9-7	15-10	71.7	66.3

	FG%	D. FG%	3P%	D. 3P%	FT%	RPG	SPG	APG	TPG	BPG
No. 8 BYU	48.7	40.2	38.0	30.0	73.0	39.8	7.2	16.3	11.4	3.7
No. 9 Texas A&M	44.6	43.1	36.6	36.2	69.5	40.0	5.0	12.2	12.8	3.9

Line: BYU -2.0

Mitch: Texas A&M +2.0
Dave: BYU -2.0—A&M is overrated in weak Big 12 South.
Ryan: BYU -2.0—A&M have shown flashes of brilliance this season, but they've also fallen short when no one expected them to.
Shaun: BYU -2.0—The Aggies match up well with BYU, but I like the Cougars to win in a close one.

If you enjoyed these picks, please take a look at CBBPlace.com, where we will be picking every March Madness game!

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Please take a look at our other NCAA Tournament First Round Picks:

Midwest Region, March 20
East Region, March 19
East Region, March 20
South Region, March 19
South Region, March 20
West Region, March 19
West Region, March 20